Archive for category: Bush Administration

I’m going to assume (based on abundant evidence) that James Risen and Eric Lichtblau have more logical sense than Pinch and Keller. Therefore, I’m going to also assume that when they present logically inconsistent facts in today’s story, they are doing so to tell us some of the super secret stuff about the NSA intercept case that Dick and Bush don’t want us to know.

Here’s the fundamental illogic in their piece (and again, I’m quite confident this is intentional). The article makes it clear that it is illegal under the program to spy on US to US conversations:

Eavesdropping on communications between two people who are both insidethe United States is prohibited under Mr. Bush’s order allowing somedomestic surveillance.

[snip]

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales also emphasized that the orderonly applied to international communications. "People are runningaround saying that the United States is somehow spying on Americancitizens calling their neighbors," he said. "Very, very important tounderstand that one party to the communication has to be outside theUnited States."

It goes on to quote our second ranking intelligence official saying there’s no way such an intercept would happen by accident.

"The authorization given to N.S.A. by the president requires thatone end of these communications has to be outside the United States,"General Hayden answered. "I can assure you, by the physics of theintercept, by how we actually conduct our activities, that one end ofthese communications are always outside the United States."

But then the article concludes by giving General Hayden a physics lesson.

With roaming cellphones, internationally routed e-mail, and voice-overInternet technology, "it’s often tough to find out where a call startedand ended," said Robert Morris, a former senior scientist at the N.S.A.who is retired. "The N.S.A. is good at it, but it’s difficult even forthem. Where a call actually came from is often a mystery."

Logic Lesson Number One: It is not possible to stay completely within the legal guidelines of the program, because NSA doesn’t have the technical ability to guarantee they do so.

Back in September, I was one of the first to notice that Cheney had left Bush to his own devices in responding to New Orleans. At the time, I suspected Cheney might be trying to demonstrate how much Bush relies on Cheney when he needs to execute something effectively, rather than just spin it. And I have long suggested that the impending Plame indictments might be taxing White House loyalties.

Since then, new evidence has leaked that OVP and Bush’s aides have indeed had serious conflicts. Stories allege that Bush is lashing out at everyone in the White House, that the First Mother is  planning to pull a "Nancy Reagan" and get rid of Dick Cheney, that Bush had left Cheney out of key decisions.

But in the last week, that seems to have changed. Last week, Bush reiterated his support for both Cheney…

"The truth of the matter is that our relationship hasn’t changed hardly at all," Bush said. "I’d say the relationship  –  it’s only gotten better. We didn’t know each other that well when we first came to Washington, D.C., and my respect for him has grown immensely."

…and Rove…

"We’re still as close as we’ve ever been," Bush said. "You know, when we look back at the presidency and my time in politics, no question that Karl had a lot to do with me getting here, and I value his friendship. We’re very close."

And rumors are apparently flying that Cheney is back in the driver’s seat of the Administration (one big question on this account is who won the torture war–McCain, for preventing a CIA exception, or Dick, for finding a way to allow torture via a classified addendum to the Army Manual guidelines on interrogation). The revelations about the NSA spying seem to have further cemented Cheney’s resurgent control of this Administration.

Doug Jehl has a scathing article out providing clear evidence that the Administration knowingly used intelligence from a source deemed not credible to support their claim there were ties between Al Qaeda and Iraq.

A top member of Al Qaeda in American custody was identified as a likelyfabricator months before the Bush administration began to use hisstatements as the foundation for its claims that Iraq trained Al Qaedamembers to use biological and chemical weapons, according to newlydeclassified portions of a Defense Intelligence Agency document.

Go read the article in its entirety. But I’d like to make three points about this case which fit into the pattern of the way the  Bush Administration lied us to war.

• The intelligence from Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was almost certainly gotten using torture.
• The Administration should have known of DIA’s doubts but still prominently usedal-Libi’s intelligence as proof of an Al Qaeda-Iraq relationship.
• The DIA may have withheld the document detailing DIA’s doubts about al-Libi from the relevant oversight committees.