Inspectors General Report on Bush Domestic Spy Program Finally Released
Unclassified version of Congressionally-mandated report indicates very few in Bush WH, DoJ knew about unprecedented surveillance of American citizens
Full extent of program still unknown...
Posted By Brad Friedman On 10th July 2009 @ 17:33 In CIA, Dick Cheney, War On Terror, Rights And Freedoms, Accountability, Dept. of Justice, John Ashcroft, Bush Legacy | Comments Disabled
Imagine --- just imagine --- the outrage we'd be hearing from every side of the Rightwing blogo-mediasphere if the report [PDF] [1], just out today from the Inspectors General of five different U.S. intelligence agencies, found that President Obama was carrying out a clandestine "Presidential Surveillance Program" that only he, a handful in the White House, and just two or three officials at the DoJ were aware of.
They would, of course, be appropriately outraged (for a change), and even justified in calling for Obama's impeachment over an apparently unprecedented, illegal intrusion into the private lives of American citizens, justified only by a single "legal finding" of one low-level attorney at the DoJ's Office of Legal Counsel.
But will the wingnuts say a word about the report out today showing that Bush/Cheney's criminal outfit did exactly that? Will those who have found our site of late, having come here to justify crazy Sarah Palin's decision to abort in her first term, condemn Bush for any of this, as they surely would had it been found that Obama had been doing the exact same thing? We'll see.
Finally, we're beginning to receive some details on what former Deputy AG James Comey's incredibly dramatic Congressional testimony [2] (video here [3], transcript here [4])-- describing his late-night sprint to Ashcroft's hospital bedside to intercept White House officials (Gonzalez and Card) coming over to strongarm him into signing an extension for the still not-fully-disclosed spying program --- was all about.
On the road for the moment, so you're on your own here for a bit. Dig in...
• Washington Post's coverage here... [5]
• AP's coverage here... [6]
• Unclassified version of the report here [PDF]... [7]
MORE...
• Spencer Ackerman's analysis (so far): CIA Played Leading Role in Warrantless Spying [8] ... Only Yoo Knew About Surveillance at DoJ [9] ... Program Leads Were 'Determined Not to Have Anything to Do With Terrorism' [10] ... Gonzalez Testimony Was 'Confusing, Inaccurate, Misleading' [11] ... Missing from the IG Report [12] ... Bush Personally Ordered Ashcroft Hospital Visit [13] ...
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URL to article: https://bradblog.com/?p=7296
URLs in this post:
[1] report [PDF]: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/psp.pdf
[2] incredibly dramatic Congressional testimony: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/003221.php
[3] video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxHjWYA50Ds
[4] transcript here: http://thinkprogress.org/comey-testimony/
[5] Washington Post's coverage here...: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/10/AR2009071002536.
html
[6] AP's coverage here...: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2009/07/report_bush_program_extended_beyon
d_wiretapping.php?ref=fpa
[7] Unclassified version of the report here [PDF]...: http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/psp.pdf
[8] CIA Played Leading Role in Warrantless Spying: http://washingtonindependent.com/50390/cia-played-a-leading-role-in-warrantless-
surveillance
[9] Only Yoo Knew About Surveillance at DoJ: http://washingtonindependent.com/50398/yoo-and-only-yoo-knew-about-surveillance
[10] Program Leads Were 'Determined Not to Have Anything to Do With Terrorism': http://washingtonindependent.com/50414/most-psp-leads-were-determined-not-to-hav
e-any-connection-to-terrorism
[11] Gonzalez Testimony Was 'Confusing, Inaccurate, Misleading': http://washingtonindependent.com/50431/gonzales-testimony-on-surveillance-was-co
nfusing-inaccurate-and-misleading
[12] Missing from the IG Report: http://washingtonindependent.com/50443/stuff-thats-missing-from-the-inspectors-g
eneral-report-on-warrantless-surveillance
[13] Bush Personally Ordered Ashcroft Hospital Visit: http://washingtonindependent.com/50466/bush-personally-ordered-visit-to-ashcroft
s-hospital-bed
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