Kristen Breitweise on Huffington Post: The King's Red Herring

[Pirate Smile]

The King's Red Herring

Recently, President Bush has admitted to carrying out surveillance on U.S. citizens in the interest of national security. He unabashedly admits to doing it. He offers no apologies. With his bellicose swagger, he once again uses 9/11 as his justification for breaking our constitutional laws. The President's justification of 9/11 to carry out such surveillance begs a closer examination.

President Bush should be stopped in his tracks with regard to his use of 9/11 scare tactics to circumvent constitutional laws that are meant to protect U.S. citizens. His justification for doing so -- the inability to conduct surveillance on the 9/11 hijackers -- is a red herring. History will bear out the truth -- our intelligence agencies held a treasure trove of intelligence on the 9/11 hijackers, intelligence that was gathered through their initially unencumbered surveillance. President Bush should busy himself by investigating why that information was then stymied and not capitalized upon to stop the 9/11 attacks.

MOUSSAOUI, FISA, and FBI SURVEILLANCE -- MISUNDERSTANDING #1:

When it comes to the FBI and Zaccarias Moussaoui, one must understand that the FBI met all evidentiary standards to both apply for and be granted a FISA warrant. The information the FBI had to support their FISA request was two files on Moussaoui that were given to the FBI by the French and British intelligence services. Inexplicably, FBI lawyers and supervisors at FBI HQ "misunderstood" the evidentiary standards needed to apply for and receive a FISA warrant, and they refused the FISA request from the FBI agents in Minneapolis. Thus, the Moussaoui search warrant paperwork was never submitted to the FISA court. One need only read Colleen Rowley's memorandum to confirm these facts.

-snip-
AL MIHDHAR/AL HAZMI & THE STATE DEPARTMENT-MISUNDERSTANDING #2:

When it comes to al Mihdhar and al Hazmi, the story is relatively the same -- more "misunderstandings" that blocked surveillance and prevention of the 9/11 attacks. The official story is that the "Reno Wall" blocked the FBI from receiving vital information regarding al Mihdhar and al Hazmi. Allegedly, that vital information was contained in FBI files that pertained to the USS Cole bombing investigation. Both al Mihdhar and al Hazmi were connected to the Cole bombing and as such were investigated as part of the FBI's Cole investigation.

-snip-
ABLE DANGER-MISUNDERSTANDING #3

When it comes to Able Danger and surveillance, one must look at the alleged history of Able Danger and know the facts. Able Danger was allegedly a special operation that included according to Congressman Curt Weldon both analysis ("data mining") and action ("taking out cells"). The Able Danger team was allegedly tasked and created during the Clinton Administration -- many months before the USS Cole bombing. Notably, at least two of the men who were allegedly identified as targets in the Able Danger operation were linked to the Cole Bombing and the 9/11 attacks -- Khalid al Mihdhar and Nawaf al Hazmi.

The story is that Able Danger was allegedly dismantled in May 01 because it violated posse comitatus. With regard to Able Danger and its surveillance of terrorists within the borders of the United States, the alleged Able Danger cells were not U.S. citizens. Therefore, posse comitatus did not apply. Once again, lawyers "misunderstood" the law. They thought terrorists in the United States participating in terrorist acts were entitled to the same rights as U.S. citizens. Quite a "misunderstanding." The result of their misunderstanding? Four of the 9/11 hijackers -- members of the Brooklyn Cell -- were not "taken out" and a mere four months later able to carry out the 9/11 attacks.

-snip-
THE KING'S APPROACH

President Bush is using the intelligence community's pre-9/11 "inability" to carry out surveillance on the hijackers as his reasoning for currently conducting surveillance on U.S. citizens. First of all none of the 9/11 terrorists were U.S. citizens. Moreover, no law past or present barred the intelligence community from stopping the 9/11 terrorists. Ultimately, what stopped the intelligence community from capturing or killing the 9/11 hijackers prior to the 9/11 attacks were the lawyers and supervisors who repeatedly "misunderstood" the very laws they were supposed to be the experts on.

One would have hoped that President Bush would have responded to these deadly "misunderstandings" and chain of events by firing the attorneys and supervisors for their incompetence and thereafter hiring new attorneys and supervisors who were smart enough to not misunderstand our nation's laws. Our President didn't do that. Apparently, he doesn't grasp the significance of accountability. Rather, he took the simpleton's approach. He just threw out/ignored/re-wrote all the laws (think Patriot Act and his current attempt to ignore the law with regard to surveillance on U.S. citizens because we are a nation at war). Because, as far as our President is concerned with no more confusing laws, there can be no more "misunderstandings" by incompetent supervisors and lawyers and, therefore, no more 9/11's. Problem solved. Right?

Not so fast. What if these were not "misunderstandings?" What if these were purposeful decisions made with faulty judgment? At a bare minimum, the State Department entry on September 5th regarding al Mihdhar discounts, discredits and debunks the Reno Wall misunderstanding and discounts, discredits, and debunks the 9/11 Commission's story of why al Mihdhar was not found by the FBI in time to thwart the 9/11 attacks. How many other "misunderstandings" might be disproved during the upcoming Able Danger hearings? How many more "misunderstandings" might be disproved during the Moussaoui penalty phase hearing? What if they are all disproved?

Respectfully, President Bush, before you fecklessly dissolve our constitutional rights in the name of national security and invoke the failures of 9/11, the following questions should be answered:

much, much more at the link
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kristen-breitweiser/the-kings-red-herring_b_12589.html

[BlueEyedSon]

1. I love that woman... this piece from her is an Xmas present to us all!

Ok, a holiday present....
:evilgrin:

[Pirate Smile]

2. It is quite long and very detailed. I had hoped she would take Corzine's

Senate seat - he could have appointed her but she must not have wanted it.

She would have been a great conscience in the the Government for enacting the provisions to make America safer and calling BS on the political invoking of 9/11.

[truth2power]

3. This is an outstanding article! Unfortunately,

Bush's base is capable of understanding only something on the level of "Once upon a time, in a land far, far away..."

Maybe this will work: "There was NO GULF between intelligence communities prior to 9/11! They were briefed, they were warned, they KNEW, they did nothing! Now they use it to justify pissing on the U.S. Constitution!"

<Posted by a DUer. My apologies. I don't remember who it was.>

[Canuckistanian]

4. I think it's time for a more vigorous look at Able Danger

As much as I have my doubts about LIHOP or MIHOP, Breitweiser's questions on the scrapping of Able Danger must be answered.

And why has the White House been silent on all matters concerning Able Danger?

I smell a rat.

[global1]

5. Everything We've Suspected Since * Took Office....

is coming out to be true - the lying, torturing, outing, spying, vote stealing, etc - why is it so hard to believe that we were either LIHOPed or MIHOPed? Or is this just too despicable to even think that this administration and the Neocon's would be up to it? Who benefitted? Follow the money.

[Canuckistanian]

6. If this was all about the money..

Then they deserve to be locked up for the rest of their lives. It would prove there's no ideology, no ideals, no rationale behind this. Just sheer unmitigated greed.

And I fear we're only seeing the tip of the iceberg here.

[CJCRANE]

7. ...and not just who MADE money

but also who PAID (supplied the funds) for the 9-11 operation...

[NVMojo]

8. Rank it up! This needs to be on the home page!