Bush Slams Leak Of Terror Finance He Announced Himself After 9/11! What The??

Bush on Monday sharply condemned the disclosure of a program to secretly monitor the financial transactions of suspected terrorists. “The disclosure of this program is disgraceful,” he said.

“For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America,” Bush said, jabbing his finger for emphasis. He said the disclosure of the program “makes it harder to win this war on terror.”

The program has been going on since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It was disclosed last week by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times.

Using broad government subpoenas, the program allows U.S. counter terrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium. It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.

“Congress was briefed and what we did was fully authorized under the law,” Bush said, talking with reporters in the Roosevelt Room after meeting with groups that support U.S. troops in Iraq.

“We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America,” the president said. “What we were doing was the right thing.”

“The American people expect this government to protect our constitutional liberties and at the same time make sure we understand what the terrorists are trying to do,” Bush said. He said that to figure out what terrorists plan to do, “You try to follow their money. And that’s exactly what we’re doing and the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror.”

Vice President Dick Cheney, in a speech Monday at Grand Island, Neb., said, “Some of the press, particularly The New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.”
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I could be wrong but hasn’t Bush said he would stop at nothing to track all Al Qaeda and terrorist financing? I thought he said he would stop at nothing to track their financing and banking records right from the get go?
In fact the program has been going on since right after 9/11 as we expected would be the case. So why the feigned outrage? i suggest he is again only looking ror political gain for him and the Repugs.

James Joiner
Gardner, Ma
www.anaveragepatriot.com