FBI PROTECTS OSAMA BIN LADEN’S “RIGHT TO PRIVACY”

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

I found this rooting around on the Internets and thought this would be good fuel for whatever fire you may be dealing with. I find this quite appalling, but not surprised. Sorry if this a dupe but my search function is not working on this computer. but anyways here it is.

Note, this is a press release, so no copyright issues.

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http://www.judicialwatch.org/printer_5286.shtml

For Immediate Release
Apr 20, 2005 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


FBI PROTECTS OSAMA BIN LADEN’S “RIGHT TO PRIVACY” IN DOCUMENT RELEASE

Judicial Watch Investigation Uncovers FBI Documents Concerning Bin Laden Family and Post-9/11 Flights


(Washington, DC) Judicial Watch, the public interest group that fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) has invoked privacy right protections on behalf of al Qaeda terror leader Osama bin Laden. In a September 24, 2003 declassified “Secret” FBI report obtained by Judicial Watch, the FBI invoked Exemption 6 under FOIA law on behalf of bin Laden, which permits the government to withhold all information about U.S. persons in “personnel and medical files and similar files” when the disclosure of such information “would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.” (5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6) (2000))



Before invoking privacy protections for Osama bin Laden under Exemption 6, the FBI should have conducted a balancing “test” of the public's right to disclosure against the individual's right to privacy. Many of the references in the redacted documents cite publicly available news articles from sources such as The Washington Post and Associated Press. Based on its analysis of the news stories cited in the FBI report, Judicial Watch was able to determine that bin Laden’s name was redacted from the document, including newspaper headlines in the footnoted citations.



“It is dumbfounding that the United States government has placed a higher priority on the supposed privacy rights of Osama bin Laden than the public’s right to know what happened in the days following the September 11 terrorist attacks,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “It is difficult for me to imagine a greater insult to the American people, especially those whose loved ones were murdered by bin Laden on that day.”



The redacted documents were obtained by Judicial Watch under the provisions of the FOIA and through ongoing litigation (Judicial Watch v. Department of Homeland Security & Federal Bureau of Investigation, No. 04-1643 (RWR)). Among the documents was a declassified “Secret” FBI report, dated September 24, 2003, entitled: “Response to October 2003 Vanity Fair Article (Re: Family Departures After 9/11/2001).” Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request on October 7, 2003. The full text of the report and related documents are available on the Internet by clicking here (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

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[Old and In the Way]

1. Bizarroland, here I come.

What a joke....

[Eugene]

2. S.O.P. at Bush & Co.

They cite privacy or confidentiality whenever they want to hide something,
like Cheney's secret energy summit, holding terror suspects incommunicado,
suppressing Abu Ghraib photos, etc. Of course privacy concerns don't stop them
from wanting to know what phone numbers you call or what books you read.

[Love Bug]

3. Probably has more to do with not revealing how involved

with the CIA Bin Laden is.

[AndrewJacksonFaction]

4. I bet

I bet that is the reason.