I don’t know about you, but I remember well where I was that fateful morning. It was a Tuesday, I believe, Tuesday, September 11, 2000. Yup, I was in my office when one of my coworkers sent around an email saying that… What typo? No, that’s right, September 11, 2000, why?
2001? Really?
Well if it isn’t 2000, then how could Bush have begun the War on Terror seven months earlier than September 11, 2001? That is exactly what happened if the allegations brought out in court last week hold true. Apparently the Bush Administration, rather the NSA, approached AT&T seven months before 911 to set up the infrastructure to enable warrentless wiretapping; a weapon that Bush claims was made necessary to fight the “war on terror”, which had not actually yet begun.
It is time to drop the façade that this is anything but Big Brother trying to lay traps for the peeps.
Blevkog 
That type of surveylance has been going on for decades, it is outside of the US, it is about monitering known criminals and terrorist organizations, what part of that do you lefties not understand?
You imply that terrorism only started on 9/11 . . . before that the world was a liberal paradise . . .
The Canadian Govt has monitored phone calls for decades, where were you??? Probably started by that marxist nutbar PET!!!
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ex-ndip, if you had read his post a little more closely you would have seen the word “warrentless”. Clearly, Kev did not suggest that wire tapping has not happened in the past several decades. Read the post before typing. We “Lefties” (thanks for the paint brushing) do understand the importance of wire-tapping and the legal system in place to govern it. You may take your foot out of your mouth, now.
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The Canadian government monitors phone calls? Really?
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Kev,
I agree with you that the facade should be dropped. Paranoia has levitated to great heights in the US resulting in these warrantless wire-tapping infrastructure. I am sure that when a new technology for spying on the American citizen comes up, it will be implemented.
I don’t believe, nor do I believe that Dubya believes so either, that the “war on terror” was started on 9/11, but was on going for years previously. 9/11 was a convenient starting point for the title for their war. Just like WWII, France, England and Poland were setting alliances (and other war-prepping activities)in preparation of WWII which started four months later. The US have been dealing with terrorism for decades prior to 9/11 (ex: Oklahoma bombing, USS Cole, many embassies around the world)
I believe the public as a whole find it easier to understand something that has a defined starting point. Unfortunely, when the public sees things that happen before this starting point they get all twisted in a knot.
Are the warrantless wire taps, for fighting the war on terror or just a big brother thing? I would go for the latter.
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ex-ndip, you’ve evidently been watching James Bond flicks and thinking they’re reality if you think this sort of thing has been going on for decades. Here’s a helpful little hint – IF YOU SEE IT IN A HOLYWOOD MOVIE, ODDS ARE IT’S A LIE
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Paul,
To start with, I don’t believe there is such a thing as a war on terrorism, so when it began is purely academic. But, for what it’s worth, there is every indication that for George Bush, it didn’t begin until September 11. Reports of what was going on in the Whitehouse in the first months of Bush’s first term indicate that he did not take terrorism seriously and in fact might well have been warned shortly before the actual attacks of 911 that something was coming… but he didn’t pay attention ‘cuz he was on vacation.
No, for George Bush at the very least, the war on terror began only when his advisors told him it began – during his speech on top of the rubble in NYC. Anything that was done before then was indeed before the “war on terror”, unless those words are meaningless.
Yes, the US had been “dealing with” terrorism before 911, but I am dealing with bad behaviour from my toddlers, and have managed to do so without having go to war with them.
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