A Reminder: Bushco Was Spying On US- "6 Months - BEFORE - The 9/11/01 Attacks"

[kpete]

Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone FirmQwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing Says

By Ellen Nakashima and Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 13, 2007; Page A01



A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.

Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week....

more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/12/AR2007101202485.html/ppNow

[underpants]

1. No one ever mentions that

just like the Republicans having their own "Super Delegates" is never mentioned.

[Kikosexy2]

37. Yep...

he sure was...and still is....My sister and I always talk politics over the phone and notice little clicking sounds....or our lines start fading to the point of disconnection...especially when we're trashing Chimpie, Cheney and the whole criminal goons...so we would yell and say "stop tapping our lines dammit"...or "that's right, we know you're listening in"...but my phone bill is the still same....sigh!.....

[Enthusiast]

39. Hey, Kiko, they will

They will know right where to get us when the roundup starts. Don't think it can't happen here.

[Kikosexy2]

43. I hear ya...

amazing what this once great country has become under these Neo-Nazi criminals...Dear God...how did we let this happen?....

[SpiralHawk]

2. And yet they FAILED America miserably on 9/11, 'led' by the pathetic Commander AWOL Bush

and his war-profiteering sidekick VP, Dickie "Five Military Deferments" Cheney.

[wolfgangmo]

25. The GOP

The GOP - Keeping America Safe from Terrorism since September, um, 12th, 2001.

[Echo In Light]

27. In my estimation, these War Pigs didn't "fail" at all

Funny how they're supposed "incompetence" has gotten them and the U.S. war profiteering machine so many of the things they wanted/required ... and had set to go before 9/11. The Coincidence Theory simply doesn't hold up.

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. Only lying about a blow job is an impeachable offense.

Shop as usual, and avoid panic buying.

[Hydra]

4. Bushco uses 9/11 as an excuse, nothing else

If you think they are hunting terrorists with these programs, think again!

[Enthusiast]

40. That's the point, Hydra......

The Republican Party has a history of illegally obtaining information and then using it against their political enemies. They are simply behaving like Republicans.

[Qutzupalotl]

5. Someone needs to tell NPR.

All their coverage of the FISA debate includes the phrase "SINCE the 9/11 attacks."

[steven88]

6. Call/Write your Congressman

The House is expected to vote for at least limited immunity - for those who the Attorney General (Gonzales) certified to that the surveillance is lawful.

Write your Congressperson and Nancy Pelosi to STOP TELCOM IMMUNITY.

[wryter2000]

11. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Gonnuts]

32. Call bush's bluff ...

Compromise - give immunity back to 9/11 - if bush refuses it will show he's got more to hide and wasn't interested in protecting Americans as much as he was interested in spying on us. It's the perfect trap. He's damned if does and damned if he doesn't.

[Festivito]

7. No immunity! But, certainly none from before 9/11/01. /nt

[kenny blankenship]

8. And I wonder *what* they were looking for - since R. Clarke the counter-terrorism Czar

says they couldn't be bothered about OBL, Al-Qaeda and terrorism in general prior to 9/11/2001.

I think we are owed some answers under oath on this issue.

[leveymg]

16. Very good point.

eom

[Amonester]

30. Under oath does not work with these criminals.

They'll always answer "I DON'T RECALL"
and if I wasn't against torture of ALL kinds
I would suggest they should be waterboarded...

[Uncle Joe]

42. I would imagine info on political opponents such as a former Alabama Governor

imprisoned for what seems to be political reasons. I would imagine it wouldn't go that far with some others just using blackmail of some hidden scandal might cause them to vote the neocon way.

[acmavm]

9. And another thing to remember, Pelosi knew about it.

[frog92969]

17. Pelosi knew about alot of things.

:mad:

[wryter2000]

10. K&R

And bookmarking. I've been looking for a reference for this.

:yourock:

[leveymg]

12. DU, DailyKos, Rocky Mtn News picked up six mos ago. Finally, the WaPo notices.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/10/11/17489/086/785/396856

The major gatekeeper papers are again stuck on the slow bus.

[hootinholler]

14. Um, look at teh date on the WaPo article.

:shrug:

Looks like Oct last year to me.

-Hoot

[leveymg]

15. We were still two days ahead of them.

I was, AFAIK, the first to make the connection between NSA's privatization program, Operation Groundbreaker, and private-sector implementation of The Program. Also recall there was some discussion on the thread -- either here or at DKos, where I cross-posted -- of payments made to telcos and other NSA contractors for providing services in secret, unknown to Congress. I assume the money came out of black budget DoD budgets, like a lot of other classified intel programs.

Nobody else is pointing out the role of the other companies involved in Groundbreaker, all those big software development and computer systems firms, like Lockheed-Martin, and the huge donations they've made to the Bush and the GOP. There was a profit motive in this crime, you know. And, the telcos get paid by the number of calls they intercept, as well as for setting up the domestic wiretapping system on their backbone and switches.

