GOP Putting Heat on NYTimes
The Hill magazine’s Patrick O’Connor and Jonathan Allen are reporting that the House GOP is putting the heat on the NY Times for their reporting of the SWIFT counterterrorist program. Here’s how they’re doing it:
House Republican leaders are expected to introduce a resolution today condemning The New York Times for publishing a story last week that exposed government monitoring of banking records. The resolution is expected to condemn the leak and publication of classified documents, said one Republican aide with knowledge of the impending legislation.
This is an easy decision on the GOP’s part. Not only do they condemn the NY Times’ revealing an effective counterterrorism program but they put the Democrats in the position of either voting against the NY Times’ reporting or of saying that the leaking, and reporting, of this and similar types of programs is ok with them. That’s hardly the position they want to be in.
Expect Democrats to whine about the GOP ‘playing politics with national security and First Amendment issues.’ That’s a surefire sign that they’re caught betwixt and between on a thorny issue for them. Don’t be fooled by their caterwauling. It’s just their attempt to distract from expressing their opinion on the issue of leaking vital national security programs.
Technorati Tags: NY Times, SWIFT, GOP
Cross-post at LetFreedomRingBlog
June 29th, 2006 at 9:23 am
Me: What time is it?
Ignorant response: Sure looks like rain today.
Repubs: The NYT “SWIFT” article was, if not treasonous, certainly a blow to a useful tool in our fight against terror-funding.
Donkey response: Sure looks like rain today.
June 29th, 2006 at 11:13 am
Um, not to burst anyone’s bubble but, as I recall, after 9/11, Bush publically announced that they were going to be scrutinizing international financial transactions in support of the GWOT. I don’t understand what the big hub-bub is about. If the NYT is guilty of anything, it’s trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill. Of course, the same can be said for people calling the the NYT a bunch of traitors, but there you go.
June 29th, 2006 at 10:00 pm
House passes resolution condemning Jihad Journalism
183 members of the House of representatives Voted against it…
Maybe they need a resolution against Jihad Representation….
…
July 1st, 2006 at 3:43 am
yeah, but Bush DIDN’T tell the world exactly how they would be doing that, disclosing which financial institutions would be participating and he certainly didn’t talk about the over seas and foriegn involvment in the program, which is where most of the good info came from. Since the NYT article, several of the foriegn financial institutions have pulled out, cutting off a significant source of usable intel… seems these companies didn’t like having their business dealing splashed all over the front page for the world to see.
Even in the article, the times admitted there was nothing illegal about it.
July 1st, 2006 at 5:55 pm
Sure, maybe he didn’t say exactly how he was going to do it, but he did say they were going to be scrutinzing international financial transactions. You’d have to be one idiot of a terrorist to use ‘normal’ financial channels after that. Besides, as anyone who’s read about the Islamic world knows, they have their own ways of moving cash around that circumvent Western financial institutions.