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Noteworthy News, Nota Bene News, NB News |
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Noteworthy Archives 2007 Noteworthy 2006+ Noteworthy  Operation
TIPS
TIA:
Total Information Awareness
NB: NOTA BENE 
    
 
 
 Pat
Roberts
- Secrets
Noteworthy
- Secret
Lewis
Libby - Dick
Cheney - Secrets |
NOTEWORTHY News:
War
Crimes -  Criminal
- Politicians
- US
- Iraq
-  Afghanistan
- Guantanamo
Bay -  Cuba
- Military
- Intelligence
- Prison
- Torture
-  Human
- Human
Rights - Law
-  Medical
-  Psychological
- Science
"General who probed Abu Ghraib says [Republican President] Bush officials committed war crimes." ... "The Army general who led the investigation into prisoner abuse at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison accused the [Republican President] Bush administration Wednesday of committing "war crimes" and called for those responsible to be held to account." ... "The remarks by [Major General] Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba, who's now retired, came in a new report that found that [United States] U.S. personnel tortured and abused detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, using beatings, electrical shocks, sexual humiliation and other cruel practices." ... ""After years of disclosures by government investigations, media accounts and reports from human rights organizations, there is no longer any doubt as to whether the current administration has committed war crimes," Taguba wrote. "The only question that remains to be answered is whether those who ordered the use of torture will be held to account."" ... "Taguba, whose 2004 investigation documented chilling abuses at Abu Ghraib, is thought to be the most senior official to have accused the administration of war crimes. "The commander in chief and those under him authorized a systematic regime of torture," he wrote." ... "The group Physicians for Human Rights, which compiled the new report, described it as the most in-depth medical and psychological examination of former detainees to date." ... "Also this week, a probe by the Senate Armed Services Committee revealed how senior Pentagon officials pushed for harsher interrogation methods over the objections of top military lawyers. Those methods later surfaced in Afghanistan and Iraq." -By Warren P. Strobel -McClatchyDC.com 
Special
Report - Noteworthy
- US
- Guantanamo
Bay - Cuba
- Military
- Intelligence
- Torture
- War
Crimes - Prison
- Investigation
- Legal
- Rights
- Religious
-  Terrorism
-  School
- Politics
"Guantanamo Bay detainees investigation." ... "An eight-month McClatchy investigation of the detention system created after the [September] Sept. 11 terrorist attacks has found that the [United States] U.S. imprisoned innocent men, subjected them to abuse, stripped them of their legal rights and allowed Islamic militants to turn the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba into a school for jihad." 
Torture
- Crimes
- Unlawful
- US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- Guantanamo
Bay - Cuba
- Military
- Intelligence
- Prison
- Terrorism
- War
Crimes - Politics
- Human
- Rights
- Medical
- Psychological
- Science
"Broken Laws, Broken Lives: Medical Evidence of Torture by the US." ... "About: Broken Laws, Broken Lives shows the human consequences of harsh and unlawful US interrogation practices. This landmark report reveals the excruciating pain and continued suffering of men who, never charged with any crime, endured torture at US detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay [Cuba]. Based on internationally accepted standards for clinical assessment of torture claims, the report documents practices used to bring about long-lasting pain, terror, humiliation, and shame for months on end." -Physicians for Human Rights -BrokenLives.info
Health
- Science
-  Environmental
-  Safety
- Laws
-  Manufacturing
- Industries
-  EU
- US
-  Global
- Consumers
- Government
- Politics
-  Computer
-  Privacy
-  Newborns
"Chemical Law Has Global Impact: [European Union's] E.U.'s New Rules Forcing Changes By [United States] U.S. Firms." ... "Europe this month rolled out new restrictions on makers of chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, changes that are forcing U.S. industries to find new ways to produce a wide range of everyday products." ... "The new laws in the European Union require companies to demonstrate that a chemical is safe before it enters commerce -- the opposite of policies in the United States, where regulators must prove that a chemical is harmful before it can be restricted or removed from the market. Manufacturers say that complying with the European laws will add billions to their costs, possibly driving up prices of some products." ... "The changes come at a time when consumers are increasingly worried about the long-term consequences of chemical exposure and are agitating for more aggressive regulation. In the United States, these pressures have spurred efforts in Congress and some state legislatures to pass laws that would circumvent the laborious federal regulatory process." ... "Adamantly opposed by the U.S. chemical industry and the [Republican President] Bush administration, the