[noise]

20. Other aspects that the mainstream media ignores

The fact that current CIA Director Hayden was in charge of the NSA at the time. The fact that he was promoted twice (DDNI then CIA Director) despite heading one of the most important intelligence agencies in the lead up to 9/11. Those who push the notion of 'the worst intelligence failure in US history' shouldn't be permitted to get away with double standards on their own beliefs. If it was indeed such an intelligence failure then how do they explain the fact that Hayden kept his job after 9/11 and was later promoted?

Current DNI McConnell was VP at Booz Allen. Booz Allen had contracts related to these spying programs including Admiral Poindexter's TIA. He has a conflict of interest which explains why he has previously resorted to fearmongering to get Congress to approve Bush's spying programs.

[EFerrari]

41. I saved this link from January 2006:

NSA Spying Evolved Pre-9/11
Submitted by davidswanson on Tue, 2006-01-17 15:05. Media
By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | www.truthout.org

In the months before 9/11, thousands of American citizens were inadvertently swept up in wiretaps, had their emails monitored, and were being watched as they surfed the Internet by spies at the super-secret National Security Agency, former NSA and counterterrorism officials said.

The NSA, with full knowledge of the White House, crossed the line from routine surveillance of foreigners and suspected terrorists into illegal activity by continuing to monitor the international telephone calls and emails of Americans without a court order. The NSA unintentionally intercepts Americans' phone calls and emails if the agency's computers zero in on a specific keyword used in the communication. But once the NSA figures out that they are listening in on an American, the eavesdropping is supposed to immediately end, and the identity of the individual is supposed to be deleted. While the agency did follow protocol, there were instances when the NSA was instructed to keep tabs on certain individuals that became of interest to some officials in the White House.

What sets this type of operation apart from the unprecedented covert domestic spying activities the NSA had been conducting after 9/11 is a top secret executive order signed by President Bush in 2002 authorizing the NSA to target specific American citizens. Prior to 9/11, American citizens were the subject of non-specific surveillance by the NSA that was condoned and approved by President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, according to former NSA and counterterrorism officials.

The sources, who requested anonymity because they were instructed not to talk about NSA activities but who hope they can testify before Congress about the domestic spying, said that in December 2000, the NSA completed a report for the incoming administration titled "Transition 2001," which explained, among other things, how the NSA would improve its intelligence gathering capabilities by hiring additional personnel.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=165473

[AzDar]

13. K & R...

:kick:

[frog92969]

18. K&R

[EFerrari]

19. January 2001. That's "more than six months".

[Subdivisions]

35. They started listening on Jan 21, 2001, the minute

they siezed control of our entire government. Yet, 9/11 still happened and you can bet your hat that they did, have, and are listening into conversations and individuals all over the country who are involved is Democratic Party business, strategy, and, yes, shenanigans.

[defendandprotect]

21. "It's good to be King. . . ." --- !!!!

[Richard Steele]

22. K&R

[donheld]

23. And yet we're suppose to be proud Americans.

America can do no wrong in some people's eyes.

[Twist_U_Up]

24. Well that explains the silence from the opposition.

Bushco probably has every bone from every closet.

and Anthrax for anyone else that they cant control through blackmail or coercion

[SHRED]

26. And our spineless Dem "leadership"...

...is about to roll over and take it up the wahzoo again.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2960632&mesg_id=2960632

---

[Vickers]

28. OMG he was like totally ahead of the game!!11!!!1!!!!

:crazy:

[AzDar]

29. He is a criminal, and so are those who enable him.

:kick:

[me b zola]

31. K&R

[Subdivisions]

33. And 9/11 happened anyway. Wonder how they missed that? n/t

[L. Coyote]

34. REC #60 + TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?

Over two years ago, my informant reported ALL communications ARE routed overseas to circumvent the law.

Is that what is being covered up, the ongoing capture of ALL communications? Probably!
Can the government look up that favorite apple pie recipe your Mom sent you on July 4th in 2002.

Is the "cover story" of databasing call info just that, the current fall-back cover
story for a much larger crime, spying on everyone all the time?
The political odor of this legal case has never been proper.

....

from: TELECOM COVER-UP? Nacchio and Qwest: Another Political Prosecution?
Feb-28-08 - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2935817

[wildbilln864]

36. k&r! nt

[Enthusiast]

38. And what possible ?

And what possible justification do they have for doing this? It certainly the fuck didn't prevent 9-11. This guy should be publicly executed for treason.

[wildbilln864]

45. I'll go along with that! nt

:hi:

[Cherchez la Femme]

44. Another sad byproduct of 9-11

With the little respect and low approval ratings he had already been receiving up until the attacks, there is no way he would have gotten the obscene carte blanche from the MSM and the public in general to even begin to successfully accomplish 1/10 of his nefarious schemes.

So what is it with the Oaf and the Dick? The New Nostradami, seers extraordinaire? How did all their many arcane pronostications, essential to their agenda, come to fruition?
& I'm not talking Tin Hat here, but there must be some kind of explanation