Prediction: US Attorney firings were directly related to the NSA Spy program/Comey incident.

[originalpckelly]

Remember, the NSA program was not found to be legal by the lawyers in Ashcroft's DOJ. I'd like to point out how horrendous that program must be if John "Patriot Act" Ashcroft thought it was not legal.

Remember how David Iglesias, the fired NM US Attorney, keeps quoting John Ashcroft and his policies about politics and the DOJ? (About leaving politics at the door?)

That's because David Iglesias was an honest Ashcroft guy, not a corrupt Gonzales guy. Get it?

I predict they were going to purge the DOJ of all the honest Ashcroft people so that they wouldn't have any "Deep Throat" situations when they went forward with re-authorizing the really nasty NSA spy program. No secret opposition to go to the press like Mark Felt with Nixon. They wanted to remove these people who could have been the silent alarm.

It may have even been a form of retaliation. We know "the decider" doesn't like to have someone challenge one of his decisions, now don't we?

He seems like the type of person who's very emotional and vindictive. You can watch it in his eyes and mannerisms at WH press conferences, especially with David Gregory.

There's something creepy about him, he seems easy going and nice, but that's a facade. He's really quite a cruel man beneath it all. Look at those eyes. That childish fit of anger, and the little flash of rage that comes over his face when he's interrupted. That's something no one likes too much when it happens, but the way he acts is always really creepy and mean. There's a video record of this at least as far back as when he was debating on CNN with John McCain in 2000 and John McCain brought up that weird Vet who said those horrible things about McCain when GWB was standing next to him at some rally. I've noticed that same flash of anger since then on many occasions in many forums.

We're not dealing with a nice man here folks, he's a clinical psychopath. He has a remarkable lack of empathy.

I understand that there is always a Democratic/left bias in anything I say as a person who's a Democrat, but I have to wonder if even the freepervillains aren't starting to worry about this guy. When they start going after their own people, it can't be long before they begin more overt actions against ourselves and the rest of the nation. They're going after Republican US Attorney's, and while I am never astonished by the ability of those in the cult of Bush to justify his atrocities, I have to wonder if a few of them won't snap out of it. Will it be enough?

I posted about this weeks ago, but George W. Bush is going to have to make the decision in the coming days, weeks and months as to how he'll go. Just like many other criminals facing their encounter with the long arm of the law, Bush has to decide whether to go quietly, respect the law, accept his crimes and the punishments thereof, or whether to make a last stand and last act of defiance of the law.

Only time will tell.

[Old and In the Way]

1. No doubt they are related.

But the wire tapping could be conducted in a very compartmentalized environment. All Bush needed was Gonzalez and a few honcho's at DoJ to bless this program. No need to get the career lawyers and USA's involved. But the USA's were needed to produce damaging cases against Democrats and derail real criminal cases of Republican corruption.

I see them as having complementary goals - maintaining political power for Republicans. Political power assures economic and legal security for these guys.

[originalpckelly]

5. Why didn't they just get warrants?

The answer to that question may very well be related to the US Attorney's who were cut of the Ashcroft cloth.

Remember, most of the reports on the USAs include their unwillingness to prosecute fake voter fraud.

It might be that the NSA program was used in a way deeply related to that.
I'm not saying anything else here other than an educated guess, but knowing these folks I know they don't claim powers for good reasons. There is a purpose to that NSA program and the data collected from it.

[Old and In the Way]

6. I don't know enough about the process, I guess.

Were these wiretaps the jurisdiction of the local USA's? If so, any that bucked the bogus prosecution of voter fraud certainly would have no interest in illegal wiretaps of non-terrorists.

[L. Coyote]

7. Agreed. NO need to involve USAs everywhere. Read these threads

AND, the DoJ has the authority to invoke "state secrets" privilege on national security issues.

Secret Guarding - The new secrecy doctrine so secret you don't even know about it.
By Henry Lanman - jurisprudence: The law, lawyers, and the court.
Posted Monday, May 22, 2006, at 3:57 PM ET - http://www.slate.com/id/2142155

.... a federal court in Virginia threw out a lawsuit against the government ... El-Masri alleged that the government had violated U.S. law when—as part if its "extraordinary rendition" program—it authorized his abduction, drugging, confinement, and torture....He was released only when the government realized it had kidnapped the wrong man.....

.....why then was el-Masri's lawsuit thrown out? Because the judge accepted the government's claim ... of the "state secrets" privilege? ..... the administration has dramatically increased its use. ............

======================
Justice Weighed Firing 1 in 4 - 26 Prosecutors Were Listed As Candidates
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2848874
By Dan Eggen and Amy Goldstein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, May 17, 2007; Page A01

The Justice Department considered dismissing many more U.S. attorneys than officials have previously acknowledged, with at least 26 prosecutors suggested for termination between February 2005 and December 2006,

==============================
30 U.S. attorneys investigate BILKING BILLIONS, Medicare, Medicaid, Military’s Healthcare
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph

The complexity of the politization of the DoJ is daunting. Cronyism, Politics, Religion, and Cover-Ups ....et.al.
Did I mention $$$$$$ ?? Where do those lobbbying bucks STOP?

How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud does not put CEOs in jail?
How is it that $$ BILLIONS $$ of fraud cases seem to evaporate or settle for so little?
How were those $$ BILLIONS $$ in lobbying by single industries spent?

Focusing on The BIG PICTURE requires a really wide-angle lens with long historical depth of field.

=================================
50 US Attorney Generals Wanted Gonzales To Investigate Oil Industry-HE REFUSED
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x903624

Judiciary Hearing on Oil Prices and Market Failure:
A Federal Investigation Denied
May 16th, 2007 by Jesse Lee

The Judiciary Committee Task Force on Antitrust has concluded its hearing, “Prices at the Pump: Market Failure and the Oil Industry.” .....

====================================
US Attorney Firing: Voter Fraud, Medicare Fraud, WHICH IS IT ???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x853813

When did the US Attorney Firings controversy really begin?

[pinto]

2. interesting take. It's surely all of a piece with these guys. Undermining

the DOJ seems a lynch-pin in the unitary executive agenda. Gonzales seems well cast as the lawyer to the mob, providing the administration with a semblance of legality while strong arming their agenda.

Thanks for the post.

[Lasher]

3. I think you're right.

The NSA spying crimes are the most impeachable of the Bush administration's sins as far as I know. Perhaps more than that it's something on which they could be convicted after this nightmare is over, with no Junior to give everybody a blanket pardon just like Poppy did. That's why they insisted on getting a 'get our of jail free card' when the GOP lapdog Congress was in its last throes.

But the NSA spying crimes are not the only thing behind the USA firings. These people are out for total control. Stealing elections was part of it too, and who knows what else.

[originalpckelly]

4. Yes, I don't think I've ever seen a President admit crimes on national TV...

that, if the full punishment was pursued, would send him to jail for life. It's a very odd thing that this guy has remained in office this long.