Back to your original post, to which I responded before.
2) Since you expect the President to be accountable to the American people, then I have to ask, why you apparently don't expect the news media to also obey the law. As I posted before, the public disclosure of classified information is a federal offense. The operations covered by FISA and overseen by the FISC (the court that oversees FISA acitivities) are classified. The reason they are classified is because disclosure of such activity compromises national security.
3) You claim that we live in a dictatorship, how so? Dictators are not usually elected, they control the media, they do not tolerate criticism or dissent. Yet, you are posting on a public forum and have been bad mouthing this administration for months. If you were actually living in a dictatorship, you would now be in a labor camp, jail, or dead.
Oooooo, you think you're so clever, have you ever considered that the intercepted messages were encrypted?
Terrorists ARE smart enough to encrypt their communications. Or havn't you realized that? They also use code words, phrases and operate under code names. You don't actually believe they are on the phone saying "Hey Abdul, meet me at the corner of Chow and Main, with the plans for the top secret nuclear bomb on Saturday at 2PM. I'll be the tall guy in the orange turban".
They use code names for their operatives, code phrases for their operations, they even use code names for times, places, targets, objectives and so forth.
The CIA and NSA use intercepted communications and have an army of people who work on decrypting the phrases, code words, code phrases, breaking the keys. Of course a lot of it is computerized, but it still may take years to find the right set of keys using computers. That is how the Soviets operated, they used code phrases, names and terms.
The Venona project, intercepted communications between the Soviet KGB and people like Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs. It sometimes took years to figure out what the Soviets were up to. It took the CIA and NSA years to figure out who "Red Owl" was, or what "Big Tent" actually meant.
But, once the spies know they're being monitored, guess what they do? THEY CHANGE THEIR CODES, they use a different encryption algorithms, they use a different set of keys, they reassign new code words to people, they reassign code phrases, they reassign people who they believe have been compromised (by killing them or getting them out of the country) and they start with a new slate.
Another thing that happens, is when the enemy has been compromised, they start asking themselves... now just HOW did the Americans know about this? They then start getting suspicious of someone or more likely a bunch of people. And those people are what are euphemistically known as "intelligence assets" or spies.... and then what happens is they die. And then, our intelligence community is back in the dark as it was on 9/11....
So, you see, ST, this isn't a laughing matter. It's a serious business and because the newspapers blabbed not because they give two craps about the public's freedoms but because they just wanted to embarrass Bush and get themselves a big "W" trophy to mount on their walls.... people are going to die or are dying right now...
Congratulations, I'm sure you Lefties are very proud of yourselves.
SPEAKING OF THE VENONA PROJECT!!!!! You know that's such a coincidence that came up. The Venona project was a classified operation undertaken by our very own intelligence community, authorized by FDR and Truman, carried out all the way up to through the Carter years. (let's see, that's how many Democrat Presidents?!?!?!), that eavesdropped on suspected spies within our own borders without warrants. Many of those spies were... American citizens!!!!! And guess who they caught? The Rosenbergs! Remember them? The ones who gave the Soviets our A-bomb secrets? Thanks to them, the Soviets got the bomb five to ten years early.
And guess what? The Venona project went on for forty years. And some of the intercepts are still unencrypted because the Soviets enventually realized they were being monitored did exactly what I said the terrorists probably did, they changed their codes and made it almost impossible for the NSA and CIA to decrypt their messages.
And even more incredibly, this was all done without FISA, without search warrants, without judicial oversight... yet we managed during those forty years of unchecked power to have elections, had freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the Writ of Habeus Corpus was not suspended, we still tried people by juries of their peers..... in short, American Democracy survived and thrived....
Isn't THAT amazing!!!
1) Bush was accountable to the American people. The wiretaps were done in accordance with FISA, its amendments and according to the opinions of the courts. Since Bush followed the law, he was being accountable.
2) Since you expect the President to be accountable to the American people, then I have to ask, why you apparently don't expect the news media to also obey the law. As I posted before, the public disclosure of classified information is a federal offense. The operations covered by FISA and overseen by the FISC (the court that oversees FISA acitivities) are classified. The reason they are classified is because disclosure of such activity compromises national security.
3) You claim that we live in a dictatorship, how so? Dictators are not usually elected, they control the media, they do not tolerate criticism or dissent. Yet, you are posting on a public forum and have been bad mouthing this administration for months. If you were actually living in a dictatorship, you would now be in a labor camp, jail, or dead.
Oooooo, you think you're so clever, have you ever considered that the intercepted messages were encrypted?
Terrorists ARE smart enough to encrypt their communications. Or havn't you realized that? They also use code words, phrases and operate under code names. You don't actually believe they are on the phone saying "Hey Abdul, meet me at the corner of Chow and Main, with the plans for the top secret nuclear bomb on Saturday at 2PM. I'll be the tall guy in the orange turban".
They use code names for their operatives, code phrases for their operations, they even use code names for times, places, targets, objectives and so forth.
The CIA and NSA use intercepted communications and have an army of people who work on decrypting the phrases, code words, code phrases, breaking the keys. Of course a lot of it is computerized, but it still may take years to find the right set of keys using computers. That is how the Soviets operated, they used code phrases, names and terms.
The Venona project, intercepted communications between the Soviet KGB and people like Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs. It sometimes took years to figure out what the Soviets were up to. It took the CIA and NSA years to figure out who "Red Owl" was, or what "Big Tent" actually meant.
But, once the spies know they're being monitored, guess what they do? THEY CHANGE THEIR CODES, they use a different encryption algorithms, they use a different set of keys, they reassign new code words to people, they reassign code phrases, they reassign people who they believe have been compromised (by killing them or getting them out of the country) and they start with a new slate.
Another thing that happens, is when the enemy has been compromised, they start asking themselves... now just HOW did the Americans know about this? They then start getting suspicious of someone or more likely a bunch of people. And those people are what are euphemistically known as "intelligence assets" or spies.... and then what happens is they die. And then, our intelligence community is back in the dark as it was on 9/11....
So, you see, ST, this isn't a laughing matter. It's a serious business and because the newspapers blabbed not because they give two craps about the public's freedoms but because they just wanted to embarrass Bush and get themselves a big "W" trophy to mount on their walls.... people are going to die or are dying right now...
Congratulations, I'm sure you Lefties are very proud of yourselves.
SPEAKING OF THE VENONA PROJECT!!!!! You know that's such a coincidence that came up. The Venona project was a classified operation undertaken by our very own intelligence community, authorized by FDR and Truman, carried out all the way up to through the Carter years. (let's see, that's how many Democrat Presidents?!?!?!), that eavesdropped on suspected spies within our own borders without warrants. Many of those spies were... American citizens!!!!! And guess who they caught? The Rosenbergs! Remember them? The ones who gave the Soviets our A-bomb secrets? Thanks to them, the Soviets got the bomb five to ten years early.
And guess what? The Venona project went on for forty years. And some of the intercepts are still unencrypted because the Soviets enventually realized they were being monitored did exactly what I said the terrorists probably did, they changed their codes and made it almost impossible for the NSA and CIA to decrypt their messages.
And even more incredibly, this was all done without FISA, without search warrants, without judicial oversight... yet we managed during those forty years of unchecked power to have elections, had freedom of the press, freedom of religion, the Writ of Habeus Corpus was not suspended, we still tried people by juries of their peers..... in short, American Democracy survived and thrived....
Isn't THAT amazing!!!
