Latest Spin in the Terror War
If you have ever wondered to what extent Bush and the Justice Department would go to obtain expanded powers in the name of the terror war, the answer is becoming very clear. The Administration is becoming a master at using the media to condition us to their next power grab.
Take Sunday's New York Times, for example. Two journalists, Eric Lichtblau and Don Van Natta, Jr., write two separate articles, on related but different subjects. Neither takes note of the topic in the other's article. Yet the two articles are inextricably linked and clearly demonstrate where Bush & Co. is headed.
A few hours ago we wrote about Lichtblau's article, U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes From Drugs to Swindling. It's about how the Justice Department is using the Patriot Act in non-terror cases, ranging from:
....suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders... Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals — terrorists or otherwise.
The focus of the article is whether using the Patriot Act in non-terror criminal investigations....for garden-variety crimes, if you will....is legal or just or even in sync with what Congress intended when it passed the Act. There is no mention of terrorist's involvement in routine crimes in an effort to hide their money to finance more terrorism.
Now we move to the Sunday Times Week in Review section and Van Natta Jr.'s article, Terrorists Blaze a New Money Trail. The article is about how terrorists are not using banks or other institutions to launder money. Instead, the article claims, they've decided to hide money by going into the petty crime business which generates non-traceable cash. There is no mention of the Patriot Act or other terror laws being used to catch such activity.
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