E.U. laws will be phased in over the next decade. It is difficult to know exactly how the changes will affect products sold in the United States. But American manufacturers are already searching for safer alternatives to chemicals used to make thousands of consumer goods, from bike helmets to shower curtains." ... "The European Union's tough stance on chemical regulation is the latest area in which the Europeans are reshaping business practices with demands that American companies either comply or lose access to a market of 27 countries and nearly 500 million people." ... "From its crackdown on antitrust practices in the computer industry to its rigorous protection of consumer privacy, the European Union has adopted a regulatory philosophy that emphasizes the consumer. Its approach to managing chemical risks, which started with a trickle of individual bans and has swelled into a wave, is part of a European focus on caution when it comes to health and the environment." ... "A study by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group found an average of 200 industrial chemicals in the cord blood of newborns." (1, 2) -By Lyndsey Layton -WashingtonPost
 John
McCain -  Rick
Davis -  Paul
J Manafort Jr - Foreign
- Money
- Politicians
-  Russia
-  Ukraine
- Military
- Intelligence
- Legislation
- History
-  Germany
- US
-  New
York - 2008
Election
"Lawmakers Seek to Close Foreign Lobbyist Loopholes." ... "Loopholes that lobbyists for foreign clients sometimes use to keep their activities under wraps would be closed under legislation that two Democratic senators are expected to offer on Thursday." ... "“The idea you could lobby an American citizen and that it would not be disclosed is really very troubling,” [New York Democratic Senator Charles] Mr. Schumer said in a telephone interview." ... "The issue of foreign lobbying has flared up in the current presidential campaign because of past dealings abroad by several former lobbyists working for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee." ... "For instance, a lobbying firm owned by Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, has worked in recent years for a Ukraine politician, Viktor Yanukovich. Both Mr. McCain and the [Republican President] Bush administration supported the opponent of Mr. Yanukovich, who had close ties to Vladimir V. Putin, then the president of Russia and now prime minister." ... "During this time, however, Mr. Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, never registered as a lobbyist for Mr. Yanukovich even though Paul Manafort, Mr. Davis’s business partner, had met with the United States ambassador in Kiev [Ukraine's capital] on Mr. Yanukovich’s behalf." ... "In a related development, Mr. McCain may have first become aware of Davis Manafort’s activities in Ukraine as far back as 2005. At that time, a staff member at the National Security Council called Mr. McCain’s Senate office to complain that Mr. Davis’s lobbying firm was undercutting American foreign policy in Ukraine, said a person with direct knowledge of the phone call who spoke on condition of anonymity." ... "Such a call might mean that Mr. McCain has been long aware of Mr. Davis’s foreign clients." ... "The current law governing foreign lobbying, the Foreign Agents Registration Act, requires those representing a foreign government or foreign officials in the United States to inform the Department of Justice. The act does not cover meetings abroad with United States officials." ... "The law was enacted in the late 1930s in an effort to flush out Nazi propagandists working in the United States. As a result, several experts have said, the law is outdated and fails to reflect the current global nature of lobbying. " -By Barry Meier -NYTimes
Secret
- Surveillance
-  Cellphone
-  Tracking
- Technology
-  Internet
- Financial
- Data
- Electronic
- Intelligence
- Counterterrorism
- Investigation
- Law
- Politics
"Secret Spy Court Repeatedly Questions FBI Wiretap Network." ... "Does the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] track cellphone users' physical movements without a warrant? Does the Bureau store recordings of innocent Americans caught up in wiretaps in a searchable database? Does the FBI's wiretap equipment store information like voicemail passwords and bank account numbers without legal authorization to do so?" ... "That's what the nation's Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court [FISC] wanted to know, in a series of secret inquiries in 2005 and 2006 into the bureau's counterterrorism electronic surveillance efforts, revealed for the first time in newly declassified documents." ... "The inquires are the first publicly known questioning of the FBI's post-9/11 surveillance activities by the secret court, which has historically approved nearly every wiretap application submitted to it. The court handles surveillance requests in counterterrorism and foreign espionage investigations. The inquiries add to questions surrounding how the FBI has used the broad powers handed to it by Congress in the 2001 USA Patriot Act, including the FBI's admitted abuse of so-called National Security Letters to get stored telephone and financial records." ... "Among other things, the declassified documents