Another report on the hypocrisy of the left
From The American Thinker
Under Clinton, NY Times called surveillance "a necessity"
January 12th, 2006
The controversy following revelations that U.S. intelligence agencies have monitored suspected terrorist related communications since 9/11 reflects a severe case of selective amnesia by the New York Times and other media opponents of President Bush. They certainly didn’t show the same outrage when a much more invasive and indiscriminate domestic surveillance program came to light during the Clinton administration in the 1990’s. At that time, the Times called the surveillance “a necessity.”
“If you made a phone call today or sent an e-mail to a friend, there’s a good chance what you said or wrote was captured and screened by the country’s largest intelligence agency.” (Steve Kroft, CBS’ 60 Minutes)
Those words were aired on February 27, 2000 to describe the National Security Agency and an electronic surveillance program called Echelon whose mission, according to Kroft,
“is to eavesdrop on enemies of the state: foreign countries, terrorist groups and drug cartels. But in the process, Echelon’s computers capture virtually every electronic conversation around the world.”
Echelon was, or is (its existence has been under-reported in the American media), an electronic eavesdropping program conducted by the United States and a few select allies such as the United Kingdom.
Read the rest
posted by LiberalismIsAMentalDisorder @ 12:54
5 Comments:
Lets see if you can deal with opposing viewpoints on your blog unlike Tammy "Who ever I don’t like must be a fascist” Bruce. The difference is that the Echelon project did not require warrants unlike the ongoing wiretaps that Bush approved. I know facts like this interfere with the right's attempt to cloud the issue, the sad thing is that it will probably work.
Joe
Joe
First of all, I have been a long time listener of Tammy Bruce, and I have never heard her ONCE call someone who disagrees with her a fascista, maybe that is just your image based on bad information about her.
Since I am not completely familiar with the eschelon program and I am not a legal scholar, I am not going to argue the merits of the program with you. I am going to say, however, that given the current war on terror and the ways in which Al-Qaeda is operating, I have no problems with the NSA monitoring phone calls from known terrorist locations into the United States or calls made from the United States to terrorist nations.
I still maintain and ask for one piece of proof where an american citizen has been wrongly accused through itelligence gathered through the wire taps. Take a look, you will not find one.
-If you don't think Tammy refers to those she disagree with as "fascists" you obviously have never read any of her books where terms like "fascist" and "brown shirts" are thrown around like they actually mean nothing
-As far as the echelon/wiretapping controversy its refreshing to see you admit that you really have no idea what the facts behind each of these programs are. All it takes is for the right to dig up this ridiculous article and than cry hypocrisy as if this had anything to do with the issue. I agree with you, I want law enforcement to have every tool at their disposal to track terrorists as long as it is done with oversight and within the law. It amazes me that conservatives, who are supposed to be suspicious of government power, will say nothing as the President basically declares war without end and than says, "Trust me".
-A side note about your friend Tammy. I like engaging in debate especially in the blogosphere but unfortunately Tammy can’t deal with opposing viewpoints on her blog. I have tried to leave several comments in response to her posts (similar to the one above) and mysteriously they never appear. As an experiment I left responses that I don't think many conservatives agree with but definitely come from the right. The comments that wished death on Howard Dean and the Clintons, and the comment that compared public school teachers to child molesters where able to get through the Tammy filter. Some would say that purposely censoring p.o.v.s you don't agree with is a sign of fascist behavior, personally I just think she's a cowardly wuss.
Joe
Well then, I think that is all we can say on this subject then. If you read her blog today you will see conservatives complaining in the open thread that the left frequently moderates or deletes conservatives viewpoints, so if she does the same then it is righteous of you to cry foul and hypocrisy. Being a radio host, she welcomes dissenting opinions on her show and I have never heard her speak disparingly of anyone except the loonies who make policy on capitol hill in direct contradiction with common sense.
The fact the president declared war has nothing at all to do with conservatives accepting a statement such as "trust me" In fact, its caused me to be more personally aware of what is going on. The wire taps are lawful from what I understand in the coverage of the issues, and where I stand on the issue is, unless and until it is PROVEN otherwise by a proper investigation and outcome, then I will stand by the president when he says there are no laws being broken. That is the bottom line.
As a way of illustrating this point, I will bring Clinton into this in that when the whole monica Lewinsky thing was happening I was maintaining to my friends and other conservatives that we had no business in his bedroom, that issue is between him, and his wife. But Clinton made it an issue with the american people when he outright lied under oath, which is what he was impeached for.
The flip side of all that is the democrats and the left in this country have been hurling so many baseless accusations at the president that the rhetoric has lost any and all meaning and any attempt at this point on their part to get an accusation proven legally will be seen as more of the same by the conservatives and moderates in this country...seriously, we have been listening to it for 6 years now and there is not one indictment and 99% of what was hurled at him has been proven to be inaccurate, so understand where conservatives are coming from
I'm curious as to where you've gotten your info about whether or not Bush's wiretaps are legal, besides the stretch that the resolution congress passed gives him the power to basically do whatever he wants. If that is your reasoning I'm curious as to where you think the Presidents power ends. Can he do anything as long as he can connect it with fighting terrorism? The wiretaps Bush allowed the NSA to carry out clearly violate the FISA act which allows the NSA to start listening but requires them to go before a judge within 72 hours.
As far as the "baseless accusations" I guess liberals learned from conservatives during the Clinton years when the attitude on the right was one of "We know he's guilty of (insert crime here) now we just need to prove it"
Joe
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