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Blatant Criminal Behavior by the Bush Administration
Sunday, July 15th, 2007
Did you know that a couple of American attorneys, Wendell Belew and Asim Ghafoor, are the only people who can prove they have standing in a suit charging the government of illegally spying on American citizens without a FISA warrant? And how do they know? They were passed a “top secret” document during disclosure in a case when the government was considering putting their client on the US Treasury watch list for Islamic charities that the government believed are funding terrorists. The document provided positive proof that they were being spied upon by the government because the document contained a record of private phone calls they had with their client.
Belew knew things were weird when the FBI showed up at his house in 2004 and demanded he give back the document and forget that he ever saw it. When he realized it was part of the NSA spying scandal, he and Ghafoor decided to sue. Now his case is winding its way through the courts and the document at question is being held under guard by the court in San Francisco and will be used as evidence by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker who is in charge of the case. Portland Judge Garr King had refused to hand the document over to the FBI when they asked for it so the court still has it (otherwise it would probably have disappeared like Karl Rove’s email). Wired provided a comprehensive report last March on this bizarre case which could blow apart Bush’s illegal spying if only the courts don’t decide that the executive is all powerful and above the law. (via) Here’s a story that describes what a lawyer for Belew and Ghafoor is experiencing after taking on their case. As a friend of Brandon Mayfield, the Portland attorney that had been falsely accused of being involved in the Madrid train bombings, Thomas Nelson knew he was stepping into a dangerous case. This is yet another case that reads like a John Grisham novel. From AlterNet:
Eventually, the strange happenings followed him to his home. As this AlterNet piece says, the case is exceedingly strange:
This really is the last case left that threatens Bush’s illegal wiretapping because none of the objections from earlier appeals decided in Bush’s favor touch it. Here is clear and positive proof that the administration broke the law. Will the courts allow them to get away with it? We’ll know soon. August 15th, the 9th Circuit Court will hear the appeal of whether Judge Garr’s decision to allow this case to proceed was decided correctly. The Bush administration truly do not believe they must follow the law. Just think what would happen next if they get away with this crime. Have Your Say: Blatant Criminal Behavior by the Bush Administration Please read our posting guidelines before posting. Alternatively you can discuss this report here. Related News
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