Progressive Minds

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2005/12/20

Bush in April 2004: Wiretaps Require Court Order

@ 08:42 PM (32 months, 13 days ago)

By his own admission, Idiot Son has broken the law.

On April 20, 2004, while in Buffalo, New York, he said that wiretaps require a court order.

"Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.

But a roving wiretap means -- it was primarily used for drug lords. A guy, a pretty intelligence drug lord would have a phone, and in old days they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets. And that changed, the law changed on -- roving wiretaps were available for chasing down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, see? And that didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed to happen."

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-2.html

In related news, a federal judge from the court that oversees government surveillance, has resigned in protest of Bush's domestic spying program.

Spy Court Judge Quits In Protest

Comment(s) »

  1. did you know the terrorists can clone a cell phone in less than ten minures?

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/12/20 @ 10:58 PM — (Reply)

  2. Indeed, we need to find a way to expidite the process of getting a warrant. It is largly outdated and has not been updated since the invention of technologies such as cell phones, ect.

    Comment by C-Mom— 2005/12/21 @ 06:25 AM — (Reply)

  3. As usual, you all have missed the phone.

    If the Bush Crime Team feels that strongly about wiretaps, then go the legal route and get a court order!

    George W. Bush has basically admitted that he conducted illegal activity. You must not be reading the post above, obviously.

    On April 20, 2004 he said that court orders WERE REQUIRED for wiretaps. And now we know he has been failing to seek those court orders.

    And this has nothing to do with terrorism or 9/11. This has everything to do with our government basically returning to the J. Edgar Hoover days of the FBI: when the government spied on its political enemies.

    Do you not find it curious that the government spied on people opposed to Bush's policies, such as environmental groups and anti-poverty groups?

    Comment by SMillard— 2005/12/21 @ 03:35 PM — (Reply)

  4. A court order every ten minutes?

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/12/21 @ 11:09 PM — (Reply)



  5. Do you not find it curious that the government spied on people opposed to Bush's policies, such as environmental groups and anti-poverty groups?


    I am afraid you have been reading a little too much of George Soros and company's anti-Bush rhetoric.

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/12/21 @ 11:10 PM — (Reply)

  6. Canadian telecom service provider Rogers Communications has been the victim of numerous number-cloning operations by the terrorist group Hezbollah — in which even the phone number of CEO Ted Rogers was “borrowed” — but steadfastly refused to address consumer complaints about the problem, insisting that customers were liable for outsized bills. However, all that changed after aggrieved consumer (and law professor) Susan Drummond — who was stuck with a bill for over $10,000 for calls to countries such as Libya, Pakistan, Russia and Syria — recorded comments made by a Rogers security exec, who admitted that the company had suffered cloning problems at the hands of Hezbollah going back as far as 1997...

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/12/21 @ 11:18 PM — (Reply)

  7. note the silence of the New York Times and the privacy crusaders over a report last week that military spy satellites were used to monitor suspects after the Oklahoma City bombing:

    Funny enough, another story about unprecedented domestic spying measures broke a week before the Times's stunt. But neither the Times, nor the ACLU, nor the Democrat Party leadership had a peep to say about the reported infringements on Americans' civil liberties. Sen. Charles Schumer (by the way, Chuck, how's that apology to Lt. Gov. Michael Steele over his stolen credit report coming along?) did not rush to the cameras to call the alleged privacy breach "shocking." Sen. Robert Byrd did not awake from his slumber to decry the adoption of "the thuggish practices of our enemies." The indignant New York Times editorial board did not call for heads to roll.

    That's because the targets of the spy scandal that didn't make the front-page headlines were politically incorrect right-wing extremists.

    According to the McCurtain Daily Gazette, in the days after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the U.S. government used a spy satellite to gather intelligence on a white separatist compound in Oklahoma. The paper obtained a Secret Service log showing that on May 2, 1995, two weeks after the April 19 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people, the FBI was trying to locate suspects for questioning.

    Investigators zeroed in on the compound in nearby Elohim City. "Satellite assets have been tasked to provide intelligence concerning the compound," the document said, according to the Gazette and Associate Press. The Gazette noted that "America's spy-satellite program is jointly under the control of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD). Targeting decisions are classified; however, persons familiar with the project say any domestic use of these satellites is barred by agreements between the CIA and DoD." Photo-reconnaissance satellites that gather intelligence from space usually target hostile governments and foreign terrorists. "The domestic use of a military satellite for domestic spying is a violation of DoD and CIA regulations regarding the proper use of top-secret national security satellites," the Gazette reported.

    But with the exception of a brief Associated Press recap, the story received absolutely no mainstream media attention. No civil liberties circus. No White House press corps pandemonium.

    The Left believes the government should do whatever it takes to fight terrorists--­but only when the terrorists look like Timothy McVeigh. If you're on the MCI Friends and Family plan of Osama bin Laden and Abu Zubaydah, you're home free.

    ***

    Meanwhile, a sane Democrat lawyer who served in the Clinton administration supports President Bush's legal position on the post-9/11 electronic surveillance program.

    Comment by Elmers Brother— 2005/12/21 @ 11:21 PM — (Reply)

  8. The President has no responsibility to obtain a warrant to gather foriegn intellegence, even if the obtaining of such is on American soil. Therefore, if a foriegn terror suspect has been or continues to be in contact with an American, a warrant is not required. The President only delegated authority to do such as permited by law. Also, President Bill Clinton authorized the same sort of wire tap on (Sorry, I'm pulling this name out of memory and it may be incorrect) Avarail, who was CIA agent found to be leaking intellegence to Russia. He was subsequently sentanced to life in prison.
    It can't be o.k. for one President, but not the next.

    Comment by C-Mom— 2005/12/22 @ 11:04 AM — (Reply)

  9. Are you that cluessless? George W. Bush DOES have the obligation to obtain a warrant. He said so himself, last year on April 20, 2004.

    Open your eyes to the truth!

    Comment by SMillard— 2005/12/22 @ 03:36 PM — (Reply)

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