Monday, July 1, 2013

Britain Truth Is Now Hate Speech

 

 

 

Truth Is Now Hate Speech

 

Category: News

Published on Sunday, 30 June 2013 13:41

Written by Paul Weston, Liberty GB

Hits: 751

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

– George Orwell

British Home Secretary Theresa May's ban on civil rights activists Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller entering Britain is yet another example of our ruling elite's total capitulation to Islam, a political and cultural/ religious ideology which shares its core beliefs with Nazism.

I wasn't intending to write on this subject, as it has already been covered by various authors, but the following email I received from a Canadian World War II soldier changed my mind. Lance Bombardier Richard Field served in the Royal Canadian Artillery Regiment and fought for his country and the West as a young man in Europe in WWII. He is now fighting against resurgent Islam, which he correctly identifies as a threat greater even than that of Hitler's Nazis. Mr Field wrote the following:

As a Canadian who went to England during WWII as a 19-year-old soldier and went into combat in North West Europe to defend our freedoms, the bile rises in my throat at the pitiful behavior of David Cameron and the policies of Britain in regard to anyone from anywhere in the Free Western World being told they cannot come and tell the truth about Islam and the end of our civilization if the political theocracy of that evil is allowed to prevail. I have heard Pamela Geller speak. She not only describes Islam's theocratic plans to dominate all counties on earth but teaches us how to fight the battle peacefully. Cameron and the British government are cowards, frightened that the Islamists will react violently. This government must be replaced with men and women of the Churchillian and Thatcher courage of steel and purpose. In the meantime the English Defence League and Liberty GB will have to man the barricades until Cameron and his ilk are hung drawn and quartered for treasonous behavior.

Mr Field is quite correct that Cameron and company are behaving in a treacherous manner, although perhaps – just perhaps – hanging, drawing and quartering is taking it a step too far. I think a public trial based on Nuremberg is very much needed, though, and if found guilty, banishment to Islamabad or Timbuktu would be quite an adequate punishment for their cowardly appeasement and betrayal of free speech and democracy – both of which exist today only because of the blood and sacrifice of millions of brave, patriotic and decent men like Mr Field.

Mr Cameron's ideological allies in this shameful travesty include the usual assortment of far-left extremists such as Nick Lowles of Hope not Hate, an organisation devoted to silencing any criticism of Islam, but which 'puzzlingly' never talks at all about Islamic atrocities committed both in Britain and abroad. Mr Lowles, of course, comes from a Communist background and therefore supports the mass slaughter of millions in the name of his ideology, so we should not be surprised that he is currently allied with Islam, which continues to satisfy Lowles' blood lust as its adherents rape, murder, torture and bomb their way around the world. Allahu Akbar!

Lowles is "delighted" that he has managed to close down free speech in Britain (Stalin would have been proud of him), but Lowles was embarrassingly unable to answer Robert Spencer in a recent radio interview, when Spencer asked him to name just one example of anything he ever said in millions of words which could be labeled as 'Islamophobic'. Lowles could not, of course, because he and his violent and extreme left-wing ilk don't argue with facts and reality. 'Racist and fascist' is their main point of attack as they studiously avoid the real racists and fascists in their midst – who possess both the correct skin colour and a bitter hatred for traditional Britain, which combination makes Islam the number one ideological ally of the quisling Left.

After the toe-curling failure of Lowles to defame Spencer, worse was to come for the Islamo-leftist alliance. Were the matter not so serious, the following exchange between Imam Dadwallah and Robert Spencer would be comedy gold in its exposure of the pig-ignorant and evasive imam and the thoroughly biased BBC, which sought desperately to expose Spencer as a bigoted 'Islamophobe'. The BBC interviewer allowed Robert to quote a small number of Koranic verses which smear Jews and Christians as unclean, along with a couple of fairly typical jihadist kill-all-the-non-Muslims sort of stuff.

"How would you counter these quotes?" asked the BBC man, whereupon the imam instantly refused to argue against the unarguable and instead said the following: "The Home Secretary needs to decide whether she should allow Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer to come to this country, especially on Armed Forces Day. Is it going to be respectful, is it going to be distasteful for these individuals to come and honour the memory of Drummer Lee Rigby?"

Memo to Imam Dadwallah: Respectful to attend a memorial for a murdered British soldier? Emphatically yes. Distasteful? No! Do you have any idea what you said? This terrible statement should have been picked up by the BBC interviewer, but alas went clean over his head, presumably because the prevailing opinion at the BBC is not too dissimilar to that of the cuddly imam.

After a tad more typical taqiyya, the real comedy gold started when the interviewer finally lost patience with the discombobulating Dadwallah.

"But imam, imam, with all due respect, I'm sorry, but so often on this show we are asked by our Muslim listeners why haven't we got an imam on to counter some of the things put out there ... you cannot evade that ... he (Robert Spencer) put the quotes out there, please explain the context!"

