This diary argues that we are beginning to see the unraveling of domestic spying programs or program aspects known only to the Gulag Gang – Bush, Cheney, and Addington in order to provide Abu, et al a ‘plausible deniability’ stonewall reappears, right out the Iran- Contra playbook, and this is driving the push on FISA and other activities.
After reading the linked WaPo article,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I challenge anyone to defy the notion that we are at the tip of a melting iceberg with respect to the true scope of the domestic spying activities conducted by the White House. For the reasons I set forth, infra, the sudden rush to FIX FISA (see mcjoan’s excellent FISA diary and p.A4 of today’s WaPo) is primarily an inoculation strategy for when the roof comes off this Teapot Dome 2007.
After all, if Congressional Dems have just put a "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" on this crap, how much traction will complaints about the additional revelations of Administration thuggery have with general public ?
My underlying premise is based upon years of experience in the courts, on the Hill, and having served as counsel to a committee and it is this :
There exist programs or at a minimum program aspects that even Abu, Ashcroft and others did not know about ; as the ‘plausible deniability’ stonewall reappears, right out the Iran- Contra playbook.
The circle in the know thus never included the ‘Gang of 8’, and may have been limited to the Gulag Gang – Bush, Cheney, and Addington – even the senior operatives may have been in the dark. And if ‘Roviavelli’ fingers are in the pie, you can bet that domestic political operatives whose ‘actions may aid, abet or encourage our enemies’, (or STAND IN THE WAY OF CREATING A PERMANENT REPUBLICAN MAJORITY) would find their communications fair game.
As noted in my liveblogging comments during the hearings, Abu knows of ‘other intelligence activities’, but I don’t think he knows what they are - our elected Representatives need to ‘grow some stones’, leave no stone unturned, and bust the stonewall because as I see it, the biggest terror threat is the ‘ we had to kill the patient to save him’ approach to our liberties taken by the Pennsylvania Avenue Politboro.