Kagro X on “Qwest for Truth”

Rdan brought us the story from Joseph Nacchio et al. that the Bush Administration went forward with a warrantless surveillance program to gather information about Americans’ phone records. Rdan considers two competing possibilities:

1. Efforts against terrorism were already underway before 9/11 and have come to light to bolster the Administration’s reputation.

2. The wiretapping is part of a different plan not yet revealed and was begun coincidentally with the terrorist threat as an extra incentive or cover.

Given the general lack of interest in Al Qaeda from the Bush team (recall Condi Rice called going after them “swatting flies”), #1 seems implausible. But suppose I’m wrong. Kagro X notes:

The domestic spying has always been justified by saying it was a necessary response to 9/11. But clearly there’s damned good reason to believe these programs were conceived and initiated well before the September 11th attacks. That would mean – gasp! – that your “government” is full of it. But it’s not just that. If Qwest’s competitors were already abetting this bloodless(?) coup before 9/11, then the “administration’s” domestic spying not only has little if anything to do with response to terrorism, but it also objectively failed to prevent 9/11.

They secretly spied on us and they still couldn’t uncover this terrorist plot. Now that is the height of in competency. Remind me – why did we elect and then re-elect these clowns?