After condemning NY Times' NSA wiretap story, WSJ editorial page mum so far on disclosure of bank monitoring
SUMMARY: After criticizing the revelation of the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program, The Wall Street Journal editorial board has been silent on the disclosure of the administration's monitoring of international financial transactions, on which the Journal's own news division reported.
On December 20, 2005, four days after The New York Times broke the story that the Bush administration was conducting a vast domestic electronic surveillance program without obtaining warrants apparently required by law, The Wall Street Journal printed an editorial saying that the Times' disclosure of the secret program was "likely to do genuine harm" to the country. On June 27, more than four days after The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), and the Los Angeles Times disclosed the existence of a secret Bush administration program designed to monitor international financial transactions, the Journal had yet to editorialize about the disclosure. Now, as then, President Bush and other administration officials have denounced the media for disclosing the program and have accused them of impeding the war on terror. But now, unlike then, The Wall Street Journal's news division was one of the media outlets to break the story.
In response to the December 16, 2005, Times report that the Bush administration had secretly authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct domestic eavesdropping without warrants, the Journal editorialized that "[w]e won't second-guess the New York Times decision to publish" the story, but it is "likely to do genuine harm by alerting terrorists to our defenses." Furthermore, as Media Matters for America noted, Journal deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger criticized the Times for printing the NSA wiretap story on at least two separate occasions. In his February 10 Journal column, Henninger wrote: "[H]ere's the bottom line on the surveillance program. It was going to work, and help lessen the chance of another atrocity in our America, only if it stayed secret. The odds of it staying secret would diminish as its existence spread through the Congress and judicial system. Now it is public, and its utility is about zero." Then, on the February 12 edition of Fox News' Journal Editorial Report, Henninger said "[T]his program's dead no matter what FISA [the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] thinks of it. You can't tell me that Al Qaeda is still making phone calls in and out of the United States after watching what's been going on in the Senate for two weeks."
The question for Henninger and the Journal now is whether they will stay mum, given that the Journal's own news division reported as follows: "[T]he U.S. Treasury Department has been secretly tracking suspected terrorist financing through a far-reaching program that gives it access to records from the network that handles nearly all international financial transfers."
On June 27, Editor & Publisher magazine raised a similar question of the Journal:
The paper's Editorial Page Editor Paul Gigot declined to comment when asked if he planned to editorialize on the Journal's decision to publish the story, saying in an e-mail message through [Journal spokesman Robert] Christie that he does not discuss pending editorial subjects. Whatever he produces will be interesting, given the paper's conservative and pro-Bush editorial line.
am mad at the NYT as well regarding their treatment of the warrantless wiretapping story. WHY DIDN"T THEY TELL THE AMERICAN PUBLIC WHEN THEY FIRST FOUND OUT, BEFORE THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION? That was the real crime, holding this story for over a year and safely after Bush's re-election.
That was the crime that could have and probably would have turned the election, if it hadn't been stolen that is.
A lot of information was withheld and is still being withheld.
reporter Judy Miller being used to support the build-up to the Iraq War? There was no Neocon opposition to the NYT then. Who is fooling who? More of the Republican Good Cop/Bad Cop routine; NYPD Blue via Karl Rove.
They told the world about wiretapping and keeping an eye out for bank transactions during the four(4) part expose circa December 2001 concerning the 911 Israeli Connection which can now be found airing through whatreallyhappened.com. They actually have graphics...Fox should be tried for treason FIRST...but this series has never been talked about on Fox since December 2001. And lets get ready for the BIG ONE against this Administration. They seem to be really going after the real media. e.g. The swiftboating of the NYTIMES.
THE MIGHTY WILL TUMBLE but the talking heads will continue to make millions.
P.S. I'll bet that not one terrorist leader will have people visiting them at night because people like RUSH, O'REaLLY, Hannity etc. could wait to tell the bad guys that we FOLLOWED Zarqawi's religious advisor....Remember, guys those terrorist would never have thought that we were following the money. Talk about informing the enemy...you guys are really dumb.
How about Geraldo giving out sensitive troop information? Is that treason?
...because they're still trying to figure out what to make of it. When you consider the information the government has gathered for decades under anti-money laundering laws, the searching of SWIFT records doesn't appear to be anything new.
Is it illegal? That would seem doubtful. Is it unconstitutional? There may be an argument there, but I'm not well read on the subject. Of course, for those transactions that were strictly between foreign institutions, would U.S. law even be governing?
I've been outspoken on other administration programs, e.g., warrantless wiretaps. However, on this one, I don't know what to make of it yet either.