reveal that lawyers in the FBI's Office of General Counsel and the Justice Department's Office of Intelligence Policy Review queried FBI technology officials in late July 2006 about cellphone tracking. The attorneys asked whether the FBI was obtaining and storing real-time cellphone-location data from carriers under a "pen register" court order that's normally limited to records of who a person called or was called by." ... "Separately, the secret court questioned if the FBI was using pen register orders to collect digits dialed after a call is made, potentially including voicemail passwords and account numbers entered into bank-by-phone applications." ... "EFF's Bankston says it's clear that FBI offices had configured their digit-recording software, [Digital Collection System] DCS 3000, to collect more than the law allows." ... "For more on the FBI's sophisticated wiretapping technology and how it links in with the nation's phone and internet infrastructure, see Point, Click, Eavesdrop." -By Ryan Singel -27B/6 -Wired
Special
Report -  J
Robert Flores
- Money
- Politics
- Secret
- Government- Juvenile
- Justice
-  Nev
"Special Report: Juvenile Justice." ... "The following documents accompany Youth Today's ongoing reporting on the [United States] U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention." ... "*From "At Justice, 84th Place Wins"" ... "OJJDP spreadsheets containing scores and place-rankings for bids submitted under various 2007 grant programs, including mentoring, research and delinquency prevention (winners are highlighted by red borders)." ... "*From "Former Justice Official Says Juvenile Chief Misled Her" and "A Friend at Justice"" ... "A memo that U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Administrator Robert Flores wrote to Regina Schofield last July, in which he explained how he chose 10 winning proposals from among more than 100 bids for the National Programs grants." ... "*From "Juvenile Judges Group Secretly Pays to Settle U.S. Fraud Claim"" ... "Under a set of confidential agreements, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges will pay $300,000 to settle allegations that it committed fraud to get grant money from the U.S. Department of Justice, while its director [Mary Mentaberry] will pay $16,500 to settle conflict-of-interest charges." ... "The Justice Department charged that the council falsified employee time sheets, billed the federal government for work by "ghost" employees, failed to disclose that it hired the spouses of employees and fired a worker who questioned those practices, according to settlements filed this month in U.S. District Court in Reno, Nev. [Nevada]" ... "Serena Hulbert, who alleges she was wrongfully fired from the council, filed a new lawsuit for wrongful termination on April 23, according to court records." ... "*From "Juvenile Justice, A Panel of One"" ... "Here are PDFs of the winning 2007 National Juvenile Justice Program bids." ... "Here is a detailed list of bidders for OJJDP's 2007 National Juvenile Justice Program grants (winners are highlighted)." ... "Here is a spreadsheet of all OJJDP 2007 discretionary grants." -YouthToday.org
John
McCain - Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Corporate
- Military
- Government
- Phone
-  E-Mail
- Intelligence
- History
-  Arizona
- American
- International
- 2008
Election
"Adviser Says McCain Backs Bush Wiretaps." ... "A top adviser to [2008 Election Republican Presidential Candidate and Arizona] Senator John McCain says Mr. McCain believes that [Republican] President Bush’s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful, a position that appears to bring him into closer alignment with the sweeping theories of executive authority pushed by the Bush administration legal team." ... "In a letter posted online by National Review this week, the adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said Mr. McCain believed that the Constitution gave Mr. Bush the power to authorize the National Security Agency to monitor Americans’ international phone calls and e-mail without warrants, despite a 1978 federal statute that required court oversight of surveillance." ... "Although a spokesman for Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, denied that the senator’s views on surveillance and executive power had shifted, legal specialists said the letter contrasted with statements Mr. McCain previously made about the limits of presidential power." ... "In an interview about his views on the limits of executive power with The Boston Globe six months ago, Mr. McCain strongly suggested that if he became the next commander in chief, he would consider himself obligated to obey a statute restricting what he did in national security matters." ... "Mr. McCain was asked whether he believed that the president had constitutional power to conduct surveillance on American soil for national security purposes without a warrant, regardless of federal statutes." ... "He replied: “There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is.”" ... "Following up, the interviewer asked whether Mr. McCain was saying a statute trumped a president’s powers as commander in chief when it came to a surveillance law. “I don’t think the president has the