Don't ask why, be glad they're too broke to pry…

posted by Bill Arnett @ 2:36 PM Permalink

From The Huffington Post we now find that the black hole known as Iraq is devouring so much money that the FBI is losing it's ability to spy on us:

Telephone companies have cut off FBI wiretaps used to eavesdrop on suspected criminals because of the bureau's repeated failures to pay phone bills on time.

A Justice Department audit released Thursday blamed the lost connections on the FBI's lax oversight of money used in undercover investigations. Poor supervision of the program also allowed one agent to steal $25,000, the audit said.

In at least one case, a wiretap used in a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act investigation "was halted due to untimely payment," the audit found. FISA wiretaps are used in the government's most sensitive and secretive criminal investigations, and allow eavesdropping on suspected terrorists or spies.

"We also found that late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," according to the audit by Inspector General Glenn A. Fine.

More than half of 990 bills to pay for telecommunication surveillance in five unidentified FBI field offices were not paid on time, the report shows. In one office alone, unpaid costs for wiretaps from one phone company totaled $66,000.

It must be rough trying to establish yourself as America's first King, as bush is, and not be able to pay the bills for your most likely illegal surveillance of those you wish to govern.

While bush is battling for immunity for the telecom companies the companies repay him by cutting off his surveillance for a lack of payment! Will they "forgive" the government's lack of payment if they are granted immunity? Is this a telecom power play or is America just to broke to pay its spying bills?

What sweet, rich irony.

Labels: bill of rights, Bush, conspiracy, disinformation, Economy, FBI, hypocrisy, irony, snark, spying, surveillance