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January 12, 2006
The Gray Lady's Double Standard on Spying
What short memories the NY Times must think people have. Their latest hobbyhorse is the notion that President Bush is violating our civil rights by listening in on al Qaeda phone calls. But as NewsMax notes, they didn't have a problem with spying with a Democrat in office:
Last month, when the New York Times revealed to the world that the Bush administration had a top secret National Security Agency program that monitored communications between al Qaeda terrorists and their U.S.-based agents, it strongly condemned the operation as a dangerous and possibly illegal invasion of privacy.
However, the Old Gray Lady wasn't nearly as upset over a much broader surveillance program under the Clinton administration, which routinely monitored millions of phone calls between U.S. citizens without a court ordered warrant.
In fact, the paper called the blanket invasion of privacy a "necessity" — even though it was carried out without the justification provided by the 9/11 attacks.
The NSA's Echelon project randomly trolled U.S. telecommunications under Slick Willy's authority.
"Few dispute the necessity of a system like Echelon to apprehend foreign spies, drug traffickers and terrorists," the Times explained helpfully.
I guess 9/11 really did change everything.
Hat tip: Targetpractice
Posted by Van Helsing at January 12, 2006 8:30 PM
Comments
Yup, 9/11 made the Moonbats start cheering for the other side.
Want some proof? just look at what Junior is saying....
Posted by: Doug at January 13, 2006 12:22 PM
Two completely different things.
Eschelon randomly looked for evidence. Bush's order targeted specific people (including top people at the State Department and apparently a Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2008).
Eschelon allowed intel agencies to find suspicious activity, set up a wiretap, then get a warrant -- in that LEGAL order -- under FISA.
Bush plunged ahead ordering wiretaps without reasonable cause -- wasting time and manpower. There were 4,000 Americans spied on -- and not a single terrorist arrested under the program.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan at January 13, 2006 2:37 PM
So a random search (much less effective) is more palatable than a targeted search (based on info confiscated from Al Qaida computers, cell phones, etc.)?
Nice to see that you bat for the Decapitating Team, RR!
Posted by: Jonathan at January 13, 2006 7:08 PM
No, Johnathan -- you're arguing my point for me.
Bush isn't using info confiscated from al Qaeda computers, cell phones, etc.
That's what Eschelon effectively does.
If Bush were using intel gathered from terrorist phones and computers -- he'd have no problem getting a warrant.
The random checks under Eschelon turn up that evidence and that's what's needed for a warrant.
Bush has targeted 4,000 people -- and not a single one of them turned out to be a terrorist.
At least two turned out to be top people at the US State Department and one appears to be a Democrat likely to run for President in 2008.
Looks like Bush is taking people away from spying on REAL terrorists to spy on his opponents here in the US. That makes us a lot less safe.
Posted by: Ronald Reagan at January 14, 2006 6:38 PM
Yeah this is another half-assed article here at moonbattery.com
Personally im not a member of either party, Both are a joke that is in need of pulling more than Bob Saget's funniest home video's was.
I mean really, have you even looked into the Program Clinton used? it is totally different than what bush is doing today.
YES both programs are facked up. but to compare the most recent incident to Clinton's program is just plain idiotic.. People have more credibility comparing this current issue to Nixon's tactics than clinton.
Again, i find both clinton And bush's abuse of Power to be disgusting, but the fact of the matter is your trying to compare a Data mining program to Acuall phone taps and Investigations with specific targets......
Posted by: DelayforPresident at January 16, 2006 12:06 AM
