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Chertoff:
‘Lieberman Is Dead Right’ In Calling For Increased Wiretapping
Think Progress | July 3, 2007
Yesterday, Sen. Joe
Lieberman (I-CT) used the foiled terror attempts in London to call
for
greater domestic spying
in the United States. “I hope these terrorist attacks in London wake
us up here in America to stop the petty partisan fighting going on
about…electronic surveillance,” Lieberman said, referencing the
Senate Judiciary Committee’s recent
subpoenas
of documents related to Bush’s wiretapping
program that the White House has refused to release.
Today, on Fox and Friends,
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff echoed Lieberman’s
call, arguing that Lieberman was “dead right” in calling for
increased domestic surveillance:
CHERTOFF: I’m concerned about
losing the tools that I can tell you we use every single day to
catch the kind of plotting which we’ve just seen, obviously, give
rise to the attempted bombings in London. I think Joe Lieberman is
dead right.
Watch it here
British surveillance did not
prevent the London attacks. In fact, “[t]here had been no prior
intelligence of planned attacks from the terror organization.”
Instead, vigilant citizens helped prevent the bombings:
The events unfolded when
police were called to Haymarket, south of Piccadilly Circus,
after a man fell at the nightclub Tiger Tiger, injuring his
head, prompting a call for an ambulance around 1:30 a.m. Friday.
When crews arrived, they noticed smoke coming from a green
Mercedes parked in front of a club. […]
The announcement of the second
bomb came about 20 hours later … [a car] had been towed across
town to an impound lot; the attendants there, on the alert after
news of the first foiled car bombing, smelled gasoline and
alerted authorities.
Currently, the White House is
refusing to cooperate with Congress by not explaining why
current surveillance methods are insufficient and why it feels
it needs even more intrusive spying on American citizens.
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