The information below comes from a post at Good Girl Roxie. You can read the complete article and check out the links here.The title of the post is "8 million Americans are 'potential suspects' in illegal domestic surveillance program."
Here are the main points - of critical importance to the ongoing well-being of our nation and what is has stood for...
1. The Bush administration "has been on a mission to develop a massive surveillance program for it to use in the event of a 'national emergency.'"
2. To further this mission, "one of the world's largest and most secretive investment funds, the Carlyle Group, nicknamed the Ex-President's Club for its close ties to members of US presidential administrations, is purchasing the US government data-mining unit of one of the largest private contractors in America, Booz Allen Halmilton, that gathers intelligence for this domestic surveillance program."
3. The connections between increased US corporate investment in the US intelligence industrial complex were detailed in sworn testimony by former deputy attorney general James Comey in May 2007 before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Comey revealed that he and the very seriously ill and hospitalized then-Attorney General John Ashcroft temporarily thwarted a March 2004 middle-of-the-night strong-arming effort, by then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card, to force the US attorney general's office to approve an illegal domestic spying program that operates outside of the legal parameters of the NSA.
"Today, Carlyle would not be making its $2.5 billion investment in a program that is not constitutionally permitted to operate in the open, if it didn't fully expect the program's continuance."
4. According to our intelligence community, another terrorist attack in the US is bound to happen. The illegal surveillance program is "fueled by powerful corporate interests that maintain enormous capacity for itself to identify, locate, and incarcerate 8 million Americans listed in its own illegally-compiled database as 'potential threats' to 'continuity of governance' in the event of a 'national emergency.'"
In other words, if we experience a "national emergency" as defined by the Bush administration, we can expect to be placed under martial law during which time previously identified 'potential threats' are located and locked up.
5. Even more fearsome is the fact that this program "has at its disposal extra-constitutional forces, mercenary forces made up of a hodge-podge of troops from all over the world, including many who have worked for thug-regimes in places like Chile, Columbia, and Serbia. These forces, supplied by the US private paramilitary industry ... represent a combat-ready industry that operates totally outside congressional jurisdiction, and so is not answerable to the American people."
6. All of the above is "completely unregulated by Congress or the US judicial branch. No oversight. No courts. Just pure executive branch authority. It will completely override the Constitution in the face of a terrorist attack, an attack considered inevitable by the US intelligence community."
7. Today the NSA can gather all the data it wants on American citizens without permission or answering to anyone. "The NSA then turns around and provides this data to the 'Continuity of Governance' program, a program that is not constitutionally permitted to collect this data and that operates outside US jurisdiction, which then stores and classifies this data however it pleases, regardless of US laws, under the 'guidance' of co-President Dick Cheney."
8. "The date-mining program being purchased by the Carlyle Group is described by 'a senior government official who served with high-level security clearances in five administrations' thus:
'There exists a database of Americans, who, often for the slightest and most trivial reasons, are considered unfriendly, and who, in a time of panic, might be incarcerated. The database can identify and locate perceived "enemies of the state" almost instantaneously.'"
There's more which you can read here.
Tomorrow, on Memorial Day, ask yourself, if you're a veteran, if this is the America you offered to defend when you put on a uniform. If you saw combat, ask yourself if this is the America for which you went into harm's way. And as we remember those who lost their lives in battle, we must ask if this is the America for which they paid the ultimate price?
3 comments:
This is scary, of course, but we must depend upon our Congress, our courts, our government to protect us. We have already allowed ourselves to be told what is best for our protection. Congress and those sworn to protect our Constitution have already deemed these things either ok or necessary. We do not have any say, so we sit and hope it will be all right.
As for we veterans:. We are merely citizens that did what we felt was necessary. Those of us that enlisted did not think of all the things we wanted to preserve. Apple pie and mom were what we were told we were fighting for. Few asked for more explanations. WW2 was easier, We had been attacked by real evil forces and had to fight back. Other than 911, we have not had such a clear cut threat. We reacted to the wrong threat and attacked Iraq. Our government told us to shop and spend in order to defeat the enemy. I did both and do not feel I have done enough to defeat people funded by our Arab allies in some cases.
Again, we can do little to investigate these new threats to our freedom. We are told they are secrets and we must abide with that decision.
There is no guarantee that things will change with a new administration. Some, in government like having unlimited power and will not give it up easily. I worry about where we are headed but feel helpless’ to do anything about it.I worry that the majority of our people either do not know about such things or, worse, do not care! People get the government they deserve, I have been told.
Bob Poris
I watched Public TV’s Memorial program with my usual tears and private thoughts. I felt far too much anger at those that send other people’s kids to wage a war they claim to believe in. Few have any family members in service. I did not see any representatives of the administration. I listened to the songs, the prayers, the sad stories of those that did fight and suffer. I thought of my family and friends that fought and died in a war they deeply believed in. I thought of those that returned, changed forever, mentally and physically and of their families. Words do not change the realities for them. I read that 1800 veterans die each day. There aren’t many WW2 or Korean veterans left. The Veteran’s Administration is charged with caring for all veterans, but the funding of its budget is not mandatory and is inadequate to care for the old timers and the new kids returning from our current war. After the TV program is over, those veterans needing care will be in the same situation they were before the program. Congress is arguing over benefits and worrying that some will be tempted to leave the service prematurely, whatever that means. Lip service has never helped those in need. The hypercritical words of representatives that do not vote in accordance with their words will continue. We are not willing to honor the dead as their coffins arrive in secret and only the families are notified. The wounded and disabled are also hidden from view as they fight the red tape so they can get help. Frequently help is far away and difficult for them and their families. Memorial Day is a day for flag waving and pious words. We should honor and help those willing to put their lives on the line because their government asked them to, rightly or wrongly. The service people are asked to fight, not to agree or disagree. It is the government’s role to give them whatever is needed and any help that is needed as long as it is needed. To do less, is dishonorable and sometimes crimina!.
Bob Poris
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