the/diseased/republik

the Washington Post which alleges that the FBI " illegally collected more than 2,000 US telephone call records between 2002 and 2006 by invoking terrorism emergencies that did not exist or simply persuading phone companies to provide records." the report continues: "E-mails obtained by The Washington Post detail how counterterrorism officials inside FBI headquarters did not follow their own procedures that were put in place to protect civil liberties. The stream of urgent requests for phone records also overwhelmed the FBI communications analysis unit with work that ultimately was not connected to imminent threats. ... FBI officials told The Post that their own review has found that about half of the 4,400 toll records collected in emergency situations or with after-the-fact approvals were done in technical violation of the law. The searches involved only records of calls and not the content of the calls. In some cases, agents broadened their searches to gather numbers

Internal memos show that four security contractors who were ambushed and killed in Iraq three years ago were told to go through the dangerous city of Fallujah when a safer route was available, a newspaper reported Sunday. The memos said a Blackwater USA supervisor also plucked two members of each six-man team for other work, reducing the teams' numbers and making them more vulnerable to attack, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. Memos from the second team _ whose leader decided to go around Fallujah on March 31, 2004, and which wasn't attacked _ said the teams also were sent without maps, although other memos suggest maps were available, the newspaper said. "These reports were written by people who were not there," Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell told The Associated Press. "The answer to what really happened in Fallujah is a tragedy in which four brave men were killed." Tyrrell said she couldn't comment on specifics because of pending liti

A US appeals court has dismissed a case challenging President George W Bush's domestic surveillance programme. The judges in Cincinnati ruled 2-1 that the groups which brought the lawsuit, including the American Civil Liberties Union, had no legal right to sue. The ruling strikes down a lower court's order that found the programme, adopted after 9/11, to be unconstitutional. It allowed the government to monitor contacts between US citizens and terror suspects abroad, without a warrant. While President Bush says his wartime powers allowed him to authorise surveillance without the need for a warrant, critics say he violated Americans' civil liberties. Mr Bush decided not to renew the domestic spying programme in January this year. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said the government would instead seek approval from a special court for wiretaps. FULL STORY AT THE BBC ...

RAMALLAH, WEST BANK — Routed in the Gaza Strip, the Fatah party of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is fractured and adrift at a moment when it is viewed by the outside world as the best hope for blunting the militant Hamas movement in the West Bank. Once dominant in Palestinian affairs, the organization long led by the late Yasser Arafat is beset by a weak and aging leadership, internal schisms and a widespread reputation among Palestinians as corrupt, ineffectual and out of touch. Those troubles have some Palestinians wondering whether Fatah is more likely to lose the West Bank than to recapture the Gaza Strip from Hamas. The crisis facing Fatah has deepened since Hamas crushed its forces in Gaza last month, leaving Fatah's authority limited to the West Bank. The United States, Israel and European allies have promised to bolster Abbas, a relative moderate, and his party as a way to isolate Hamas. Fatah ruled unchallenged under Arafat, but was sent reeling after his d

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney. Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman. In pointed letters released today by Waxman, ISOO's Leonard twice questioned Cheney's office on its assertion it was exempt from the rules. He received no reply, but the vice president later tried to get rid of Leonard's office entirely, according to Waxman. Leonard did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a statement e-mailed to the Blotter on ABCNews.com, C

Sentence commuted, convicted felon scoots to take care of 250K fine JULY 5--On the same day that President George W. Bush wiped away his 30-month prison sentence, convicted former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby purchased a $250,400 cashier's check to cover fines imposed by the federal judge whose sentence was gutted by the presidential commutation. A copy of the July 2 cashier's check (which you can find below) was docketed today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.. In April, a jury convicted Libby of perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with the investigation of the leak of the identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame. Libby's Bank of America check satisifies a $250,000 fine imposed by Judge Reggie Walton and also covers an additional $400 "special assessment." Supporters of Libby, who served as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, stressed that while Bush's action kept Libby from a prison cell, the onerous s

The unnatural division of Europe is now consigned to the past We, the citizens of the European Union, have united for the better We preserve in the European Union the identities and diverse traditions of its member states We are united in our aim of placing the EU on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009 -- source