Questioning the President Could Cost Lives

Source
J. Michael McConnell asserts that congressional questioning could cost U.S. lives...
WASHINGTON -- -- The nation's top spy told Congress on Thursday that the public debate over the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program would lead to American deaths by revealing sensitive surveillance methods to potential terrorists.

J. Michael McConnell, director of national intelligence, testified that congressional examination of laws that govern the program, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, ran counter to established precedents. Under these, he said, "intelligence business is conducted in secret."

"It's conducted in secret for a reason," McConnell told the House Intelligence Committee. "You compromise sources and methods, and what this debate has allowed those who wish us harm to do is to understand significantly more about how we were targeting their communications."

Asked by Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) if he thought that congressional questioning of the administration's intelligence program would lead to the killing of Americans, McConnell said, "Yes, ma'am, I do."

Eshoo called his assessment "a stretch."

It was not the first time the Bush administration and its allies had charged that Democratic opposition to White House policies would compromise national security.

Yeah so even questioning the President's sweeping new surveillance powers could cost lives, sounds alarmingly like the exact same rhetoric, dangerous rhetoric, that was comming out of Germany in the late 1930's. I hope your papers are in order. It was just a few months ago that Bush was trying to extend his executive privelidge of secrecy to some Banking interests in the name of national security... apparently congressional oversight of the executive branch is a memory.

it would NOT be a security risk to at least have proper independant secure oversight of these operations. For some reason they are not willing to even do that, without playing the "people will die" card...

facts are facts.
More americans have died due to 9-11 reprisal attacks against countries that still have not been proven complicitious in 9-11, than died on 9-11.

cutting off hands to spite face...

then if you consider that we have killed fewer than a handful of the actual terrorists that attacked us (there were only so many anyway) and still haven't found the actual ringleader...

I guess i would be coming up with excuses too...

I would be smiling if only it wasnt so damn dangerous. The USA is doing EXACTLY what the nazi's did. Limiting where people can travel, force them to show their papers, dumb down population so they dont care, use fear and lies to control what they think of the world...

And its working. USA is becoming the new Germany. But not even the very strong germany could win vs the rest of the world, and neither will the USA.

Uhmmmm, its only taken me 5 years to let you all know that Bush & Hitler are one and the same.

Only Bush has WMD's and Hitler did not. Therefore, making this man the most dangerous in the world.

Keep watching the news- every day is more enlightening.

Ayup.

reply to post by dgtempe


Every day is more englightening, and for me the confrontation with reality will provoke a tremendous psychological crisis that will lead to denial or enlightenment.

I suspect that at first many thought the comparisons of W. Bush to Hitler were simply over the top. I am not certain that a direct comparison between those two persons is warranted; however, it seems the Operation Paperclip did give the USA the Nazi leaven "to leaveneth the lump" so that what is rising in the cauldron is the Fourth Reich.

Because of the use of the English language, most US Americans (and Canadians and Australians) are oblivious to the use of the word "leader" (Führer) and "homeland" (Vaterland) and other verbal cues that come from the National Socialist propaganda machine of the Weimar period and the early Third Reich.

My son who lives in Texas told me a Texas-German proverb that says "If you think you are leading, and no one is following, then you're just taking a stroll."

The tragedy is that the Democrats seem to be following W. Bush, and I can only guess is that they want the various police state powers for when they retake the White House.

"The tragedy is that the Democrats seem to be following W. Bush, and I can only guess is that they want the various police state powers for when they retake the White House."

THAT IS WHAT IS TRAGIC ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING. We as a people, have nowhere to turn, nobody who cares, we as a people are done for.
There will not be anyone who will want to un-do what Bush has done. There will not be anyone who will want peace. There will not be anyone who will want to straighten this country up. Its so sad it makes me want to cry.
Nobody cares- as i have said many times, this is all an illusion.Democrats are behind the NWO and all the taking of liberties that go along with it, and i can see the time when things will be much worse, whether JR. stays to rule or Obama, Hillary or anyone else does the honors.


Its a darn shame- no its more than a shame- its blasphemy.

The nation's top spy told Congress on Thursday that the public debate over the Bush administration's controversial warrantless wiretapping program would lead to American deaths by revealing sensitive surveillance methods to potential terrorists.

This is ridiculous, how does congressional oversight cost lives? It seems like the U.S. is becoming more like a dictatorship everyday.

reply to post by dgtempe


What about Ron Paul? I think he is the best chance we have.

Excellent observations all around. I do think that today’s USA is playing the same role Germany did some 70 yrs ago now, with Bush playing the same Judas priest role that Hitler did. Germany had to be destroyed and rebuilt in order for a united Europe to exist, and the USA must be destroyed and rebuilt for a one world government to exist. I fear that an attack on Iran will be the precipitating event that will lead to the set-up take down of the USA.

Of course,Bush thinks he's the reincarnation of Julius Ceaser,man all Neo-Cons seem to think that this nation sholud rule like the Romans did and we all know how that ended..

Originally posted by dgtempe


THAT IS WHAT IS TRAGIC ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING. We as a people, have nowhere to turn, nobody who cares,

What about Ron Paul? I think he is our hope.

Originally posted by resistor
Excellent observations all around. I do think that today’s USA is playing the same role Germany did some 70 yrs ago now, with Bush playing the same Judas priest role that Hitler did. Germany had to be destroyed and rebuilt in order for a united Europe to exist, and the USA must be destroyed and rebuilt for a one world government to exist. I fear that an attack on Iran will be the precipitating event that will lead to the set-up take down of the USA.

wow, for the first time I just considered the possibility that we are going to piss off every major country in some way to provoke an international war on our own soil - and on purpose.

You know, I don’t think it would even take an all out war on USA soil. With the spoiled, dumbed down state of so many people, a few weeks without utilities would have most begging to give up the constitution, and national sovereignty, take a chip and an oath to some global ethic, or do anything else for the promise of help. With the economy on the verge of collapse now, most of the national guard broken by the Iraq war, and all the necessary police state laws now in place, I think a few well placed EMPs might do the trick. Something tells me nukes will be involved though, at least on a limited basis. Such evil toys can’t be resisted forever.

Originally posted by dgtempe

THAT IS WHAT IS TRAGIC ABOUT THIS WHOLE THING. We as a people, have nowhere to turn, nobody who cares, we as a people are done for.

Nonsense... We turn to each other and build a new community somehow or we sit in front of the TV and chew our cuds and let it happen.

Both have the same odds of happening... the future is always infinite.

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
it would NOT be a security risk to at least have proper independant secure oversight of these operations. For some reason they are not willing to even do that, without playing the "people will die" card...

facts are facts.
More americans have died due to 9-11 reprisal attacks against countries that still have not been proven complicitious in 9-11, than died on 9-11.

cutting off hands to spite face...

then if you consider that we have killed fewer than a handful of the actual terrorists that attacked us (there were only so many anyway) and still haven't found the actual ringleader...

I guess i would be coming up with excuses too...

How many Americans died responding to the attack on Pearl Harbor? That cutting the hand off to spite the face argument isn't a very good analogy.

We can all get into an off topic discussion about how people don't like Bush, which I don't... but the thing that got me soon as I saw the title of this thread...

Not questioning the President could cost many many more lives than questioning him in the means they've set forth in this article.

I just love the "do as I say and you'll be fine" dictatorial fearmongering spread constantly from this White House.