Bush Authorized Domestic Spying Before 9/11

[Raydawg1234]

The National Security Agency advised President Bush in early 2001 that it had been eavesdropping on Americans during the course of its work monitoring suspected terrorists and foreigners believed to have ties to terrorist groups, according to a declassified document.

The NSA's vast data-mining activities began shortly after Bush was sworn in as president and the document contradicts his assertion that the 9/11 attacks prompted him to take the unprecedented step of signing a secret executive order authorizing the NSA to monitor a select number of American citizens thought to have ties to terrorist groups.

In its "Transition 2001" report, the NSA said that the ever-changing world of global communication means that "American communication and targeted adversary communication will coexist."

"Make no mistake, NSA can and will perform its missions consistent with the Fourth Amendment and all applicable laws," the document says.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011306Z.shtml

[az chela]

1. And a great job they did

They didnt stop 9-11,didnt stop the hijackors from getting on the planes ,who were they listening to???Oh yah i forgot Toby Keith.They like his music

[FloridaPat]

2. So Cheney's talk about stopping 9-11 with the illegal wiretaps is

crap? I guess they're not talking.

[punpirate]

3. If true, this brings up a lot of other questions...

... about the 9/11 commission (did agencies not talk to each other because they all knew they were holding tainted evidence?); were the Bushies looking for evidence they could present (or distort) to prove a link between Iraq and al-Qaeda right from the start? Were they intending to spy on Americans from the get-go to give themselves some political advantage? Etcetera, etcetera....