Spy Chief McConnell Admits He Misled Congress

MSNBC :

In a new embarrassment for the Bush administration top spymaster, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell is withdrawing an assertion he made to Congress this week that a recently passed electronic-surveillance law helped U.S. authorities foil a major terror plot in Germany.

The temporary measure, signed into law by President Bush on Aug. 5, gave the U.S. intelligence community broad new powers to eavesdrop on telephone and e-mail communications overseas without seeking warrants from the surveillance court. The law expires in six months and is expected to be the subject of intense debate in the months ahead. On Monday, McConnell--questioned by Sen. Joe Lieberman--claimed the law, intended to remedy what the White House said was an intelligence gap, had helped to "facilitate" the arrest of three suspects believed to be planning massive car bombings against American targets in Germany. Other U.S. intelligence-community officials questioned the accuracy of McConnell's testimony and urged his office to correct it. Four intelligence-community officials, who asked for anonymity discussing sensitive material, said the new law, dubbed the "Protect America Act," played little if any role in the unraveling of the German plot. The U.S. military initially provided information that helped the Germans uncover the plot. But that exchange of information took place months before the new "Protect America" law was passed.

Read the whole story: MSNBC

Comments

[Nuzzy]

I'm shocked -- SHOCKED! -- that a Chimpy Administration intelligence official has provided inaccurate information about a terrorism investigation!

Why, such a thing is as impossible to imagine as, say, a group of suicidal maniacs hijacking planes and flying them into buildings.

I mean, who could have predicted EITHER of these things??

[tapdat]

This was a front page story in the LA Times when he made the assertion. Will there be a frontpage story that it was a lie?

No. Why? Because in almost all cases the retraction of a statement is less newsworthy than the statement. So what does this mean...

This means it's now an established method of public manipulation to assert a fact before congress or in the press that's a lie. Even if you are forced into retracting it, the net effect is in the liars' favor since the retraction gets buried. Until there are consequences for liars, the liars will win.

[paixa3]

it is beginning to look like the entire government is filled with lying bastards.

When will we ever get some TRUTH?

[dr4Will]

Lieberman encouraged the bill and the speaker through his own save isrial crusade

[nippersdad]

And this surprises whom?

[BobSF94117]

There was a time -- not so long ago, really -- that people used to resign for "misstatements" like this...

[Ginzaman]

Of course, now he'll probably get the Medal of Freedom.

[thgy]

nastywolf - THIS IS SO TRUE !
"The SOB lie to Congress in an effort to undermine the Constitution, and thus the Nation. He should be arrested, held and tried under the provisions of the Patriot Act."

Just think of the circumstances where you might be arrested (failure to pay a parking ticket, standing in a line?) hauled off to jail and held there by sob cops who think that because they have the power to lock you in they also have the right to treat you disrespectfully.
And now think about McConnell and also that representative from Alaska who snuck into a room in the dead of night and gave 10 million dollars of our money to his friend in FLA. What will happen to them? Is there any congressional effort to even chastise the Alaska rep, let alone send him home in disgrace - not that I know of.
No one is held accountable why should Bush and Cheney be? Where is the justice?

I think we should add a whole lot more representatives. And move both houses of Congress, one branch to the Midwest and one branch to the West Coast. No Senators or Representatives in Washington DC at all.

[frappe]

Misleading congress is standard operating procedure when it comes to the Bush administration.

All I can say is don't allow them to destroy our Constitution and system of government. Maintain our system of checks and balances. It's essential. Don't allow to turn America into some sort of Soviet Union circa 1964 when freedom of expression was expressly forbidden and punished.

I don't trust Bush and I don't trust his administration's initiatives, particularly those that apply to spying on American citizens. It's outrageous and all freedom loving Americans should unite and stand up against it.

[hopeless277]

I thought it was a requirement for getting in to the Republican party that you lie to Congress. It's one of Bush's cute hazing rituals left over from the S&B days. You see, 'drinking the kool-aid' is code for doing something so illegal that you have to have the president protect you from going to jail. That way, Bush knows he has something on you and that you will always be loyal or he'll throw you to the dogs. After all, boys will be boys.

[GitYourWarOn]

Why is it that whenever one of these murders lies to Congress it's because they are "overwhelmed" or "mis-spoke" and not perjury?

Why are they allowed time to revise their statements either through additional testimony or written revisions?

If I perjur myself I go to jail for contempt and yet Rumsfeld, Gonzalez, McConnell and dozens of other cronies of this administration have sat before Congress and lied. Lied to get us into a war, lied to keep us there and lied to take away our rights and freedoms and none of them have faced any penalty. I can't wrap my head around why this is.

These people in Washington seem to have forgotten that they are not our leaders they are our representatives. We gave them their voice and if they don't speak for us we will take it away. Americans are fed up with lying, with duplicity and with the gradual erosion of our liberty. Stand up Deomocrats or we will find Senators and Congresspeople who can.

[nofltwlt]

Lying to Congress doesn't seem to bother Bush, Cheney, members of the GOP or Bush appointees - it bothers me.

[VictorLudorum]

by the way Mr McConnel,what is NegroPonte doing in Pakistan from two days more ? Forceing cleaning maids into cyber areas to steal things? haha! God made the world with his hands not some penny licking state exchequere ...thats too long a visit for that much a person ,what kind of protocol your company has?

,,GOD ELEVATES ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS WHEN MAN ACCUMULATES MILITARY STRENGTH !

[andyboy]

Kabob Bomb Kabob Bomb Kabob Bomb

Please relax this is just a test.


Kabob Bomb Kabob Bomb Kabob Bomb

we now return you to your HuffPo

Please continue to enjoy your freedom

[andyboy]

There's tons of instances where this type of surveillance really paid of big-time in stopping terrorism.

We don't hear about them because if they told all of us regular schmucks it would breach National Security.

If everybody knows their tapping the phones and reading the e-mail then it sort of takes away on the effectiveness portion of the operation.

That's why it was kind of weird to hear a big important and supposedly veteran spook type like McConnell just spouting like a virgin teenage boy the first time he gets his little teeny bopper girlfriend's panties down.

Well, I've got to go. I'm busy carpeting the landscape with high-tech surveillance cameras. I got the contract! It's for one hundred billion dollars. I guess I'll be quite rich.

But I'm really doing it for my country.I love her so so much.

I missed the contract for the data mining (godamn Microsoft out bid me -- again).

It was $200 billion!!! And all it does is a computer looks for any combination of the words kabob and bomb. Kabob & Bomb. Over and over. They were going to program the word "Allah" in to but it's thought to be too overtly muslim a word. We don't want to be accused of profiling.

There's no overhead. It's all done by computer. That's the beauty of it. It keeps us all safe and costs a ton which is great for the economy. The money comes from the Treasury so it's not like anyone really pays for it.