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Paper Reports Gonzales Knew About Patriot Act Abuses

Internal FBI documents have indicated that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales did receive reports of potential violations of the USA Patriot Act, despite having assured Congress that the FBI had not abused their powers granted under the anti-terrorism law.

A report by The Washington Post, according to Reuters, has discovered that in the three months before the attorney general sought to renew the Patriot Act, Gonzales received at least half dozen reports of legal or procedural violations, including one he received six days before his Senate testimony. Gonzales was sent copies of reports that stated administrative rules or laws protecting civil liberties and privacy were violated, reported the Post, citing documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

It is still unclear whether Gonzales read any of the FBI reports in 2005 and 2006, say Justice Department officials. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse told the Post that when Gonzales testified, he was speaking in the context of reports before this year that found no misconduct or abuses related to the Patriot Act.

The paper is also alleging that FBI reports alerted Gonzales in 2005 of problems with the use of national security letters (NSL), which allow the agency to compel the release of private information, for example, communication or financial records, without getting court approval. Despite allegedly receiving reports about the NSL�s, Gonzales acted surprised this past March when the Justice Department inspector general reported that there were pervasive problems with the FBI�s handling of NSL�s and other investigative tools.

"I was upset when I learned this, as was Director Mueller. To say that I am concerned about what has been revealed in this report would be an enormous understatement," Gonzales said in a speech March 9, referring to FBI Director Robert S. Mueller. The attorney general added that he believed, back in 2005 before the Patriot Act was renewed, that there were no problems with NSL's. "I've come to learn that I was wrong," he said, making no mention of the FBI reports sent to him.

The Post avows that each of the violations cited in the reports Gonzales received were serious enough to require notification of the President�s Intelligence Oversight Board. The oversight board is staffed with intelligence experts from inside and outside the government and was established to report to the attorney general and president about any civil liberties abuses or intelligence lapses. Roehrkasse asserts that the fact that a violation is reported to the board �does not mean that a USA Patriot violation exists or that an individual�s civil liberties have been abused.�

It was reported in June by FBI officials that agents had possibly violated the laws or its rules more than 1,000 times since 2002 in collecting information about phone calls, emails and financial records while investigating terrorism or espionage suspects. The acts recounted in the FBI reports include unauthorized surveillance, an illegal property search, and a case in which an Internet firm improperly turned over a compact disc with data that the FBI was not at liberty to collect.

Yes there were numerous patriot act abuses. For example using this act we were able to stop the terrorists from blowing up the Brooklyn bridge among many other acts of destruction, but the insane left will continue to attack anything and everything which has anything to do with the Bush administration because of their loony hatred towards the President. At the same time the left will continue to tear down Crosses of Memorials, defend the firing of people for reading the Bible at work, indoctrination of our children by the Gay mafia lobby, while at the same time attempting to appease the Islamic Terrorists by using tax payer money to install foot baths in our airports and universities.

Dear Borislav,

It is not just the left, but people who are conservative too, who object to the trashing of the constitution that has gone on since 911.

Perhaps you think we are nuts for wanting to live in a Democracy? Because we believe in the Bill of rights and the Constitution? And why is it that every one who disagrees with this administration "hates president Bush?" I am sorry, In a democracy we are free to criticize the president, he works for us!
The minority 29% of the people who think this president is doing a good job do not think he ever does any thing wrong, him or his administration. How bad do things have to get? They are corrupt, incompetent, and have no respect for the constitution.

We do not defeat the terrorists if we give up our civil liberties in the war in terror- quite the opposite, they achieve a subtle victory.

- Lance

Dear Michael,

There is one big problem with all this 'nit picking' Gonzales business. Why is it that when the justice department began investigating Pres. Clinton, President Clinton was able to fire every single person without any of these so called 'righteous' Democrats saying anything?

Actually, the President has complete control and every right to have the Attorney General fire whomever he wants, as was proved by Pres. Clinton's actions. So why the big fuss now with Gonzales? He also has the constitutional right to withold documents. He is the PRESIDENT!

These democrats are:

Amazing! Simply amazing!

God Bless,

Zenovia

Dear Lance,

And the 15% of the people that believe congress is doing a good job, has to be delusional. Hee, hee, hee!

Tit for tat!

Oh, I forgot to mention, there is a fatwah out allowing Al Quida to kill up to four million Americans.

God Bless,

Zenovia

Dear Zenovia,

yes, congress are no prize pigs either!

But again, the question is, are we willing to give up our civil liberties? If we are, than any administration can use fear to subjugate us.

Lance, if Americans are all dead, who's rights are you going to protect?

Don't worry though, we conservatives will drag the liberals by the hand kicking and screaming and we will save them from themselves yet again.

I have no need to be saved by conservative. What I need is to be saved from conservatives.


