Obama Adviser: I ‘Strongly’ Believe Telecoms ‘Should Be Granted Immunity’

[KoKo]

Obama Adviser: I ‘Strongly’ Believe Telecoms ‘Should Be Granted Immunity’


Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has consistently spoken out and voted against granting retroactive immunity for telecoms that participated with the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. This stance was part of the reason he won the support of Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), a leader on civil liberties issues.

One of Obama’s advisers on intelligence and foreign policy advisers, however, is someone who “strongly” supports telecomm immunity. John Brennan is a former CIA official and the current chairman of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance. In a new National Journal interview, Brennan makes it clear that he agrees with the Bush administration on the issue of immunity:

There is this great debate over whether or not the telecom companies should in fact be given immunity for their agreement to provide support and cooperate with the government after 9/11. I do believe strongly that they should be granted that immunity, because they were told to do so by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context, and so I think that’s important. And I know people are concerned about that, but I do believe that’s the right thing to do. I do believe the Senate version of the FISA bill addresses the issues appropriately.


http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/07/obama-brennan/

[blm]

1. Not as close an advisor as Bill Clinton is. Bill sides completely with Bush and advised Tony Blair

from 2001-2007.

YOU want Tony Blair in a skirt?

[KoKo]

3. lol's...Tony Blair in a skirt...

I really don't like either Obama or Hillary...but it's the two we have.

[blm]

4. Look at their closest advisors. Obama's on national security are Gary Hart, Richard Clarke,

John Kerry, Anthony Zinni, Samantha Powers (she'll be back), Lawrence Korb. Hillary's most SIGNIFICANT ADVISOR is Bill Clinton who sides completely with Bush and the Dubai and Saudi royals.

[Metta]

2. Sure, look who's talking. Here's a link to a great dissection of the FISA sham bill.

As has been expected for a week now, the House Democratic leadership has prepared and is now currently circulating (while trying very hard to keep it confidential) their so-called "compromise" FISA bill. Their soon-to-be-unveiled bill, unsurprisingly, is designed to give the White House exactly what it has demanded, with only the smallest and most inconsequential changes.

The current draft does not contain telecom immunity (solely for temporary strategic reasons -- see below), but incorporates every substantive warrantless surveillance provision of the Rockefeller/Cheney bill passed by the Senate, with several small and worthless exceptions that they'll try to sell to what they obviously think is their stupid base as some vital "concessions":





http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/07/house_fisa/index.html

[southern_dem]

5. So this proves that Obama isn't surrounded by "yes" people

but listens to different POVs and then makes the right decision? :shrug:

[KoKo]

6. I'd rather he didn't have someone who supports telecom immunity as his advisor

though. It's one thing to listen to differing opinions its another to have an advisor who supports illegal wiretapping and spying which is against the Constitution. :shrug:

[KoKo]

7. Kick...in case you missed this one...

:kick:

[KoKo]

8. Why would Obama have an "advisor" who supports Spying on Americans?

How can this be that that he's a Liberal/Lefty who will undo what Bush/Cheney have done? :shrug:

Obama's advisors seem to be flubbing up everything he stands for lately. NAFTA? ring a bell?

I thought Hillary was a "Witch" because her husband trashed all our Lefty Dem Ideals? Seems OBAMA is working so hard to be a "CENTRIST" he might outdo Bill and Hillary! :eyes:

[KoKo]

9. kick...how many more Obama "Advisors" will be exposed as Repugs?

or doesn't it matter anymore..who Obama is affiliated with because Clinton is so much worse? :shrug:

[kentuck]

10. Did this info come from the Canadian government??

It all sounds eerily familiar..

[AtomicKitten]

11. And in an ironic twist of fate, Hillary skipped the vote.

:rofl:

Hillary Skips Telecom Vote
http://publiusendures.blogspot.com/2008/02/hillary-skips-telecom-vote.html

Per Marc Ambinder, Obama voted against telecom immunity today, McCain voted for it, and Hillary Clinton voted.... absent?

Obama deserves at least some minimal praise for standing by his pledge to fight against telecom immunity (though as Big Tent Democrat correctly points out, his leadership on this issue has been lacking). In choosing to cast a vote on this issue, he leaves himself vulnerable to charges of being un-patriotic by the GOP. In other words, he took a very real risk here. True enough that he didn't have to sacrifice much campaigning time with today's DC-area primaries.

But the relatively small amount of praise that Obama deserves for his vote shows how cowardly Senator Clinton's actions appear in comparison. As Ambinder points out, Clinton was in Texas, for which she left last night or this morning. While conventional wisdom would point out that Hillary is using Texas as a firewall, her actions in going there at this precise moment are more than a little odd and, I think, transparent.

Her campaign headquarters is in Northern Virginia, right in the center of today's primaries. While she is almost certain to lose all three primaries, one would think she would have stayed in the area in the hopes of at least salvaging a couple of delegates. By staying in the area, of course, she would have also left herself the ability to vote on the FISA bill and the telecom immunity provisions.

Since leaving for Texas on this particular date makes very little sense, and since Clinton's opposition to telecom immunity has long been suspect, her actions give the appearance of being a transparent attempt to duck voting on the issue. By flying to Texas today, she is able to use the ready-made excuse that she was on the other side of the country and was thus unable to cast her vote; this is an excuse that she could not have used had she remained in the DC area for last-minute campaigning.

In my mind, this is nothing more than a transparent attempt to duck a vote on an issue of incredible importance to both the Democratic Party base and civil libertarians. Although I doubt civil libertarians were ever going to much support Clinton, it amazes me that any of the Dem base is willing to give her a pass on this issue.

For the record, I'm also pretty damn annoyed with the folks at Reason today, who chose to focus on the silly Che Guevara flag dustup without any regard whatsoever for the FISA votes. This despite David Weigel's call for more libertarian involvement with the issue a few weeks back.

As usual, Glenn Greenwald has the best coverage of this issue, why it's important, and why the vote on immunity is such a depressing failure of American self-government.

[CyberPieHole]

12. Kick...n/t

[bleever]

13. We know: telecom immunity is Bush immunity.

This isn't an Obama vs. Clinton post.

I just want everyone to know that WE know that telecom immunity is bush immunity, and we won't take it lying down.