In case anyone's missed it, it now seems abundantly clear that the Bush Administration began paying AT&T and other major telecommunications companies to ignore FISA and commence surveillance of our domestic phone and internet communications only days after Bush took office in 2001, and well before the 9/11 terror attacks.
Qwest, the only telcom which threw up the bulls#!t flag and refuse to participate, immediately became the subject of over-the-top federal criminal prosecutions of its chief executives. These prosecutions are now beginning to unravel, and Qwest's defense attorneys (with the apparent tacit approval of the Federal Judiciary) are beginning to assemble a digital paper trail of both the Dirty Deeds themselves and the inevitable coverup.
Lookie here
So whatdoyaknow. All of the sudden this summer Bush sends his legislative lackeys up to Capitol Hill with a new and immovable legislative priority: legal immunity from lawsuits for the telecommunications companies who played along with the pre- 9/11 warrantless domestic spying: a get-out-of-jail (or as the case may be, Bankruptcy court) free card for all the telcoms who conspired with the Whitehouse and the Justice Department to eavesdrop without FISA court approval on the American People.
And when Congress passed a bill last week which updated the FISA law without including the telcom immunity he immediately issued a veto threat.
So what gives? Even though Bush has never met a lawsuit which he didn't consider frivilous (excepting maybe Bush vs Gore), why would he stick out his 28% political chicken-neck, to pull a handfull of well-healed telcoms out of some nasty, but emminently survivable civil lawsuits?
Why? Karl Rove. That's why.
When the lawsuits begin to fall (and the will as the Qwest evidence gains traction) they will quite correctly allege conspiracy... a conspiracy among the Telcoms themselves and government actors operating under color of law. In fact, the most promosing grounds for relief -- and the all-important awarding of attorney fees-- will be the counts under 42 USC Section 1983, which will alledge violations of Forth Amendment rights under color of law by-- you guessed it-- Karl Rove, Ashcroft, Gonzales... and possibly Bush himself.
These government officials-- those genuises who thought up the spying schemes themselves for apparent political reasons-- will be most at risk financially.
So as you read, as you no doubt will in the upcoming veto fight, that Bush is merely taking a principled stand in support of the Telcoms...don't you believe it for a second. Bush is fighting to save his own scrowny neck and those necks of his favorite political cronies: Rove, Ashcroft and Gonzales.
Because, Dear Reader, the framing is clear and must be shouted from the mountain tops: Telcom Immunity = Rove, Gonzales & Bush Immunity.