Glen Greenwald; NYT circulates fear-mongering claims on FISA debate

[maddezmom]

NYT circulates fear-mongering claims on FISA debate
The New York Times' Eric Lichtblau has a long, prominent article today on the pending debate over FISA and telecom amnesty -- headlined: "Return to Old Spy Rules Is Seen as Deadline Nears" -- that features (and endorses) virtually every blatant falsehood that has distorted these spying issues from the beginning, and which is built on every shoddy journalistic practice that has made clear debate over these issues almost impossible. The article strongly suggests that a so-called "compromise" is imminent, a "compromise" which will deliver to the President virtually everything he seeks in the way of new warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty.

One paragraph after the next in Lichtblau's article features shrill warnings, mostly from unnamed "officials," about all the scary things that will happen if Congressional Democrats do not quickly pass a new FISA bill that is similar to the Rockfeller/Cheney Senate bill and that is agreeable to the President. If a "compromise" isn't reached, reports the article, then we'll all have to live under the so-called "old" FISA law -- meaning the law used by the U.S. to defend itself from 1978 until August, 2007 and then again from February, 2008 until the present. Moreover, the one-year surveillance orders obtained last August under the now-expired Protect America Act are set to expire in August, 2008. We learn from Lichtblau that this would be so very dangerous because:

we are approaching "a situation that some officials predict could leave worrisome gaps in intelligence";


if no deal is reached, then "'We'll start losing intelligence capabilities,' Senator Christopher S. Bond of Missouri said";

more:http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/10/lichtblau/index.html?source=rss&aim=/opinion/greenwald

[islandmkl]

1. so much for the bastion of the 'liberal' press...

nyt assisting in another run-up ala iraq??

where's judith miller when they need her??

[MasonJar]

2. Call the Congress and tell them NO to new bill which will give W what

he wants. I called a couple of days ago to Reyes (chairman of committee) and my rep. I could tell that Reyes' aide was getting lots of calls because he told me that Reyes had been misinterpreted in the press. Call him, your rep and Pelosi.