Reports in Le Monde and El Mundo alleging broad NSA surveillance of French and Spanish citizens didn’t come out of thin air, but rather were a product of Edward Snowden’s leaks. The documents associated with those stories were also published alongside the reports.
So once again the cat is out of the bag, and once again the NSA is scrambling to issue blanket denials, insisting that the documents were “misinterpreted,” and that the claims of NSA surveillance of the nations was “completely false.” NSA Chief Gen. Keith Alexander went on to insist that just because documents say something happened doesn’t mean it did, and that only the NSA could really understand what they’re looking at.
Or at least a little false. While Alexander denied anything and everything, his boss the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper issued a much more tepid statement insisting that all surveillance conducted was legal and for “valid foreign intelligence purposes.”
The big scandals of the leak surrounded tapping the leaders of allied nations, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and while some officials issue on-again, off-again denials of that as well, Clapper was likewise unapologetic, insisting that “it’s invaluable to us to know where countries are coming from.”
Clapper faced intense questioning from the House Intelligence Committee over the fact that such surveillance violated legal obligations to keep the committee informed, and though Clapper didn’t dispute that Congress wasn’t told, he simply insisted that in the future “I guess we could discuss” whether or not such disclosures were necessary, but he believed that not telling Congress “lived up to the letter and spirit of the requirement.”
Finally we're in a situation that I was hoping wikileaks would take us but didn't– instant truth-check on claims by these professional liars. For every lie these serial perjuring sphincters utter, a Snowden document proves the opposite to be true. It's beautiful. How long till we get a change of culture in DC? I take it only if there's a generational change. Some of these people can't be helped. Their brains are gone. How long till we get a wall-street Snowden, who will unleash documented proof of all the crimes committed by those crooks? That's another thing that wikileaks promised and I'm not sure they delivered. Matt Taibbi is doing all he can, but he has to rely on court documents and so on. When will the exceptional nation exit the era of bs and enter an era of truth and honesty?
Finally we're in a situation that I was hoping wikileaks would take us but didn't– instant truth-check on claims by these professional liars. For every lie these serial perjuring sphincters utter, a Snowden document proves the opposite to be true. It's beautiful. How long till we get a change of culture in DC? I take it only if there's a generational change. Some of these people can't be helped. Their brains are gone. How long till we get a wall-street Snowden, who will unleash documented proof of all the crimes committed by those crooks? That's another thing that wikileaks promised and I'm not sure they delivered. Matt Taibbi is doing all he can, but he has to rely on court documents and so on. When will the exceptional nation exit the era of bs and enter an era of truth and honesty?
Yes Rick–hell is about to be frozen over–we can only pray..
I don't believe one filthy thing that spews FROM THESE FILTHY MAGGOTS MOUTHS..
"NSA Chief Gen. Keith Alexander went on to insist that just because documents say something happened doesn’t mean it did,"
A million divorce lawyers just fell to their knees and wept from joy–
Why aren't Clapper and Alexander in blaze orange jumpsuits in Club Fed for perjury? WHY WHY WHY do they still have thier jobs?!?!
To believe that Obama did not know or "was not aware of" the spying on foreign leaders rather strikes one as comparable to the idea that Adolf Hitler simply "had no idea" of the work of Himmler and Eichmann. As another banal exponent of mediocrity once put it, (while at least assuming some responsibility for being the first American president to authorize the use of weapons of mass destruction) "the buck stops here." Apparently there's no stopping where the buck gets passed any longer.
good question…….but America is so passive….just wishing for the next NFL sunday
Whether he knew or didn´t know is not relevant, he is responsible. "Ignorance of the application of laws is no excuse."
Whether he knew or didn´t know is not relevant, he is responsible. "Ignorance of the application of laws is no excuse."
“it’s invaluable to us to know where countries are coming from.”
And now every country in the world knows where the US is coming from as well as where it's going, straight to hell.
I was going to cite the same quote:
"it’s invaluable to us" to spy on allies.
Yeah, it would be invaluable to you to steal all the jewelry from a jewelry store and not get caught. Because doing something is "invaluable" to you doesn't mean you can do it.
Creepy Clapper or Dumbo Obamba?