I have a few more questions about the Times scoop about the secret NSA eavesdropping.
The Times said they delayed reporting this story at the request of the Administration:
The White House asked The New York Times not to publish this article, arguing that it could jeopardize continuing investigations and alert would-be terrorists that they might be under scrutiny. After meeting with senior administration officials to hear their concerns, the newspaper delayed publication for a year to conduct additional reporting. Some information that administration officials argued could be useful to terrorists has been omitted.
Should we take that literally - was publication originally set for December 2004, appearing just after the election?
Or was this originally slated to be an "October Surprise" hit piece?
And, following the possibility that the story was politically motivated, let's ask about sources, described here as:
"Nearly a dozen current and former officials, who were granted anonymity because of the classified nature of the program".
Both Richard Clarke and Rand Beers were former Administration officials by the fall of 2004, both were involved with the Kerry campaign, and either or both both may have been in the loop when this eavesdropping program was begun in the fall of 2001.
Posted by Tom Maguire on December 18, 2005
---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 17 Dec 2005 18:17:31 -0500
>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Subject: [lbo-talk] NYT sat on wiretapping story for a year
>To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
>
>[looks like the Post is having fun with a competitor, esp
>after the Woodward stuff]...