I Need Some Help Here - When Did Bush Begin His Eavesdropping Program???

[Peter Frank]

I need to freeper-proof an argument.

[ddeclue]

1. That's part of the problem...nobody knows...

Secret government isn't accountable to the people.

For all we know it began January 20, 2001.


Doug D.

[Rainscents]

2. My guess is on Sept 12th, 2001.

I don't know, I'm sure, it was soon after 9/11/2001

[librechik]

3. we don't know the exact date but it was ca Aug 21, 2002

when Ashcroft filed the first appeal of a FISA warrant in 24 years re Truongh

http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/082102appeal.html

which gave them a reason to go around--

personally, I think they started right away after9/11 2001 or sooner

[babylonsister]

4. I think probably shortly after the Patriot Act was passed. For

a real answer, we need to hear what the outraged and (1) resigned judge ha(s)ve to say.

[Straight Shooter]

5. He said after September 11. But he lies about everything.

So, who really knows? :shrug:

[Peter Frank]

8. Yeah, it was probably more like Jan. 20, 2001... n/t

[gratuitous]

6. The NYT had it beginning in 2002 originally

But they moved it back to 2001:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/politics/18spy.html

[insane_cratic_gal]

7. Sept 18th wasn't it? 2001?

<snip>

President Bush to use military force in response to the destruction of the World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon. The congressional resolution of Sept. 18, 2001, formally titled "Authorization for the Use of Military Force," made no reference to surveillance or to the president's intelligence-gathering powers, and the Bush administration made no public claim of new authority until news accounts disclosed the secret NSA operation.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122202119.html

I say that because he claims this piece of legislation actually granted him powers for wiretaps which it did not.

[Straight Shooter]

10. If it had in fact granted him the power to wiretap ...

... it would have made the news in a major way. It would have been talked about just as much then, and argued about whether it was the right thing to do, as the current revelation of his illegal wiretapping.

David Corn of The Nation, or Kos, or Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, and certainly on DU we would have caught that expansion of power.

Such BS from bush. It's disgusting how he is constantly looking at history through the warped perception of his dictatorial ambition.

[jbnow]

11. But in 01

people were still blinded by the horror and fear of 9/11. If he'd said it was just to keep us safe (hijackers were in America, might be more evil-doers) many people might not have objected, even ones who are objecting at recent disclosure.

I bet bush gang was surprised Congress wouldn't grant it right after 9/11. Fear works well.

[Straight Shooter]

14. True

But it still would have made the news, and that is why bush is being proven to be such a liar now, claiming that he brought this matter before Congress when clearly he didn't.

Yes, sadly, fear works very well. I expected the jingoism after September 11. I was surprised at how easily Americans were cowed into subservience to an incompetent leader. Quite an eye-opener. The continued willingness to give up civil rights is such a dishonor to those who died in the "land of the free and the home of the brave."

[icymist]

9. Solely because the dates keep changing.....

we can all assume that the begin date started shortly after Jan. 20, 2001. I don't trust this guy and never did. Just because he's president, does that make it any difference? I always assume my phone line tapped and my goings monitored. It's sad, I know, but that's life after the USSR and America changed places!

edit for spelling.

[Zinfandel]

12. In late 2002 to spy on demcrats, running in elections and through 2004

He will never appear in front of a court, he can never tell he'd be in real deep shit if it ever got out...right now...they'll keep throwing up smokescreens until one works and ride it out until it goes bye-bye like everything else he's done.

[Peter Frank]

13. Thanks everyone...

Your replies have helped tremendously.