Grand Unified Conspiracy Theory By: Mark W Adams

In my previous post I noted that the focus of scrutiny -- for those of us convinced that somewhere there exists impeachment worthy evidence not even the most stubborn Bush apologist can ignore -- should be the actions of U.S. Attorneys found sufficiently loyal to the partisan whims of Karl Rove's mission to destroy liberal Democrats, that they would never have been considered a target for dismissal. (ie. watch what the "Bushie" US Attorneys did.)

Unlike AT&T, SBC and a few others I can't recall, Qwest Communications refused to comply with NSA requests that they turn over their customers data. I do recall some grumbling, a high profile ruling by a certain Judge Walker that was ignored by the Noise Machine (yes, one of those Walkers -- the George "W" Walkers), who ruled against the government but was not vilified by Fox and Friends as much as the federal judge in Michigan who found the NSA wiretapping equally unconstitutional, and a call to change phone carriers to Qwest in support by many bloggers.

What I learned yesterday and documented below was that Qwest and it's CEO soon found itself involved in an investigation by the SEC and accused of accounting fraud.

Already the plot thickens. Not only was the Qwest case taken from the acting U.S. Attorney who began the case and given to a couple of DoJ lawyers whose involvement we are yet to fully appreciate, BUT, HuffPost alerts us another interesting tidbit to the story from the Washington Post:

FBI Lawyers Raised Phone Record Privacy Concerns Two Years Before Agency Began Probe: "

FBI lawyers raised the concerns beginning in late October 2004 but did not closely scrutinize the practice until last year, FBI officials acknowledged. They also did not understand the scope of the problem until the Justice Department launched an investigation, FBI officials said.

Under pressure to provide a stronger legal footing, counterterrorism agents last year wrote new letters to phone companies demanding the information the bureau already possessed. At least one senior FBI headquarters official -- whom the bureau declined to name -- signed these 'national security letters' without including the required proof that the letters were linked to FBI counterterrorism or espionage investigations, an FBI official said.

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What we've accomplished with this revelation is to make a positive link between A.G. Gonzales firing U.S. Attorneys for unethical partisan reasons, and Director Muller's FBI abusing those National Security Letters. At the time of this picture, they were both being called on the carpet for what seemed like separate irregularities. However, they were just two sides of the same coin.

When they wrote the Patriot Act, is was all too predictable that giving the FBI the authority to write their own warrants was an abuse waiting to happen -- a farce really. Why even bother with that silly bit of unnecessary paper pushing. But now, knowing that there is a connection (however tenuous at this point) with the elimination of any judicial oversight restraining the abuse of the judicial system by unscrupulous prosecutors and investigators and a concerted effort by the administration to put or keep in place U.S. Attorneys ready, willing and able to exploit this mockery of justice.

No administration should ever have been given this kind of authority, especially this on. Such power is almost dictatorial in nature. It was certain to run afoul of the maxim that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Now we know that is does so quickly as well.

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UPDATE: Did I mention, the Insider Trading Trial of Qwest's Joseph Nacchio Begins Monday. Keep an eye on Jeralyn's Live Blogging at 5280.com.