"Bush was denied wiretaps, bypassed them
WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush decided to skip seeking warrants for international wiretaps because the court was challenging him at an unprecedented rate.
A review of Justice Department reports to Congress by Heart newspapers shows the 26-year-old Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court modified more wiretap requests from the Bush administration than the four previous presidential administrations combined.
The 11-judge court that authorizes FISA wiretaps modified only two search warrant orders out of the 13,102 applications approved over the first 22 years of the court's operation.
But since 2001, the judges have modified 179 of the 5,645 requests for surveillance by the Bush administration, the report said. A total of 173 of those court-ordered "substantive modifications" took place in 2003 and 2004. And, the judges also rejected or deferred at least six requests for warrants during those two years -- the first outright rejection of a wiretap request in the court's history."
Of course,
this has only happened once in the last 26 years.Thank God!
The fact is that - as much as the MSM would have us forget - the world changed on 9/11. It changed a lot. The question is did the FISA court? We might feel that our "status-quo" is to remain "rock solid". Jamie Gorelick "Wall Defenders" thought so too, and 3000 died.
To remain static might get us killed. Of course individual rights are important. Yes it is important to uphold our constitution. But this isn't about "constitutional rights". Contrary to opinion you don't have such " Right to Privacy" when you are planning an attack on Americans.
Senator Orin Hatch on FISA one year after 9/11:
"In reviewing the FISA process, we need to consider the fact that there has been a dramatic change in the terrorist landscape since 1978 when FISA was enacted. There is no question that in response to our country's efforts to fight terrorism worldwide, terrorists are increasingly operating in a more decentralized manner, far different from the terrorist threat that existed in 1978. The threat posed by a small group - even a lone terrorist - may be very real and may involve devastating consequences, even beyond those suffered by our country on September 11. Given this increasing threat, we have to ensure that intelligence and law enforcement agencies have sufficient tools to meet this new -- and even more dangerous -- challenge."
These remarks on September 10th, 2002, before hearings before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, reference The USA PATRIOT Act In Practice: Shedding Light on the FISA Process.
Senator Hatch, as did others saw that fter 9/11, we knew that we couldn't treat "terrorist" threats as criminal occurances any longer. This is one thing the 9/11 'Ommission Commission' got right.
The fact is that the Clinton administration's desire to treat and deal with terrorism as a "criminal matter" created the conditions that allowed 9/11 to happen.
Newsweek says it's time for Bush to 'dig out', quite the contrary, he already dug IN, and we all better join him. The alternative is another 9/11.
More at AJ Strata
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