To detect narcotics trafficking, for example, the government has been collecting the phone records of thousands of Americans and others inside the United States who call people in Latin America, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the program remains classified.
But in 2004, one major phone carrier balked at turning over its customers’ records. Worried about possible privacy violations or public relations problems, company executives declined to help the operation, which has not been previously disclosed.
In a separate N.S.A. project, executives at a Denver phone carrier, Qwest, refused in early 2001 to give the agency access to their most localized communications switches, which primarily carry domestic calls, according to people aware of the request, which has not been previously reported. They say the arrangement could have permitted neighborhood-by-neighborhood surveillance of phone traffic without a court order, which alarmed them.
Does this alarm you? George W. Bush is a criminal, he demanded direct access to millions of purely domestic telephone calls without a court order and without a record of what he was doing prior to September 11, 2001. This means that he must have received such access from the other domestic carriers besides Qwest. Soon after he took office in 2001, months before the US was attacked. He and all the government officials involved in this must be removed from office immediately and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. No one in this country should ever let it rest for a minute. They must go to prison for a long, long time.
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