On his site, McConnell starts with this:
"Yesterday the Director of National Intelligence came to Capitol Hill and implored Congress to pass vital legislation to protect Americans before we leave for recess. He was echoing the warnings of the entire intelligence Community, which has assured us that the threat is real and that the need is urgent.
"The latest National Intelligence Estimate makes clear that the greatest terrorist threat to the United States is Al-Qaeda. Their intent to attack us is undiminished since 9/11. They’ve gained recruits and strength in the Middle East. They continue to adapt and improve their capabilities. And we must continue to adapt and improve our ability to detect their movements and their plots swiftly, with every tool of intelligence we have.
Now, what Waldo's twin fails to mention is it is the complete and utter failure of this Administration's policies, rubber-stamped by him and Bond that have led to the re-building of al-Queda. They allowed Osama bin Laden to prance away from Tora-Bora and thumb his nose constantly at America. Their "War on Terror" has provided al-Queda with fertile recruiting grounds among disillusioned Arabs. Why should we trust them now, when everything they have done every step of the way has been wrong?
McConnell goes on to regurgitate this failed argument:
"One of the most effective tools we have in this important work is our electronic surveillance program. Ever since the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was written in 1978, the principle has been clear: terrorists operating abroad and plotting attacks against us are fair targets of surveillance.
"But over the years, advances in technology have created an absurd and unintended consequence: intelligence analysts are now required to seek a warrant for tracking the communications of terrorists. The original intent of FISA was to give us access to terrorists, but its effect has been to slow that access down. In a significant number of cases, intelligence professionals are now forced to obtain court orders to collect foreign intelligence concerning foreign targets located on foreign soil.
The problem with this statement is that they haven't only been using the electronic surveillence to spy on so-called terrorists, they have been using it against American citizens!!! Not only that, they expect to be able to do it without obtaining a warrant!! The courts and warrants have always been something that protects American's freedoms. Does Mitch McConnell want to trash the Constitution to make his and George W. Bush's job easier? It certainly appears so.
McConnell continues:
"The facts here are not in dispute: our nation faces an alarming intelligence gap, a situation in which the Intelligence Community every day is missing a significant portion of what we should be getting in order to protect the American people. We should not adjourn until we have closed this gap. We must act quickly, in a bipartisan manner, and let the appropriate committees come back and review FISA and other matters related to the legislation in a more comprehensive manner.
Was there an intelligence gap that gave a report to George W. Bush in Aug. 01 with the headline "bin-Laden determined to strike in the United States"? It seems like to me the intelligence leading up to 9-11 was just fine, there was just an incompetent buffoon in the White House, and a bunch more in the Senate including McConnell. If the President would have done his job, the intelligence was fine. If the Senate would have been more concerned with protecting the American people instead of worshipping Bush and rubber-stamping his every incompetent move, 9-11 could have been avoided, and we wouldn't have neo-cons like Bush and McConnell begging to shred the Constitution.
McConnell finishes:
"We should not return in September knowing that we have failed in our duty, and we pray that we don’t have cause to regret our inaction. Let there be no doubt: if we had had the foresight in August of 2001 to enact a law that would have exposed the plot that was being hatched against us then, the vote to approve that law would have been cast unanimously and without hesitation. None of us would have shrunk from that duty. Six years later, that duty remains.
"There is little that we do here in the Senate that can immediately and decisively improve the security of this country. But by passing a FISA modernization bill that the President can sign before we go home for recess, we will have done just that. We need to act on this legislation now. We should not adjourn until we have closed this gap, until we have fixed this outdated law."
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/...
Again McConnell just gets it flat wrong. Without the law in Aug. of 01 we had perfect intelligence that al-Queda was gearing up for an attack on American soil. Bush, rubber-stamped by McConnell dropped the ball!!! Their incompetence allowed the attack, and then they completely surrendered like cowards to Osama bin-Laden and let him walk away scot-free while they attacked the wrong country!! The Senate in Sept. 01 sure had no problem coming back in September after Bush had failed the American people and ask them to give up Constitutional rights for that incompetence!! We don't need to give up our rights to make McConnell and Bush's job easier, we need to elect leaders who are more concerned with the welfare of our country and Constitution than they are with the advancment of their radical facist agenda!!!
So to Mitch McConnell I say, you have been brownnosing Bush and failing the American people for a long time now. How dare you try and steal our Constitutional protections because you are lazy and incompetent!! This bill introduced by McConnell and Bond does not one thing to make us safer!! It is a desperate attempt to save face on their own failures, and to steal rights earned by generations of Americans. I hope the Senate has the sense to vote this down by a large margin!! Our intelligence didn't fail on 9-11, our leadership in the White House and Senate did!!
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