Posted on 03/04/2006 9:07:08 AM PST by crazyhorse691
Bush program - The Oregon plaintiffs' case includes secret records said to be a log of calls
Attorneys for an Islamic charity with links to Oregon have filed a document under court seal that they say supports the claim that their clients were the subject of President Bush's warrantless wiretapping.
The document, The Washington Post reported Friday, is a log of calls that was inadvertently turned over to a Washington lawyer who in turn shared it with a Post reporter.
The Post, in an unusual twist, said it had returned the document to the government in 2004 at the FBI's request. The paper said it was unaware at the time of the administration's warrantless eavesdropping, which was disclosed late last year by The New York Times.
Lawyers for the charity declined to comment Friday beyond acknowledging that they had sent the court a document under seal, which means it cannot be viewed by the public. The charity is suing in federal court in Portland over what it contends was illegal eavesdropping.
"We made an allegation about a document and about wiretapping and a log, and we filed a document under seal with the court," said Steven Goldberg, an attorney for the plaintiffs. "But to say anything more than that would be inappropriate."
The Oregon lawsuit is one of four across the country challenging Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program as illegal. The program has come under heavy criticism from civil-liberties groups as well as many Democrats and some Republicans.
Bush administration officials have generally defended the program as legal, saying the general authority to wage war against terrorists allowed the government to expand intelligence programs.
The Oregon case, filed Tuesday, is receiving close attention because it is the only one that points to specific instances of possible warrantless eavesdropping by the National Security Agency.
"This is the first case that's been filed as far as I know where there's hard documentary evidence that shows the NSA has eavesdropped," said Shayana Kadidal, staff attorney for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights.
Kadidal's group also filed a lawsuit earlier this year but did not cite a particular example of eavesdropping. Instead, the suit says the mere existence of the program thwarted the group's ability to speak freely with foreign clients who are challenging U.S. government programs, such as the detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, of people identified as enemy combatants.
The Oregon suit was filed on behalf of the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, an Oregon nonprofit, and Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, both U.S. citizens and attorneys for the group.
The suit says the NSA engaged in electronic surveillance of communications between a director or directors of Al-Haramain and Belew and Ghafoor in March and April 2004.
"Defendant National Security Agency did not obtain a court order authorizing such electronic surveillance," the suit claims.
On the day the suit was filed, attorneys also filed a document under seal that it said it intended to rely on for its case.
But they stopped short of saying the document was the log of calls described in the suit.
The Washington Post, citing a source familiar with the case, said the document did appear to back up the suit's claims.
The Post story also said U.S. Treasury officials inadvertently gave the log to Belew, who gave a copy to Post reporter David B. Ottaway.
In November 2004, FBI officials demanded the return of the document and any copies. Ottaway told the Post that he returned the document after consulting with Post editors and lawyers and after concluding that it was not relevant to what he was working on.
The Ashland-based Al-Haramain was indicted last year along with two directors in a case involving the alleged laundering of $150,000 in donations to help Islamic fighters in Chechnya. A judge later dismissed charges against Al-Haramain at the request of prosecutors, who said the group was an empty shell.
But two men associated with the group -- Pete Seda and Soliman Al-Buthe -- are considered international fugitives.
Ashbel "Tony" Green: 503-221-8202; tonygreen@news.oregonian.com
So what do they hope to accomplish? If they were "spied" upon its already happened and cant be undone. And lets face it, any Islamic Charity is suspect anymore. The friggin Moonfollowers have more charities than anyone else, yet 90% of its adherents are dirt poor. Where is the money going?
ever read the "stuff" on Liberty Forum? Unbelievable....
Someone help me out here - back when I was taking college classes I was taught that nobody can sue the US Government unless the Government agrees to be sued - e.g. entering into a contract with the Government and therefore bound by contractual clauses. What grounds are these people suing on and how do they have standing? Is this "Islamic charity" going to claim the "unreasonable search" routine under the 4th Amendment, when for all we know the CIC had every right to believe this charity may have been tied to Al Quada terrorists and operating perfectly within his CIC duties? Where does this all end - we have the NYT and MSM to thank for this crap, and it certainly is diverting our attention from the real game - the WOT.
Al Haramain is in fact tied to Osama bin Laden. I keep track of them while I was there from 1999 to 2004. I have documents showing they were active in Kosovo and that they are blacklisted and Identified having ties to Al Qaeda. This is a fact...........
Tom
Sorry about the English...."I kept track of Al Haramain" which was my own interest as this was not part of my job description. They absolutely can be described as having direct ties to Al Qaeda. They have access to large bank accounts and are linked to radical teachings of Islam.
Their purpose would be in raising public outcry so that eavesdropping on such groups as "Islamic charities," many of which have known ties to terrorists, is outlawed.
This makes it easier for future terrorists to communicate and set up their next cowardly murder of innocents.
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