Did NSA Illegally Wiretap A Scholar? Congressional Panel Wants To Know

New York Times:

WASHINGTON -- A Congressional oversight panel plans to ask the National Security Agency to start an investigation into new evidence that the agency illegally wiretapped a Muslim scholar in Northern Virginia and concealed the eavesdropping during a 2005 trial in which the scholar was convicted on terrorism charges.

Representative Rush Holt, a New Jersey Democrat and chairman of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel, said in an interview that he planned to ask the inspector general of the N.S.A. to open what would be the first formal investigation by the agency into whether its eavesdropping program had improperly interfered with an American's right to a fair trial.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[awright2002]

Oh come on! I gurantee most of you would be complaining about how these gov't agencies didn't do their jobs, if a terrorist attack were to happen tomorrow. I don't condone spying on random people, but the guy was affiliated with paramilitary from Pakistan. Yea his group didn't cause any harm to country. But who knows? Also, how many plots against Obama have been thwarted? I have read over a hundred. Do you think these agencies just kind of stumble into these kind of things?

[kareemachan]

"But who knows?" Use that "reasoning" and you have just made a case for watching anyone and everyone 24/7. Who knows when Jimmy will snap and take an U.zi to his local court.hous­e? Who knows when Ashley will decide it's a good thing in the name of to bom.b a hospital because abortio.ns are performed there? Who knows when Sammar will cut some cok.e with rat pois.on and sell it to teenagers? Who knows when Javier, listening to voices in his head, decides to come up with a vir.us that will cra.sh all government comp.uters all at once? "Who knows" is just an excu.se/justifica.tion for doing the things that our laws and Constit.ut­ion are set up to protect us against...

[awright2002]

I gurantee, if there is a terrorist attack tomorrow, all of you would be saying, why didn't the gov't know about it. And you would be blaming these agencies, like they were blamed after 9/11. I am not condoning, spying on people without reason. But come on, he was affialiating with paramilitary from Pakistan. Yea, his groups didn't commit any terrorist attacks. Just like none of the white supremacist groups have carried out a successful operation against Obama. How many of them have been foiled? Hundreds? Do you think the gov't just stumbled upon them with evidence and going through the legal procedures. Hell no. They target people. Rightfully.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

Who watches the watchers?

[zizyphus]

Sadly, no one. What does that tell you?

[Isis N]

That sounds strangely like the line that was being used to promote "Watchmen" - And a very good question indeed.

[LightSword]

And? I think they should do more wiretapping. As fas I am concerned, they should be able to listen to everyone in the world, but not use the info in court. FISA... Patriot Act... really great stuff.

Prevention is better than cure. We need to stop ALL terrorist attacks in the world!!

[dotmafia]

Impossible pipe dream. Amd exactly why is it that the United States of America is the one who should be controlling the entire world?

[zizyphus]

I refuse to believe that actually believe what you are saying. I think you are just here instigating. You remind me me of my dearly departed cousin. He used to get drunk and phone people at random, and tell them outrageous stories just so he could laugh about it later.

[kareemachan]

You forgot the little sarcasm symbol at the end of your comment.

[solid]

Unfortunately, LightSword is not being sarcastic, just stoopid.

[dotmafia]

Google and Facebook are now government owned.

Everything you type into a search engine such as Google is being archived, filtered and kept track of. With Facebook, they are getting more help from the general public finding out about their lives and contacts, than they could have ever imagined or hoped for.

Search engines, instant messaging, email, cell phones, downloads.­.. you named it, it's all being kept track of by Big Brother.

Orwell was all too prescient.

[LightSword]

And? I think they should do more wiretapping. As fas I am concerned, they should be able to listen to everyone in the world, but not use the info in court. FISA... Patriot Act... really great stuff.

Prevention is better than cure. We need to stop ALL terrorist attacks in the world!

[dotmafia]

Why is there no serious journalistic investigation into the Bush "administration's" illegal spying which commenced right after they took power in early 2001? Everything I always read, seems to allude to the NSA's spying which "Bush approved right after 9/11". It almost seems like they are trying to make people forget about what was discovered, or suppressing the truth, making people think that the spying is okay because it was after 9/11. But if more and more people find out that Bush approved illegal spying months before "the event", then there would be serious questions as to why it was being done. They are trying to hide something serious. I suspect this "administration" does not want to admit how much real info they actually knew about the planning of 9/11 which they discovered, and allowed to happen.

There needs to be more investigation and reporting into this!!!

[quantumspin]

Tip of the ice berg. Just the tip of the tip of the tip.

NSA has been and is more than ever a rogue agency, sweeping up all email, phone (cell and landline), and IM traffic from Americans. Building a huge facility in TX to store all the data. See the latest James Bamford book.

Imagine what NSA has on Congress, the press, ordinary citizens?

[solid]

They would be bored to tears with my life, but they could still destr*y me if they wanted to. They could just cherry pick communications out of context and make up sh*t, and off to Gitmo I go.

Stalin would be proud.

[kellygrrrl]

spying on pacifists environmentalists and nuns

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/12/07-2

[Mildmannered]

Violation of First Amendment -- and very scary

[guajiro]

Oh, it's way beyond wiretapping. Telcomm giant AT&T was wiretapping BEFORE 9-11 and the government knew about it. What isn't being said on this blog or any I know of is the fact that the Telcomm companies have using voice identifier technology the last 10 years or so. Starting with their employees, whose voice prints they filed on record by forcing them to look up their personal records such as vacations, FMLA leaves, etc, on a voice-activated calling tree, these companies have a huge data base of voice-prints and assorted information that under the Bush created U.S. Patriot Act is not illegal to have. Interesting country the U.S. has become.

[kellygrrrl]

duh!
they also spied on NUNS and ENVIRONMENTALISTS

these klowns are so completely and totally ridiculous, I still have a hard time believing it's real

[Nick127]

The NSA is investigating it's self?.....­..........­..ok.

[ZimboChick]

ha just wow!

[darthdarcy]

Come on the NSA is wiretapping everyone if I talk with my brother a professor in Italy right now they record every bit of it...

Remember Hayden even lied as to the content and test of the 4th Amendment when he was head of the NSA..sayin­g how well he knew the 4th and respected it..then lies as to it....

[Coinyer101]

i am so sick of living in a fascist state.