AG's 'Invented' 9/11 Claim Is Scare Tactic

Salon scribe blasts Mukasey claim that law blocked key eavesdrop
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 3, 2008 3:35 PM CDT
AG's 'Invented' 9/11 Claim Is Scare Tactic
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey   (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Michael Mukasey’s recent claim that surveillance laws barred eavesdropping on a crucial pre-9/11 phone call is either an attempt to scare up support for spying or a revelation of massive US failure, Glenn Greenwald writes in Salon. The 9/11 Commission never mentioned the mysterious phone call—and the executive director tells Greenwald he has no idea what the Attorney General is talking about.

Further, Mukasey's claim that the restrictive law kept the government from saving lives is demonstrably false: FISA doesn’t, and never has, required a warrant for tapping foreign targets. Amazingly, Mukasey also appears to have “invented a critical episode” that all but blames civil libertarians for the terrorist attacks, Greenwald concludes, wondering, where’s the outrage? (More Michael Mukasey stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X