Ryan

If you need to be saved from conservatives, you can turn to the other options. Islam, Gay lobby, Abortionists and Communists, and you can live with them in a brave new world.

And Zenovia, shame on you for bringing up militant Islam. War on Terrorism is just a bumper sticker, we know that. 9/11 was an inside job, and militant Islam was made up by Bush and His cabinet so that He could scare us into letting Him TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!

Borislav:

Your distorted, excessive rhetoric invites ridicule. You might tone your rhetoric down a bit and follow the advice that the Adminstrator has given in the past-I believe even to your personally-that you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. "Islam, Gay lobby, Abortionists and Communists" are not the only alternatives to conservatives-particularly the sort of conservatives to whom you refer, who, in my opinion, are not conservatives, but reactionaries.

Ryan

I am not trying to "catch flies", I am stating the cold hard facts the best way I know how.

All the Democratic candidates stand for all the things I listed above, including wealth redistribution ( Communism ), Gay Marriage and destruction of the American family, illegal immigration, Islam appeasement and Abortion on demand.

I don't have the patience to play nice and beat around the bush (no pun intended).

And yes, I agree with the fact that Bush is not a true conservative, but he sure beats any and all the candidates the Democratic party can field right now.

Also do not ridicule me for my sarcastic statement, rather ridicule the far Left for actually believing that trash.

Borislav:

There are no communists seeking the nomination of either the Democratic or Republican parties, and it is utterly absurd to suggest so. I would add that I disagree with almost everything you say, but I don't feel the need to stoop to the level of characterizing your opinions as "trash."

Ryan

I used the word trash in reference of the belief that 9/11 was an inside job, and war on terror is being used as a scare tactic for Bush to take over the world.

That is complete and utter trash and the far left believes it.

Every Democrat running today is FOR redistribution of wealth. That is at least socialism if not communism.

Also the Leftists latest support for the Fairness Doctrine that will result in the end of talk radio would be well liked by both Hitler and Stalin.

You want to talk about corruption?

Why don't we talk about Senator Feinstein's War Profiteering?

Or maybe Bill Clinton's pardon of FLAN Terrorists in an attempt to get the Portuguese to vote for His wife in NY.

Fact of the meter is, I am a Conservative. I will not make any apologies for being one, nor do I think I need to. I will not make watered down statements filled with half-truths designed to make the Secular Progressive feeeeel good about what I am saying.

Have you ever read any speeches by general Patton? If we had Him running our army the War in Iraq would have been won within a week of the American invasion. What do you think the good General did when His boys captured a Nazi during WWII? Do you think He shipped them off to Guantanamo Bay or worse yet to America where he can have an attorney payed by our tax money(as the Liberals would have it)? No, the good General had the Nazi executed by a firing squad.

In a time of war with Islamists abroad who are looking to kill us, and the war with Secularists who try to teach our children that Gay's are as normal as every one else, tare down crosses, and lobby for abortion on demand harsh rhetoric is what we NEED.

The current President in France, Nicolas SARKOZY called the "trouble youths" who were burning cars and trashing Paris, IMMIGRANT SCUM and it got Him elected. So I disagree, its not always Honey that the flies need. Sometimes we need LAW ORDER and the harsh truth.

I know that there are some people who believe that the World Trade Center bombings were an inside job-but I think they constitute a very, very tiny group. As for President Bush using that event as a scare tactic to take over the world, well, I think that's an exaggeration, but I have little doubt that he has used it as a scare tactic to increase executive power within the US government and to ignore our principle of checks and balances. Both liberals and true conservatives will agree with that. I suppose the sort of "redistribution of wealth" to which you refer is heavier taxation on those most wealthy and social welfare programs. This amounts to neither socialism or communism, as it does not amount to state ownership or state control of the means of production. You may disagree with it, and that is your right, but it is not socialism, and most certainly not communism. Furthermore, I ask, where are higher taxes for the wealthiest and social welfare programs to be found? Generally speaking, in those countries with the highest standard of living.

Ryan

Dear Borislav,

Did any one on this forum suggest that 911 was an inside job? I certainly do not believe that, and I do not think anyone else does, either.

Bush's scare tactics- I do not think he is trying to take over the world, but I believe that the administration does use fear to try and maintain their power.

Democratic corruption? Two wrongs do not make a right. I will easily grant you that Democrats are not all angels, either.

Socialism? I think that the redistribution of wealth is as much a Christian ideal as a Marxist one. Many of the Church fathers believed private property was a sin. They made statements that were far more radical than what a modern US Democract or European Social Democrat would ever make. Most people on the "left" as you style it, are not against private property, they just believe in a social safety net. If we provide for a common defense, why not a common good? Almost all of us opt for some form of capitalism and free markets, we just want to humanize it.