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

[bar1ed]

the spy chief did exactly what he was supposed to do ------ lie !!!!!

[vippy]

German Minister Schaeuble was in trouble over his new proposed law and BANG there were 3
incidents where Muslims were suspected of plotting a terror attack. Even the Germans
could smell a rat - so obvious. And of course
the Americans want to chime in and take credit
to make their case too. It stinks!

[rabun666]

Create Straw Men and then fund a war to fight the Straw Men created to justify the war.

[WTFbush]

ALRIGHT AL FRANKEN...­TIME TO RIGHT THE SEQUEL. THIS TIME A NEW TITLE PLEASE;

"LIES, AND THE FUCKING ASHOLE LIARS THAT FUCKING CONTUNUE TO LIE WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE SOME DUDE'S BALLS RESTING ON THIER FUCKING CHIN TO A STUPID FUCKING PUBLIC AND A COMPLETELY RETARDED AND SACKLESS FUCKING CONGRESS"

THANKS AL, PLEASE DON'T BE A STUPID FUCK FACE WHEN YOU GET ELECTED

[verisimilitudeness]

And this tidbit of news is a surprise because?

[BrickSykes]

I hate to interject a highly technical question, but:

"What the F*ck Kind of Hair-Do is that guy wearing?"

I thought I'd seen them all....

Brick

[Destin]

So now that he has admitted to wrondoing, and supports criminal legislation and has lied before Congress in an effort to push for permanence of this criminal legislatio­n.... all I wanna know is...... when do we get to hang the fucker??!?!?!? He's guilty as sin, he admitted it.

[bamabarrron]

i for one find it deliciously ironic that Mr. Spy actually gave this answer to the question asked by senator LIEberman. you gotta know ol joe was doing his best to pitch a slow one down the middle of the plate. i find it hard to determine who is the most despicable between the two of them in this little fiasco. personally, i think both of them should shown the door and ignored from now on.

[loki]

Being as Bush has a Executive Privilege that blankets everything, McConnell or anyone else that Bush wants to include, could admit to murder, child rape or anything else. They will never be prosecuted.
And we damn sure know the Democrats will not do anything that would harm the President. I think they secretly admire how he has achieved total and complete power, and they privately want to see his antics continue and set precedences so they will have ground to stand on if they ever get to be president of vice president. You know, the famous, "Well he did it" excuse.
I dont think our lying ,deceptive democrats that conned people such as myself into voting for them.

[Cunningham]

Didn't LYING to Congress used to be a CRIME?

[Disturbed2]

"He lied to Congress. He committed perjury."

That is no longer a crime if it is done by a Repug. It must be an Executive Order from the "Decider".

Gen Betrayus also lied. He said that the US Military did not give weapons to the Sunni Insurgency. He was clever in his lie. You see, those weapons were given to the Sunnis by the Iraqi Army, who were issued those weapons from the US Military.

[Gary47]

Another day, another boatload of lies.

[themodernleader]

Modern leadership shows that the behavior of the Chief Executive Officer is gradually emulated by subordinates at all levels of the organization. Therefore, the falsehood of the Director of National Intelligence could have been anticipated.
The CEO of our American Organization is such a shameless purveyor of falsehoods and divisive half-truths that it is a fair rule of thumb to assume that anything uttered by line or staff members of the organization under his direction should not be taken as fact without verification.
Such profane values and convictions of top leadership bodes ill for organizational purposes and goals toward the mission statement--in this instance--our Preamble.

[strangelet]

Oh, fuck. The Director of National Intelligence spews (politically advantageous) bullshit. What a surprise! (Like the exclamation point?)

At a guess, the ORIGINAL claim made page 1 or 2 in the theortetically liberal MSM, and the retraction made page 14. As a flaming liberal myself, I am more and more in favor of the Second Amendment.

[massimo1]

I so want to put the blame on BushCo, but once again the fact is THE CONGRESS WILLINGLY LET ITSELF BE COWED BY FEAR AND LET ITSELF BE MISLED. And we voted for these chickenshits? They need to wake the fuck up.