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Skriven 2006-05-12 10:38:50 av BOB SAKOWSKI (1:123/140)
Ärende: Reaction to Der Fascist Monkey
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Editorials, from Right and Left, Hit Latest NSA Shocker

By Greg Mitchell

Published: May 11, 2006

NEW YORK Leading newspapers reacted swiftly to USA Today's Thursday
bombshell confirming the long-rumored National Security Agency "data
mining" operation drawing on phone records of tens of millions of
Americans. Web sites covered the reactions of the day in Washington, and
now editorials are appearing.

The New York Times' James Risen and Eric Lichtblau first disclosed the
program, but in less specific terms, last December. Thursday on its Web
site, The Washington Post confirmed it, using these words: "The Bush
administration has secretly been collecting the domestic telephone records
of millions of American households and businesses, assembling gargantuan
databases and attempting to sift them for clues about terrorist threats,
according to sources with knowledge of the program."

A Post editorial asserted that data mining can be legitimate but "a giant
government database detailing which phone numbers called which other phone
numbers...is a massive intrusion on personal privacy."

USA Today on Friday ran a lengthy editorial slamming the program -- while
observing that the White House had declined the opportunity to provide an
opposing view.
The newspaper declared, "Creating a huge, secret database of Americans'
phone records does far more than threaten terrorists. It is a deeply
troubling act that undermines U.S. freedoms and threatens us all."

From the right, the Chicago Tribune editorial page on Friday opined, "This
sounds like a vast and unchecked intrusion on privacy. President Bush's
assurance Thursday that the privacy of Americans was being 'fiercely
protected' was not at all convincing.....Based on the newspaper's
reporting, this effort appears to go far beyond any surveillance effort
that would be targeted at terrorist operations.

"At first blush this program carries troubling echoes of Total Information
Awareness, a proposed Defense Department 'data-mining' expedition into a
mass of personal information on individuals' driver's licenses, passports,
credit card purchases, car rentals, medical prescriptions, banking
transactions and more. That was curbed by Congress after a public outcry.
It seems the people who wanted to bring you TIA didn't get the message."

The Tribune noted that it had backed NSA surveillance "if it included some
modest judicial oversight. But this vast mining of domestic phone records …
this is something else....

"Why would the government seek and store records of every telephone call to
your doctor, your lawyer, your next door neighbor? Tell us."

The Los Angeles Times echoed this, noting that "by now no one in (or out
of) Congress should have any faith in the administration's assurances about
either its actions or its intentions under this program. As another
president once observed: Trust, but verify. Congress needs to fill in the
blanks. "

The conservative Boston Herald observed, "Since 9/11 the American public
has been willing to rely on the assurances of government leaders that they
are preserving our privacy while fighting terrorism. Unfortunately, and
perhaps understandably, many Americans no longer believe them."

The Detroit Free Press expressed horror, but in an amusing fashion, titling
its editorial "Liberty and Scrutiny for All" and leading off with: "Might
as well just assume that every move you make, every step you take, every
call you place, they'll be watching you. So conduct yourself accordingly."

The New York Times, meanwhile, declared on Friday that "there is more
reason than ever to be worried — and angry — about how wide the
government's web has been reaching....

"The government has stressed that it is not listening in on phone calls,
only analyzing the data to look for calling patterns. But if all the
details of the program are confirmed, the invasion of privacy is
substantial. By cross-referencing phone numbers with databases that link
numbers to names and addresses, the government could compile dossiers of
what people and organizations each American is in contact with....

"What we have here is a clandestine surveillance program of enormous size,
which is being operated by members of the administration who are subject to
no limits or scrutiny beyond what they deem to impose on one another. If
the White House had gotten its way, the program would have run secretly
until the war on terror ended — that is, forever.

"Congress must stop pretending that it has no serious responsibilities for
monitoring the situation. The Senate should call back Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales and ask him — this time, under oath — about the scope of
the program. This time, lawmakers should not roll over when Mr. Gonzales
declines to provide answers. The confirmation hearings of Michael Hayden,
President Bush's nominee for Central Intelligence Agency director, are also
a natural forum for a serious, thorough and pointed review of exactly what
has been going on.

"Most of all, Congress should pass legislation that removes any doubt that
this kind of warrantless spying on ordinary Americans is illegal. If the
administration finds the current procedures for getting court approval of
wiretaps too restrictive, this would be the time to make any needed
adjustments."

The USA Today editorial observed, "The fact that the government is trying
to track (but not wiretap) every call you make and every call you receive —
at home or on your cellphone is, to say the least, disturbing.

"It means that your phone company (if you are a customer of AT&T, BellSouth
or Verizon) tossed your privacy to the wind and collaborated with this
extraordinary intrusion, and that it did so secretly and without following
any court order.

"That is, unless you're lucky enough to be served by Qwest, the one major
phone company that had the integrity to resist government pressure.

"It means that unless public opposition changes the government's course,
this database will be compiled, updated and expanded into the indeterminate
future, through countless administrations with who-knows-what interests and
motives.

"Only the most naive and unsuspicious soul could trust that it will remain
safe, secured and for the eyes only of those hunting terrorists."

It also found "questionable" arguments that the spy program is legal.

The New York Post, on the other hand, found the revelations all the more
reason to confirm Gen. Michael Hayden--who once oversaw the NSA spy
efforts--as new CIA director.

"It needs someone like Hayden - who understands the need to maximize
efforts actually to defeat the terrorists - to whip the CIA into shape once
and for all," the Post declared.
[snip]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002501664


[The conservative wing of the Republican Party, the most corrupt political
movement in the history of the republic and, like the fascist swine they
are, actively working to kill the America of The Founders.]
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