No! You don't lie and retract. You lie and keep lying.
Posted on 06/30/2006 8:18:59 AM PDT by Grampa Dave
Edited on 06/30/2006 8:35:05 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- USA Today acknowledged in a "note to our readers" Friday that it could not establish that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the National Security Agency to provide it with customer calling records, as it previously reported.
But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well. At the heart of our report is the fact that NSA is collecting phone call records of millions of Americans."
"What we address in the editors' note," he said, "deals with the fact that we originally reported that the telephone companies were working under contract with the NSA. We've concluded that we cannot establish that BellSouth or Verizon entered into a contract with the NSA to provide the bulk calling records."
In an accompanying story, the newspaper reported Friday that lawmakers on House and Senate intelligence committees have said that while the NSA has amassed a huge database calling records, cooperation with the NSA by telephone companies was not as extensive USA Today initially reported on May 11.
USA Today at that time reported that, according to its sources, AT&T Inc., BellSouth Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. all agreed to provide the agency with domestic call records. The newspaper said Friday that Verizon and BellSouth deny they contracted to provide the NSA with records of their customers' phone calls. AT&T has neither confirmed nor denied the newspaper's report.
Some lawmakers briefed on the program said NSA has a database of domestic calls that includes numbers called and the length of conversations, but not what was said. Five members of the intelligence committees said they'd been told by intelligence officials that AT&T, the nation's largest telecommunications company, did cooperate in providing NSA with call records.
Five lawmakers on the intelligence committees said they'd been told that BellSouth did not turn over call records, and three lawmakers said they'd been informed that Verizon did not turn over call records to the NSA.
Lawmakers who support the Bush administration's domestic spying program see the apparent gaps in the database as a problem.
"It's difficult to say you're covering all terrorist activity in the United States if you don't have all the (phone) numbers," Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., told USA Today. "It probably would be better to have records of every telephone company."
In its note to readers, USA Today vowed to "continue to report on the contents and scope of the database as part of its ongoing coverage of national security and domestic surveillance."
Said Anderson: "There have been no denials that this database exists. Nineteen members of Congress who have been briefed following the May 11 article have confirmed the existence of the database."
USA Today is published by Gannett Co.
Then we have this Dan Blather/Mapes attempted coverup of USA Lies Today re the phone monitoring: "But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well."
To the Admin Moderator, I put this in breaking news, because only on Free Republic will it get focused as breaking news instead of buried or ignored by the MSM
USA Today rarely has a scoop. Guess we can see why.
"this is an important story that holds up well."
Isn't that what Dan Rather said about his story?
But spokesman Steve Anderson said, "It's fake but accurate".
The MSM doing all the legwork for the Terrorists. Maybe they'll publish all the numbers that were tracked so that the terrorists can cross reference with their own phones to see if the government is on to them.
They know this was part of the ongoing terrorist tracking strategy. Why the hell don't they just shut up about it? They are doing the investigation that the terrorists can't do for themselves.
I shudder to think of what would have happened to our country if our media were this disloyal in WWII.
No! You don't lie and retract. You lie and keep lying.
I see they are timely in their reporting errors........../sarcasm
Did they post that "note to the readers" in the headline section of the front page like they did the original story?
Somehow, I doubt it.
USA Today is worthless even as toilet paper.
Vying for the dihonor of having printed the most lies destined to harm the national security of this country.
USA Lies Today or Yesterday is truly a poor excuse for a so called successful fishwrap.
Blather said something like that.
A freeper labled it "Fake but accurate!"
Fake but accurate.
USA Today/Yesterday lies and innocents die.
Yes, the old "Seriousness of the charges" bs.
what a surprise the democrats and the lamestream media are lying
they do not "tap" every phone
they have the phone records which is like your bill
it is a list of the numbers you called and that called you, they then cross reference the numbers you have called and have called you to see if anything matches the list of suspected terorist numbers
if anything matches then they get a warrant to tap the phone and listen.
by the way read your phone bill for your home phone or cell phone you should have no expectations of privacy
because anytime you are using a cordless phone or cell phone you are transmitting via radio waves and ANYBODY can recieve them....
"But spokesman Steve Anderson said "this is an important story that holds up well. At the heart of our report is the fact that NSA is collecting phone call records of millions of Americans."
Fake but accurate.
Let's see. USA Today is owned by Gannett.
So to borrow a moonbat mantra:
GANNETT LIED, SECRECY DIED
"America isn't perfect but we do a hell of a lot of good in the world...
The arrogance of the old media in publishing the details of top-secret programs for our enemies to read..."
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