Every concerned American citizen who loves liberty and our Bill of Rights must read a Washington Post article published on October 13, 2007:
Former CEO Says U.S. Punished Phone FirmQwest Feared NSA Plan Was Illegal, Filing SaysWashington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, October 13, 2007; Page A01
A former Qwest Communications International executive, appealing a conviction for insider trading, has alleged that the government withdrew opportunities for contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars after Qwest refused to participate in an unidentified National Security Agency program that the company thought might be illegal.
Former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio, convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading, said the NSA approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to court documents unsealed in Denver this week....
click here it appears that both the House and the Senate, led by Jay Rockeller, Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and Silvestre Reyes, Chair of the House Intelligence Committee, are prepared to quietly grant retroactive immunity to the telecom communications, absolving them of all guilt if they spied on us prior to September 11, 2001.
Deal Close on Wiretap Law, a Top Democrat Tells CNNWASHINGTON — The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee hinted Sunday that a battle over an expired eavesdropping law might be moving toward a conclusion that gave phone companies the retroactive legal protections long sought by President Bush.
The chairman, Representative Silvestre Reyes, Democrat of Texas, said in an interview on CNN that the committee had been talking to the companies “because if we’re going to give them blanket immunity, we want to know and understand what it is we’re giving immunity for.”
Mr. Reyes did not specify what provisions a House bill might contain. But his use of the words “blanket immunity” suggested that he might be moving toward a Senate bill, backed by Mr. Bush, that would protect phone companies that assisted in a federal program of wiretapping without warrants after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“I have an open mind about that,” Mr. Reyes said.
“We’re very close,” he added. “Probably within the next week, we’ll be able to move hopefully to bring it to a vote.”...
click here Flat out, No!
First of all, I want to know precisely why we were being spied on prior to September 11, 2001?
I also think that the 9/11 Commission should be recreated, this time with independent scientists, scholars, et al, doing the work instead of political hacks like Philip Zelikow.
I also recommend that every American citizen who cares about our nation's security take a look at a review of a new book by Philip Shenon, THE COMMISSION: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Commission:
