StormWarning’s Counterterrorism

All of the focus is whether Alberto Gonzalez lied or misrespresented in his testimony to Congress about his visit to Ashcroft’s hospital room to re-certify the Terrorist Surveillance Program.  I think there’s alot more to it…like covering up a different, more covert security program.

OK, fine, its speculation.  But if you watched any part of Alberto’s testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary panel, there is something going on here…I watched most of the hearings, but if you didn’t, here is the transcript of the testimony.  Both the Democrats and the Republicans are gunning for Gonzalez.  But frankly, he wasn’t lying if the questions about the Terrorist Surveillance Program, when in fact, on the day in question, he was actually discussing a different covert program.

Gonzales’s Truthfulness Long Disputed - Claims of Misstatements to Shield Bush Stretch Back a Decade

Over the past 2 1/2 years, lawmakers have accused Gonzales of dissembling on many topics, including civil liberties abuses under the USA Patriot Act and his role in reviewing aggressive interrogation tactics. After a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in February 2006, Gonzales sent the panel a six-page, single-spaced letter to "clarify" six major points of testimony, including his erroneous claim that the Justice Department had never undertaken a legal analysis of domestic wiretapping.

Mmmm, okay, so going back to 2006…Gonzales Defends U.S. Wiretapping Program…Several Republicans joined Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary
Committee Tuesday in questioning the legality of secret wiretapping
authorized by President Bush…

Lets go back to the accusations of Gonzalez pressuing Ashcroft to re-certify the Terrorist Surveillance Program.

Gonzalez denies pressuing Ashcroft in hospital
Note that there is a conflict here between the Gonzalez-Andy Card accounts of this hospital visit with that of James Comey, Ashcroft’s designee.

FBI director contradicts Gonzales’ testimony

In his own sworn testimony Thursday, Mueller contradicted his boss, saying under questioning that the terrorist surveillance program (TSP) was the topic of the hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials.

Mueller was not in the hospital room at the time of the dramatic March 10, 2004, confrontation between Ashcroft and presidential advisers Andy Card and Gonzales, who was then serving as White House counsel.

Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee he arrived shortly after they left, and then spoke with the ailing Ashcroft.

Mmmm…if Ashcroft wasn’t lucid enough to be consulted by Gonzalez, to what degree was he lucid afterwards when Mueller spoke with him?

I truly suspect that there is much more going on here than the disputed Terrorist Surveillance Program.  What, you ask?  Well, lets start with this:

Gonzales faces call on data mining

…a dispute with Mr Gonzales’ predecessor was about a data mining operation by the security agencies.

As part of an investigation into the sacking of nine prosecutors, allegedly for political reasons, Mr Gonzales was questioned by the Senate Judiciary committee last week about a 2004 bedside meeting with then attorney-general John Ashcroft.

Besides, it is very possble that Alberto Gonzalez was being truthful, but still not telling everything that he knows!

Security factors hemmed Gonzales’s testimony, White House says
Spokesman calls attorney general’s account truthful
The White House offered a vigorous defense of Attorney General Alberto
R. Gonzales yesterday, insisting that he had not given misleading
testimony to Congress, but that national security factors prevented
further clarification for now.

"He has testified truthfully and tried to be very accurate," the chief White House spokesman, Tony Snow, said of Gonzales’ testimony this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Now, one final point.  Remember the Total Information Awareness program.  If you want more speculation (and those few who have read Storm Blog for a while, know that I rarely speculate), TIA is probably still alive, even though it was supposedly killed after disclosure.  And its possible that there is at least one additional, covert information surveillance effort on-going now.  If I am right, frankly, I’m glad.

If I’m wrong (especially about all of this speculation), maybe Alberto has been lying.

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