<HTML>Talk about a bleeping disingenuous formulation of the problem! I think the reason the reason the FBI did nothing with Moussaoui's computer until after 9/11 was because Headquarters would not authorize a search warrant based on Minneapolis field office's credible info from the flight school where he was studying, He was supposedly interested only in turns in big planes, not take offs or landings. This is the whole situation that the woman from the MInneapolis FBI field office whose name I forget blew the whistle on in letters to headquarters and later testimony before Congress. I am not a lawyer. I am prepared to hear that certain legal niceties might have made getting a warrant difficult. But nothing I have heard about the Patriot Act makes it any more certain Headquarters will not overrule field offices again in the future. But why, you ask, in the middle of Niger-gate and the slaughter of Hussein's sons, is Dick Morris still fixated on this bit of ancient history now? My guess, possibly because Moussaoui's trial in civilian court is about the fall apart again, not just because Moussaoui seems like a bit of a mental patient. The September 11 investigations have turned up possibly exculpatory information, The presiding judge ordered the government to make this person available to the defense. The government on "national security" grounds does not want to provide Moussaoui access to this. Someone now held at Guantanamo says no way was Moussaoui the 20th hijacker because his minders considered him way too loopy and unstable. Under ordinary circumstances prosecutors could argue and jurors woulc have to weigh the credibility of this evidence, but of couse this is no ordinary case. The phrase "military tribunal" is now being bandied about is the civilian case falls apart. Moussaoui is French. Unlike the Brits who were able to object strenuously to proposals to try their nationals in military tribunals, who cares what the French think???? DoreneC In a message dated 7/24/2003 5:12:01 AM GMT Daylight Time, dhenwood@panix.com writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">Subj: [lbo-talk] Dick Morris Date: 7/24/2003 5:12:01 AM GMT Daylight Time From: <A HREF="mailto:dhenwood@panix.com">dhenwood@panix.com</A> Reply-to: <A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org">lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org</A> To: <A HREF="mailto:lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org">lbo-talk@lbo-talk.org</A> Sent from the Internet Dick Morris just said on the Daily Show that the FBI had Moussaoui's computer a month before 9/11, which contained plans for the Pentagon attack, but those dreadful pre-Patriot laws prevented them from looking at it. Does anyone know what he's talking about? Doug ___________________________________ http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE> </HTML>