Posted on 07/11/2008 8:31:58 AM PDT by Doctor Raoul
'WIRE' LAW FAILED LOST GI
10-HOUR DELAY AS FEDS SOUGHT TAP TO TRACK JIMENEZ CAPTORS IN IRAQ
By CHARLES HURT, Bureau Chief
October 15, 2007
WASHINGTON - U.S. intelligence officials got mired for nearly 10 hours seeking approval to use wiretaps against al Qaeda terrorists suspected of kidnapping Queens soldier Alex Jimenez in Iraq earlier this year, The Post has learned.
This week, Congress plans to vote on a bill that leaves in place the legal hurdles in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act - problems that were highlighted during the May search for a group of kidnapped U.S. soldiers.
A search to rescue the men was quickly launched. But it soon ground to a halt as lawyers - obeying strict U.S. laws about surveillance - cobbled together the legal grounds for wiretapping the suspected kidnappers.
For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the "probable cause" necessary for the attorney general to grant such "emergency" permission.
Finally, approval was granted and, at 7:38 that night, surveillance began.
"The intelligence community was forced to abandon our soldiers because of the law," a senior congressional staffer with access to the classified case told The Post.
"How many lawyers does it take to rescue our soldiers?" he asked. "It should be zero."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
We are on the road to self-destruction.
Is this the new version? Cripes!
Is this information going to be made public or are we going to keep all the PCers comfortable in their correct little lives?
Why in the hell is it going to take another tragedy on U.S. soil to bring these idiots back to what little senses they have. Unfortunately this is what is going to have to happen. Then we will see all the liberal rats in front of the capitol singing God bless America when they don’t even believe their is a God!! Phony liberal Rats.
Stealing your Constitutional rights would be like candy from a baby. Maybe we need to take a good look at this proposed law to see the story behind the story. Something doesn’t quite sound right here.
When will America finally be outraged? Its time for a second revolution.
I dont buy this. I think the Post is making it up.
Whatever for would you need a warrant in Iraq.
Smells. Prolly BS.
You nailed it Focus. That was the problem with the wire tap laws, If the conversations were routed through a US server, even if it was two people in foreign countries, it would require judicial permission.
~~~
“They, along with five other U.S. Soldiers and an Iraqi soldier of the 4th Battalion, 4th Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division, were attacked just before dawn May 12 near Qarghuli Village, Iraq. They were guarding a section of the notorious Route Malibu from terrorists planting improvised explosive devices.
The terrorists - several of whom were captured in the following weeks - planted the IEDs further down the road, in front of and behind the two-vehicle position. Then they cut the concertina wire around the trucks for easy access, lobbed grenades, and shot at the trucks with small arms. Soldiers at the base less than 800 meters away became worried at the lack of radio communication, and tried to respond, but were slowed by the IEDs that lay between them and their comrades.
Sgt. 1st Class James Connell, Sgt. Anthony Schober and Pfc. Daniel Courneya, as well as the Iraqi soldier, died in the attack. Spc. Christopher Murphy got out, but his body was found not far away; the terrorists had shot him. Spc. Jimenez, Pvt. Fouty and Pvt. Joseph Anzack Jr. simply disappeared.
The search for the missing three Soldiers began immediately with thousands of Soldiers encircling the area.
Route Malibu and Co. D's area of operations lie in the rural southern part of Baghdad province; date palm groves, apple orchards, and banana trees line the roads. Canals crisscross the territory, making the roads wind around them, and the reeds that grow near the water can grow reach a man's height, reducing visibility.”
~~~
FWIW,,,
I think these Troopers were KIA in the first 30 seconds
of the ambush,,,
This dirt road looked to be no more than 50 feet wide from
the pic that I saw on FOX,,,
Thick brush on both sides right up to the wire,,,
The wire had to be cut after the attack,not before,,,
TF 2/15 FA hit that AO right behind the 4/31 guys and tore
that area apart looking for these guys,,,
Would the wire-tap have saved them?
I don't think so,,,
But it should have been done as soon as the info about
these guys was known,,,
There was no excuse for waiting...
Third option: blame it on illegal Mexicans.
>>>>>This story just doesn’t make any sense. FISA only applies to US territory. Since the terrorists were in Iraq, FISA did not apply to them
I agree. However, based on the last year of observation and reading, I’d that 99.99 percent of Americans do not understand FISA or the NSA programs, and in that number I include reporters, talking heads, Congressmen, and even FReepers.
“Sad that whoever had the final say in this tragedy was more afraid of what the dems would to to him than what the terrorists would do to our Soldiers.”
Are you proposing that high level government officials should break the laws?
The law says:
“The FISA law applies even to a cellphone conversation between two people in Iraq, because those communications zip along wires through U.S. hubs, which is where the taps are typically applied. “
Why don’t you put the blame where it belongs, the Dem Congress that made such laws? They are the ones responsible and those who elected them and those who didn’t do everything they could have, to keep the Dems from taking over Congress. (This is a result of the 2006 elections)
Those who think “it’s not so bad” to have Dems control Congress,— not to mention all three branches of the government, if Obama gets elected,— should remember this painful example in November.
I’m speechless with fury.
Because it was the International Federation of Journalists, angry that when they called bin Laden to get the location, date and time of the next attack so they could have the news crews ready to roll at the critical moment, brought the lawsuit via the ACLU. Remember the whole al Jazeera thing? Want to know how that got to be public? How's about Eason Jordan of CNN? I kid you not. Nobody normal cared. We thought it was a good idea. It was the media that caused this. They were angry at getting caught.
The article states clearly:
"The FISA law applies even to a cellphone conversation between two people in Iraq, because those communications zip along wires through U.S. hubs, which is where the taps are typically applied. "
That still doesn't make any sense. Why would the communications zip through US hubs?
And even if that were true, which seems bizarre to the extreme, the fact of the matter is that the path of the electrons is irrelevant from FISA's perspective -- FISA simply does not apply to two individuals communicating with one another outside of US territory.
I think the reporter was snookered.
I’d RATHER we put the blame where ir really belongs: the “cival libertarians” that are Trotsky’s...I mean the Democrats useful idiots.
Thanks for the update info on that issue.
It did if the router was in the US.
Um. US companies rebuilt their communications system. Um. The WWW originated here. Most hubs in the entire world are still here. Until Bush is kicked out, and Obama turns it all over to UN control “for the children”. President Bush has been fighting the UN for years, because the UN wants to wrest control of the WWW hubs from the US. Think “text messaging”. Think WWW. They’re related.
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