Imam Dadwallah had been caught out with his admission that Jews and Christians were "spiritually unclean" which he then tried to backtrack on. The interviewer then asked him if he could identify a single verse in the Koran which states that they (Jews and Christians) are equal to Muslims. The imam replies:

"Not off the top of my head, I wasn't asked to be prepared for ..."

BBC: "But you're an imam!"

Imam: "I understand that, but Robert Spencer ..."

BBC: "But he isn't an imam!"

Imam: "But this is his field ..."

BBC: "But Islam is your field surely?!"

If anyone thinks the interviewer was against the imam, they would be very much mistaken. The interviewer was just frustrated that he was unable to use his pet imam to debunk Robert and expose him as an 'Islamophobe'. The interviewer went on to say: "The reason that I wanted you on the show was to counter the kind of accusations [actually, just quotes from the Koran – Ed.] that we hear from Tommy Robinson and Robert Spencer."

And so the penny dropped. The BBC was out to discredit Spencer, but failed utterly to do so. The Communist Lowles failed utterly, and the imam failed utterly. Robert Spencer's supposed 'Islamophobia' consisted only of quoting the Koran. The inability to counter these quotes simply confirms that the Koran is a Hate Book, driven by supremacism, bigotry and anti-anything not Islamic. Robert Spencer was not banned because he twists the Koran; he was banned for exposing the hatred within the Koran. In Britain ... by a Conservative government ...

So when these thoroughly dreadful Conservative politicians are not banning truthful civil rights activists, what sort of delightful coves do they let into the country? Well, there are countless examples of war-mongering jihadists allowed into Britain; in fact we even have our own resident Bangladeshi war criminal who has been indicted for genocide back home in the East. But here is the most recent example of Cameronian culpability: one Mohammed al-Arefe, who bimbled over from Saudi just last week to partake of tea and a chat with his followers in Britain. One of his historical chats went like this:

Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer. Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight.

Hmmm. And he's not the only one like this who Theresa May's Home Office considers fit for entry and fit for spreading words conducive to the "public good". In May, 2013, Kuwaiti Sheikh Yasser Al-Habib came to Britain to incite hatred against those pesky Sunni Muslims (Al-Habib is very much a Shiite) and has already served time for inciting religious hatred. Labour MP Khalid Mahmood, a Sunni Muslim, raised this issue with Theresa May's Home Office:

These preachers are purely here to promote themselves and create divisions where none need to exist. Neither he (Al-Arefe) or Al-Habib should be allowed to do this. And the Home Office must take action on this issue. This is just another branch of hatred, and it's bizarre the Home Office doesn't listen to people who are concerned about this ... the Home Office has a duty to examine this.

But the Home office did nothing. Absolutely nothing. Wrong colour, wrong religion, old boy. It is hard to put into mere words the sheer revulsion one feels towards David Cameron at this point. We do have actual laws that prohibit genuine hate preachers, such as the amiable imams above, from coming here. But those laws are ignored when the haters emanate from petro-dollar rich Saudi and Kuwait. Those hundreds-of-billions sure have some clout, hey, Dave?

But why let in skull-smashing Saudis whilst banning peaceful civil rights activists? As far as Theresa May is concerned, the mere presence of Geller and Spencer "would not be conducive to the public good"which is a pretty Orwellian and far-ranging totalitarian statement, assuming it is even legal.

What Ms May really means is that Muslim and far-left extremist groups will cause trouble if people advocating free speech are allowed entry to Britain in order to politely explain to baffled imams what their holy book really means when it commands them to slay the infidels. In order to appease the Muslim 'community' Cameron and his government would rather betray their country, and the reason for this is based purely on the fact that the British Parliament (within those hallowed halls where once strode Winston Churchill) is just downright frightened – nay, terrified – of Islam.

And this terror of Islam is because Islam uses terror. And quite clearly uses it very well. After the Muslim sex-slavery, rape and torture cases came before the public eye, there was a public tut-tutting, but little else. There is an ongoing scandal and a third enquiry into the awful murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence and the subsequent police bungling of the operation, but there is NO call for an enquiry into the fact that thousands of vulnerable native British girls were abused by hundreds of Pakistani 'British' Muslims in full view of David Cameron, the police, the media and the social services, all of whom knew what was going on, but chose to do nothing about it. The blood of those children is on their hands, and I include David Cameron in that.

"Let's just pretend it never happened", seems to be the official response. Racially motivated? Religiously motivated? Good Lord, no! If we admitted that, then we would have to use the hate laws to prosecute the perpetrators, and they are ALL the wrong colour and the wrong religion! Surely everybody is aware these laws were introduced to prosecute white Christians only! Anything else would be discriminatory!