right to disobey any law,” Mr. McCain replied." ... "David Golove, a New York University law professor who specializes in executive power issues, said that while the language used by Mr. McCain in his answers six months ago was imprecise, the recent statement by Mr. Holtz-Eakin “seems to contradict precisely what he said earlier.”" ... "[2008 Election Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama campaign adviser Greg Craig:] “American voters deserve to know which side of this flip-flop [McCain is] he’s on today, and what he would do as president,” Mr. Craig said in a phone interview." ... "And Glenn Greenwald, a Salon columnist and critic of the Bush administration's legal claims, wrote that the statement was a "complete reversal" by McCain, accusing the candidate of seeking "to shore up the support of right-wing extremists."" (1, 2) -By Charlie Savage -NYTimes
 Dick
Cheney - Secret
- Government
- Military
- Terrorism
- Intelligence
- Politics
- Investigation
- Osama
bin Laden
-  Nuclear
- 
- US
- Iraq
-  Iran
-  Czech
"Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true." ... "[Republicans] President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials promoted the invasion of Iraq with public statements that weren't supported by intelligence or that concealed differences among intelligence agencies, the Senate Intelligence Committee said on Thursday in a report that was delayed by bitter partisan infighting." ... "A second report found that a special office set up under then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld conducted "sensitive intelligence activities" that were inappropriate "without the knowledge of the Intelligence Community or the State Department." That report revealed that Pentagon counterintelligence officials suspected that Iran might have tried to use the group to influence administration policymakers." ... "The Senate report, the first official examination of whether top officials knew that their public statements were unsubstantiated when they made them, reviewed five speeches by Bush, Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin Powell between August 2002 and February 2003. It also dissected key statements made by them and other top officials, including Rumsfeld and then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice." ... "The committee found that the administration's warnings that former dictator Saddam Hussein was in league with Osama bin Laden, a highly inflammatory assertion in the wake of the [September] Sept. 11, 2001, al Qaida attacks, weren't substantiated by U.S. intelligence reports. In fact, it said, [United State] U.S. intelligence agencies were telling the White House that while there'd been sporadic contacts over a decade, there was no operational cooperation between Iraq and al Qaida, the report said." ... "The administration's repeated statements "suggesting that Iraq and al Qaida had a partnership, or that Iraq had provided al Qaida with weapons training, were not substantiated by intelligence," it said." ... "Contentions by Bush and Cheney that Saddam had to be removed because he could give terrorists weapons of mass destruction to strike the United States were "contradicted by available intelligence information" that found that the late Iraqi dictator was unlikely to make such transfers, the report said." ... "Cheney's assertions that Mohammad Atta, the chief Sept. 11 hijacker, had met months before the attack with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech capital, Prague [Czech Republic], were also unsubstantiated, the inquiry found." ... "The committee said that Bush and Cheney "failed to reflect concerns and uncertainties" expressed in intelligence analyses that questioned administration assertions that Iraqis would welcome U.S. troops as liberators and warned that American forces could face violent resistance." ... "Statements by Bush, Cheney and other top officials that Saddam had stockpiled chemical and biological weapons in violation of U.N. resolutions were "generally substantiated" by what turned out to be erroneous U.S. intelligence analyses, the report said." ... "However, while intelligence reports "generally substantiated" their claims that Iraq had secretly restarted a nuclear weapons program, the committee said, Bush and other officials failed to disclose that the State Department disputed that finding." ... "The administration's statements also failed to disclose that the Energy Department joined the State Department in rejecting allegations that Iraq had tried to buy uranium in Africa, the report said." ... "The reports released Thursday brought to an end a lengthy investigation into how U.S. intelligence appeared to be so wrong in the run-up to the Iraq war." -By Jonathan S. Landay with contributions by Nancy A. Youssef and Mark Seibel -McClatchyDC.com [PDF] - "Senate Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 a): REPORT on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government Officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information." [PDF] - "Senate Intelligence Iraq Phase II Report (Phase 2 b): REPORT on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy." [PDF] - "Phase I Senate report on Iraq Intelligence."
