It was released as congressional committees prepare to consider legislation this week to expand the government's domestic spying powers permanently and add new civil liberties safeguards.• Noah Shachtman points out the White House is implicated in blowing the cover of one of its counterterrorism resources, SITE:
President George W. Bush has staunchly defended his administration's counterterrorism programs, including CIA secret detentions of terrorism suspects and the domestic spying program, saying they are needed to prevent another attack on U.S. soil.
But critics question the legality of those programs, and say the Bush administration's focus on the Iraq war has taken resources away from hunting down al-Qaida leaders.
For years, the private terror-hunters at the SITE Institute have been infiltrating jihadist chat rooms, and spying on the extremists congregating online. Now, the group's digital cover has been blown—and Al-Qaeda online communications channels have gone dark—thanks to a ham-handed move by the Bush administration, it seems. "Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," SITE's Rita Katz told the Washington Post.Very interesting article, as is this one by emptywheel, who thinks SITE's owner is complaining for no reason because the bin Laden video was available elsewhere.
It's beside the point. The Bush administration leaves bin Laden in the field, then translates and publishes his messages. That's prima facie evidence of giving aid and comfort to the enemy—and giving aid and comfort to the enemy is the definition of treason.
This whopper of a story slid right by our so-what media. It happened Tuesday. First thing Wednesday morning, in a perfect world, a military honor guard would escort the entire executive and legislative branches to the nearest jail cells.
