Bank Data Mined in Secret by U.S. to Block Terror

NY Times ^ | 6/22/2006 | ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN

[Norman Rogers]

WASHINGTON, June 22 - Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.

[marron]

You notice that within a day, unnamed "intelligence officials" were claiming that the newly reported WMD were of no importance. Now we have intelligence people spilling more beans on the front page of the New York Times.

The CIA mutiny is still underway. What are you going to do about it, Mr. President?

Revealing classified information to the enemy is still a crime. The supposedly disgruntled officer who does it is still a double agent. It doesn't matter that he uses the front page of the newspaper as his drop. If the enemy has to decode the secret message left under a culvert, or if he can read is in plain text with his morning coffee, the effect is the same. Wartime information has been purposely revealed to the enemy.

In peace-time that rates life in prison. Just ask Aldrich Ames. He's probably kicking himself for not using the Times to transmit his data. He'd be a media hero today, enjoying his CIA retirement with his KGB supplement, and no one could say boo.

In war-time, the penalty should be something more than prison; in war-time, spilling information to the enemy should rate being dropkicked into the ocean after a long and detailed interrogation.

[The Red Zone]

You can bet your stuned beeber that this Treasury undersecretary whose NAME was given forheavensake, did it with authorization. Take your whingeing to President Bush.

[JerseyHighlander]

Islamists have been aware of the paper trail of money transfers, for centuries.

Everytime enemies of Islamists start using bank records or banking industry tips to close the net on Islamists, the hawala networks in the New World is increased in strength.

Hawala will overcome this attempt to encapsulate their money transferring systems.

[kanawa]

Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value.

Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said: "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration. We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."

[CyberAnt]

"... secret ..." ????

It's not secret anymore - what a bunch of dunces!

[bitt]

'The CIA mutiny is still underway. What are you going to do about it, Mr. President? '

Ever since we saw the Richard Clarks rise up and whine to save their own skins, we should have swept the offices clean and put in....FREEPERS!!!!! We're resourceful, sly, and gosh darn it, people just LIKE us....

lolololol...........

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Damn NY Times,....a treasonous enterprise.....

[Cementjungle]

Who is releasing this information? Why are they not in handcuffs?

Because one can become a millionaire overnight by being in the center of one of these things.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Time to post this again...................

************************************************************************

There is a book,:

Unholy Alliance : Radical Islam and the American Left (Hardcover)

*******************************

And a review:

****************************************

Communism is dead. Long live Islam!, September 30, 2004

Reviewer:

Kevin Beckman (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

It sounds absurd: why would Leftists make common cause with a religion that is diametrically opposed to everything the Left stands for? David Horowitz explains that it is really quite logical given the Left's first principle: America is evil and anything or anyone opposed to America is good.

Part I of the book is a brief history of 9/11 through the end of major combat operations in Iraq, and the Left's behavior during this time. Horowitz includes the reaction of Katha Pollitt of The Nation magazine: "The flag stands for vengeance, and jingoism, and war." Anthropology Professor Nicholas De Genova of Columbia University said he hoped for "a million Mogadishus." His colleagues objected, not to the despicable sentiment, but because of the bad publicity it brought their "teach-in." Our tax dollars at work!

Part II is the heart of the book: a history of the American and international Left. Horowitz calls them Neo-Communists or Neocoms. The Neocoms of old believed in the Soviet Union the way religious people believe in God. Those who spied for the USSR didn't see themselves as traitors to their country, but rather loyalists to humanity and an ideal of America that's never existed. When the Soviet Union fell, a few of them stopped for some introspection but most pressed on as if nothing happened. Communist historian Eric Hobsbawm put it nicely: "Without the Revolution, my life and my work are meaningless."

Now that they no longer have to defend an indefensible regime, modern Neocoms are simply nihilists. They know what they oppose but they have no plans for the aftermath of the revolution which they still believe will happen. They don't know what they want, but they know what they hate: the United States, capitalism personified.

So why are they allying with radical Islam? Horowitz says that the Neocoms still believe in Marx's dictum that "religion is the opiate of the masses." Once private property is abolished, the need for religion will vanish, and Islamic radicals will stop being Islamic and radical. The only thing standing in the way is the United States.

Sound insane? It is. They are. I highly recommend this book. Horowitz makes the insanity understandable.

[Marine_Uncle]

"Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift."
Did it ever occure to this bozo that given the liberal judges that would have had to give the thumbs up we never would be able to check on anyone. Real ahole to say the least, and as you indicate, their treasonouse ba$tards to attempt a kind description. Anything to offset programs put into play to attempt to nab goons. Frigen idiots.

[potlatch]

Thanks for the ping bitt.

[tiki]

I wonder what would happen if the home-grown or foreign terrorists could be convinced that the US would fall apart if they blew up the NYTs. I mean if they think the Sears tower will bring us to our knees....

[aculeus]

Sulzberger is disloyal.

[aculeus]

From the article ...

The Bush administration has made no secret of its campaign to disrupt terrorist financing, and President Bush, Treasury officials and others have spoken publicly about those efforts. Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value.

Bill Keller, the newspaper's executive editor, said: "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration. We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may

[aculeus]

I take it that the President no longer wanted it to be secret.

See #34.

[EBH]

Drives me crazy.

There have always been in place, from the time of the War on Drugs, certain precautions taken to track illegal monies. After 9/11 some of these 'regulations' were tightened up. Nothing really changed, just got tightened up. Everyone in the banking industry down to your local bank teller can report suspicious activity. And you can take it anyway you want, but your normal bank activities will not trigger anything. Can't say what will...but 99.9% of the time the average American will not trigger banking reports of suspicious activity.

These ignoramuses squealing about it need to be brought up on treason charges.

[EBH]

I am in the course of reading this book. I am about 1/2 the way through and am grateful for someone to 'put the connection' together for me. I still shake my head in utter disbelief, but you are right they are still looking to create that utopian society. In order to achieve that utopian society America must be eliminated.

It is a very good book to read and uncover the evolution of the left from the 1940-today.

[Raycpa]

This isn't exactly news to the financial industry. Heck we have classes on reporting unusual transactions.

[Dog]

There is a shadow government in play here and until an indictment is handed to someone this will continue. They are convinced that Bush/Cheney are weak/won't fight back and will continue to leak this stuff and damage us further.....UNTIL someone is this freaking Admin....FIGHTS THE HELL BACK!!!

Listen Tony...I suspect you still lurk here....tell them we will back them in a fight....the base is with them on this.....but please just fight back!!!!

[TheGrimReaper]

NY Times... Al Jazeera....
Same objective, different buildings.
Some serious jail time is in order here.