Senate Rejects Judiciary Version of FISA Law

(Updated below.)

The Senate has just voted to kill the Judiciary Committee's version of the FISA reauthoization law that excludes retroactive immunity to the telecom companies that illegally wiretapped citizens at the request of the Bush administration. The vote was 60-34.

There were immediate requests for amendments to be attached to the Intelligence Committee version by Senators Feingold and Rockefeller. Senator Dodd wanted to weigh in as well and there was an obection by Mitch McConnell.

I guess it's time for Chris Dodd to do some filibustering.

UPDATE: Feingold was interviewed by Huffington Post and disagreed with Reid on his initial procedure. But Reid says, "Senators Dodd and Feingold will seek to strike the immunity title entirely. I oppose immunity, and will support their amendment," said Reid. "If this amendment is not adopted, there will be other amendments to limit the immunity provisions in the Intelligence bill... As I have said before, if there are senators who don't like these amendments and think they should be subjected to 60-vote thresholds, these senators are going to have to engage in an old-fashioned filibuster."

By the end of Thursday debate had been postponed to Monday, after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell moved for a vote on cloture on the Intelligence committee version and Reid objected.

And The Hits Just Keep On Coming

Analysts' Warnings of Iraq Chaos Detailed

This from the Washington Post:

Months before the invasion of Iraq, U.S. intelligence agencies predicted that it would be likely to spark violent sectarian divides and provide al-Qaeda with new opportunities in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a report released yesterday by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. Analysts warned that war in Iraq also could provoke Iran to assert its regional influence and "probably would result in a surge of political Islam and increased funding for terrorist groups" in the Muslim world.

This was in January, 2003, months before Bush and his buddies invaded Iraq. But as we all know, once again intelligence was ignored or cherry picked to strengthen support for the war and occupation. In reading sections of the report, it seems that the administration used positive, albeit incorrect assessments as talking points to solidify their stance on Iraq such as the following:

...terrorist threats heightened by the invasion would probably decline within five years.

...oil revenue would greatly ease the rebuilding of Iraq's economy.

John D. Rockefeller IV (W.Va.), and three other Democratic panel members said: "The most chilling and prescient warning from the intelligence community prior to the war was that the American invasion would bring about instability in Iraq that would be exploited by Iran and al Qaeda terrorists."

Apparently, the "fight them there so we don't fight them here" theory only exacerbated the al-Qaeda problem. The invasion and current occupation "emboldened the enemy". But the Republicans would have you think the Democrats are to blame as so many of them regurgitate the usual talking points about Dems being weak on defense and the like.