Dick
Cheney -  Stephen
A Cambone - Larry
Franklin - Noteworthy
- US
-  Italy
- Iraq
- Iran
- Military
- Politics
- Investigation
"Did Iranian agents dupe Pentagon officials?" ... "Defense Department counterintelligence investigators suspected that Iranian exiles who provided dubious intelligence on Iraq and Iran to a small group of Pentagon officials might have "been used as agents of a foreign intelligence service ... to reach into and influence the highest levels of the [United States] U.S. government," a Senate Intelligence Committee report said Thursday." ... "A top aide to [Republican President Bush's] then-secretary of defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, however, shut down the 2003 investigation into the Pentagon officials' activities after only a month, and the Defense Department's top brass never followed up on the investigators' recommendation for a more thorough investigation, the Senate report said." ... "The revelation raises questions about whether Iran may have used a small cabal of officials in the Pentagon and in [Republican] Vice President Dick Cheney's office to feed bogus intelligence on Iraq and Iran to senior policymakers in the [Republican President] Bush administration who were eager to oust the Iraqi dictator." ... "Iran, which was a mortal enemy of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and fought a bloody eight-year war with Iraq during his reign, has been the primary beneficiary of U.S. policy in Iraq, where Iranian-backed groups now run much of the government and the security forces." ... "The aborted counterintelligence investigation probed some Pentagon officials' contacts with Iranian exile Manucher Ghorbanifar, whom the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] had labeled a "fabricator" in 1984. Those contacts were brokered by an American civilian, Michael Ledeen, a former Pentagon and National Security Council consultant and a leading advocate of invading Iraq and overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime." ... "Stephen Cambone, then the undersecretary of defense for intelligence, shut down the counterintelligence investigation after only a month, the Senate report said." ... "The Senate committee also found that Pentagon officials concealed the contacts with Ghorbanifar from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency and the State Department. Pentagon officials also provided Senate investigators with an inaccurate account of events and, with support from two unnamed officials in Cheney's office, continued meeting with Ghorbanifar after contact with him was officially ordered to stop." ... "The first meetings with Ghorbanifar, which were disclosed in August 2003 by the Long Island, N.Y. [New York], newspaper Newsday, took place in Rome [Italy's capital] in December 2001. They were attended by two Pentagon Iran experts, Harold Rhode and Larry Franklin; by an Italian military intelligence official, and by Ledeen." -By John Walcott -McClatchyDC.com
Secret
- US
- Iraq
- Military
-  Airspace
- Corporate
- Law
- Politics
- McCain
-  Obama
- 2008
Election
"Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control: [Republican President] Bush wants 50 military bases, control of Iraqi airspace and legal immunity for all American soldiers and contractors." ... "A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad [Iraq's capital] would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the [United States] US presidential [2008] election in November." ... "The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq. Iraqi officials fear that the accord, under which US troops would occupy permanent bases, conduct military operations, arrest Iraqis and enjoy immunity from Iraqi law, will destabilise Iraq's position in the Middle East and lay the basis for unending conflict in their country." ... "But the accord also threatens to provoke a political crisis in the US. President Bush wants to push it through by the end of next month so he can declare a military victory and claim his 2003 invasion has been vindicated. But by perpetuating the US presence in Iraq, the long-term settlement would undercut pledges by the [2008 Election] Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, to withdraw US troops if he is elected president in November." ... "The timing of the agreement would also boost the Republican [2008 Election Presidential] candidate, John McCain, who has claimed the United States is on the verge of victory in Iraq – a victory that he says Mr Obama would throw away by a premature military withdrawal." ... "America currently has 151,000 troops in Iraq and, even after projected withdrawals next month, troop levels will stand at more than 142,000 – 10 000 more than when the military "surge" began in January 2007. Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government." ... "The precise nature of the American demands has been kept secret until now. The leaks are certain to generate an angry backlash in Iraq. "It is a terrible breach of our sovereignty," said one Iraqi politician, adding that if the security deal was signed it would delegitimise the government in Baghdad which will be seen as an American pawn." ... "The US has repeatedly denied it wants permanent bases in Iraq but one Iraqi source said: "This is just a tactical subterfuge." Washington also wants control of Iraqi airspace below 29,000ft and the right to pursue its "war on terror" in Iraq, giving it the authority to arrest anybody it wants and to launch military campaigns without consultation." ... "Mr Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-called "strategic alliance" without modifications, by the end of next month." -By Patrick Cockburn -Independent.co.uk
John
McCain - Corporate
- Military
- Government
- Telecommunications
- Surveillance
- Amnesty
- Politics
- Intelligence
-  John
Yoo - Torture
- Detainee
- Human
Rights - Enforcement
-  Florida
- 2008
Election
"McCain tangled in flip-flop flap over wiretapping immunity." ... "A series of statements about immunizing telecommunications companies that violated federal wiretapping laws have become something of an embarrassment, and perhaps even a problem, for [2008 Election Republican] John McCain's presidential campaign." ... "The statements revolve around whether McCain, like [Republican] President Bush, supports legislation that could be voted on this month extending retroactive immunity to those companies and perhaps many more." ... "In 2005, at least, McCain was in favor of letting the courts decide whether AT&T and other telecos violated the law." ... "... [Late December 2007] McCain told the Boston Globe this: "I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is."" ... "But after McCain became the all-but-official nominee, his political principles appear to have become more malleable. He voted in February for retroactive immunity -- even though there were no explicit statements telling AT&T and other telecommunications companies that this is not a "blessing." There were no deals providing for "oversight hearings." And there certainly were no "provisions" to ensure this won't happen again." ... "Our story may have ended there. Except that campaign representative Chuck Fish (not an actual campaign lawyer, as has been incorrectly reported, but a surrogate) subsequently suggested that his candidate still wanted "hearings," which The Washington Post picked up on last week. McCain's campaign fired off a nastygram to the Post saying that their candidate's "position on immunity has not changed."" ... "Meanwhile, McCain was questioned about his position at a town hall meeting the next day -- he replied that Congress needs to "have hearings" -- which The Wall Street Journal dutifully reported. The fuss became enough to prompt the conservative National Review to begin questioning McCain's the-executive-can-wiretap-as-it-pleases credentials. Salon entered the fray too." ... "[Florida Democratic Representative] Rep. Robert Wexler of Florida, who is a member of the House Judiciary committee, sent us this statement on Wednesday:" "I am appalled by Senator John McCain's reaffirmation of support for the use of warrantless wiretapping on American citizens. Senator McCain has once again chosen to align himself with President George Bush, whose reprehensible spying program on Americans is a grave threat to our Constitutions guarantees of privacy and limited executive power. It is clear that Senator McCain, President Bush, and their Republican allies in Congress will continue to use scare tactics and fear mongering to claim that a president can simply chose to ignore America's laws... Senator McCain opposes a bipartisan House compromise bill that preserves appropriate court review of all surveillance of US citizens and gives judges the discretion to review all the necessary documents related to telecom lawsuits without offering blanket immunity.""Yet there's a more important issue here, which is why the neo-cons are pressing McCain to adhere to the Bush administration's line. And that's the administration's theory of the so-called unitary executive, which says that the president's use of military force cannot be reviewed by courts." ... "McCain's earlier statements -- especially where he says presidents must "obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress" -- seem to question the administration's interpretation. Beyond wiretapping, that touches on topics such as John Yoo's so-called torture memos, the applicability of the Geneva Convention to detainees, Bush's signing statements, and military commissions. Questioning the justifications for Bush's warrantless wiretapping means questioning the rest; no wonder McCain seems a little worried about where this may lead." -By Declan McCullagh -CNET [note: The conservative/Republican opinion magazine National Review supports lawless surveillance.] |
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