Shades of Blue

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Old dogs have old tricks -- Documents show Rumsfeld and Cheney wanted to snoop on Americans without warrants in Ford administration

It seems like you don't have to teach these old dogs new tricks; they have the same old ones they're always trying to play. The Associated Press reports that historical documents from the Ford administration show that Rumsfeld and Cheney were trying to snoop on Americans without warrants even then.

Check out these quotes from the AP article.

"We strongly believe it is unwise for the president to concede any lack of constitutional power to authorize electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes," wrote Robert Ingersoll, then deputy secretary of state, in a 1976 memorandum to Ford about the proposed bill on electronic surveillance.
Former president Bush, then director of the CIA, wanted to ensure "no unnecessary diminution of collection of important foreign intelligence" under the proposal to require judges to approve terror wiretaps, said a March 1976 memorandum he wrote to the Justice Department. Bush also complained some major communications companies were unwilling to install government wiretaps without a judge's approval. Such a refusal "seriously affects the capabilities of the intelligence community," Bush wrote.


Maybe it reflected good judgement on the phone companies' part.

Don't you just love it when history repeats itself (or someone keeps trying the same trick)? It make it so much easier to recognize what's happening.

Let's see, they didn't have 9/11 to use as their catch-all excuse for spying on Americans or otherwise eviscerating the Constitution and Bill of Rights so what WAS their rationalization then?

Check out the AP article on Truthout for more info.

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