Bush Administration desperate to hide what’s behind door number 641A

 

February 17, 2008 – On Tuesday, February 12, 2008 the U.S. Senate passed the FISA Amendments Act to replace the temporary Protect America Act. The deceptively named Protect America Act expired on February 15, 2008. 

 

The bill passed by the Senate on February 12^th would grant immunity for telecommunications companies that facilitated the Bush Administration’s data mining and illegal wire tapping practices.  The House has to decide whether it’s going to rubberstamp domestic spying and protect Bush from potential criminal charges.  The good news is that it allowed the Protect America Act to expire, having yet to take up the atrocious Senate bill. 

 

Under the Protect America Act, the Bush Administration was allowed to eavesdrop, without a warrant, on communications inside the United States so long as it was reasonably perceived that one end of the conversation was outside the United States.  For example, if the Bush Administration reasonably perceived that a terrorist in Israel was calling a terrorist in Washington DC, it could listen in on that conversation.  However, if a suspected terrorist in Washington called a suspected terrorist in Texas, the Bush Administration needed a warrant from the FISA court before eavesdropping.  It’s worth noting that all U.S. citizens are suspected to be potential domestic terrorists in the eyes of the fear mongering neo cons such as Congressman John Boehner from the 8^th District of Ohio. 

 

The Bush Administration maintains that without retroactive immunity, the telecommunication companies will be reluctant to help it break the law.  Without retroactive immunity, it will be discovered that the Bush Administration has broke the law.  So the fever pitch of the immunity debate, the frantic effort of the Bush Administration to get immunity for the telecoms is really about protecting the Bush / Cheney cartel from being fully exposed as lawbreakers and civil rights violators. 

 

What many of the leading telecommunications companies have been providing to the Bush Administration is access to all private communications of American citizens.  This is outside what the law provided in the Protect America Act.  Approximately 40 lawsuits are pending against the telecoms for granting access to non-terrorist related communication data to the Bush Administration. 

 

According to David Lindorff in his Counterpunch article, Bush’s Protect America Bill Bull, what Bush / Cheney are really attempting to hide from the American people is the fact that they were most likely spying on groups that protested Bush’s election fraud, the Democratic opposition, leaks in the Bush administration, independent 9/11 investigators, the anti-war and impeachment movement, critical journalists, etc.  The Muckraker Report believes that if immunity is not granted to the telecoms and the lawsuits are allowed to move forward, the American people will finally and fully understand that Lindorff is correct.  It might even be discovered that Karl Rove gained information about campaign plans of opponents of his neo con cronies, making Watergate look like child’s play in comparision. 

 

If America does not bring the Bush Administration to justice, the precedent will be set for future presidents, both democratic and republican, to continue the pattern of lawlessness established by what history will most likely define as the absolute worst, most corrupt presidency in our nation’s history.  If only the evidence is allowed to be heard.  And the evidence appears to be substantial.

 

Mike Klein worked for AT&T WorldNet Service.  While working at the San Francisco location, 611 Folsom St., Klein describes Room 641A as a top-secret room on the 6^th floor used by the National Security Agency (NSA).  Klein indicates that the room was well known to a small group of company technicians.  He gained access to the room in 2003 to look at a cable problem.  He discovered that all communications on the entire network ran through a splitter – sending a copy of all e-mails, Internet searches, phone conversations – everything – all private communications on the network, regardless of whether one side of the communication was outside the United States as the law requires, regardless of whether there was a reasonable suspicion of a so-called terrorist link, into the NSA spy room. 

Klein has indicated that the NSA efforts in Room 641A were not limited to overseas e-mail communications.  Room 641A was also collecting purely domestic e-mail traffic.  If true, laws, many laws have been broken and those responsible should be brought to justice.  The only way the American people even remotely stand a chance of discovering the truth in this regard is to vehemently demand that the House reject the Senate bill and not grant immunity for the telecoms. 

 

The “splitter cabinets” described by Klein are not limited to the San Francisco location either.  Similar cabinets were installed in Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, and San Diego. 

 

The Bush Administration will not even admit Room 641A is used by the NSA.  The Justice Department argues that the cases pending should be dismissed because the subject matter is a state secret.  It’s no secret!  Bush broke the law…again!  Just because the neo cons would like that to be a secret does not mean it’s a state secret.  Actually, it’s a disgrace and further evidence that the greatest threat facing America today isn’t radical Islamic extremists as the idiot John McCain proclaims, but the fraudulent federal government operating in Washington DC.  Any terrorist can kill just like street thugs, but only Congress and the corrupt courts can deny liberty and freedom.  “Live free or die” once provoked passion in Americans.  Now it’s a bumper sticker. 

 

The Democrats and Republicans in the House will most likely cave in and grant immunity to the telecoms.  The record shows that this Congress is unlikely to do the right thing on behalf of the American people. 

 

America has died long ago and many times over, and will die again if the U.S. House of Representatives fails to live up to its oath of office.  Protecting the 4^th Amendment against all enemies, foreign and domestic to include George Bush and Dick Cheney, is what members of the U.S. Congress swore to do before taking office.  Clearly, many didn’t mean it.

 

Americans are really left with only one option if Congress fails again – reconvene the Constitutional Convention to rewrite and revive the 4^th Amendment.  A convention is risky business though – the people would need to be united and refuse to compromise with the corporate government agenda of oppression and control of the masses. 

 

In the meantime concerned, patriotic Americans should contact their representative in the House and tell them that they strongly oppose immunity for telecoms. 

 

You can reach your representative at (202) 225-3121.  Don’t surrender your privacy to the government without a fight.  Make the call.