So here we are then. A Prime Minister who thinks we have a lot to learn from Islam. A Prime Minister who is a founding signatory of 'Unite Against Fascism', which is a Communist thug organisation with a Muslim fascist, Azad Ali, sitting as its Vice Chair. A Prime Minister who said nary a word about Muslim gang rapists, and the only words used by him about the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby served to absolve Islam of any blame.

Britain is a country which allowed Muslim girls to attack white girls whilst screaming "kill the white bitch", who were then absolved of a race crime. Britain promotes policemen to top positions who then publicly state on television that the 7/7 London transport bombings had nothing to do with Islam. Britain is a country that allowed any number of Muslim imams filmed by undercover C4 journalists to just carry on their hatred, even after their rants were aired on prime-time TV. Let's not prosecute them our Crown Prosecution Service said – they are the wrong colour and the wrong religion. Old boy.

Britain is a country that allowed its principal broadcasting outlet, the BBC, to disproportionately fill its studios with Muslims after 9/11 and to then blame America to loud applause from the audience, even as the former U.S. Ambassador was reduced to tears by the sheer hatred and lack of human decency exhibited by the hating Left and the hating Muslims.

Britain is a country that has clearly placed the interests of the followers of a savage, backward, violent, misogynistic, anti-Semitic and anti-Christian ideology both political and religious, stratospherically above the interests of its own native citizens. Britain is a country where Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery, Islam is Peace and Resistance to Islam is Evil.

Britain is lost.

Britain is a country that does prosecute you if you dare to mention that Islam indulges in a spot of gang rape, and tells us it wants to blow us up. Britain is a country that threatens to prosecute T-shirt vendors for inciting racial hatred if they wish to sell clothing bearing a logo saying "Obey our laws, respect our beliefs or get out of our country". Britain is a country that refuses to prosecute Muslims for hate crimes when they desecrate our war memorials, and Britain is a country that allows Jew-hating politicians like Keith Vaz to help decide just who should or should not be allowed entry to Britain.

And finally, Britain is a country that bans scholarly civil rights activists from entry, despite the fact they have never called for violence, cannot be exposed as being 'Islamophobic' by Communists such as Nick Lowles and cannot be refuted by idiotic imams after directly quoting the Koran. Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have been denied entry to Britain for two reasons: the first is that they speak the truth; the second is that they have sufficient knowledge to make sure the truth cannot be twisted.

The British patriot and philosopher Roger Scruton once said that if words no longer had the desired effect, then words would be replaced by deeds. By denying free speech, by denying words from Geller and Spencer, David Cameron is helping to ensure that deeds will be forced to replace words, because our own government no longer allows us to use words.

The deeds will be violent. No race or culture submits quietly to their disinheritance, but for traitors like Cameron these deeds will not affect him personally. Islam is growing nine times faster than any other demographic and young Muslim males are becoming increasingly radicalised at Saudi-funded mosques. This can only lead to future civil war, and Cameron has shunted this war onto the shoulders of his own children, and the shoulders of every innocent child in Britain who has no power to influence the future. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Cameron, who does have the power to actually do something about it, only uses it to clamp down on people he thinks are on the wrong side of history, the wrong side of morality and the wrong side of good.

But it is you, Mr Cameron, who are on the wrong side. One day I very much hope you will explain to a court of law just why, given the choice of backing good or evil, you chose evil. Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller are clearly good, but you barred them. The skull-crushing jihadi enthusiast Mohammed al-Arefe is clearly evil, yet here he is in Britain. This is not Pakistan, yet you seem intent on enforcing sharia-compliant blasphemy laws as though your office were in Islamabad, not London.

Why? Why have you labeled truth and facts to be 'hate'? This is not the action of a democratic government; it is the action of a genuine dictatorship, and your totalitarian behavior is being carried out on behalf of a foreign religion and a foreign people who wish us only harm.

I said earlier that no words can describe the sheer revulsion good and moral people feel about your recent action Mr Cameron. The civilised world is now talking about it in horrified tones. You have publicly shamed Britain on the international stage, but, hey, don't worry Dave, just chillax. Leave the mess you have helped cause for your children – for all our children – to physically and militarily deal with, if indeed they can. For them, for our children, it will be a quite literal fight to the death.

Your abject cowardice in the face of potential Islamic aggression makes you a traitor to your country. Your dictatorial dismissal of free speech in barring Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller makes you a disgrace to decency and democracy, and an insult to every soldier like Lance Bombardier Richard Field who sacrificed so much to defend that democracy. You will never, ever, be forgiven and one day youwill be held to account.

Photo: Forward Observation Post of 'B' Battery, 1st Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, near Potenza, Italy, 1943, from Library and Archives Canada (Creative Commons CC BY 2.0).

 

Obama and Kerry hypocrisy: Refusal to release Pollard while ask Israel to release another 107 convicted killers -

Hypocrisy is standard issue, second nature with all Democrats.

 

B

Read More About: A simple stroke of the penBill ClintonMahmoud Abbas and the usual suspectsSaeb Erekat and bare faced liesSharm el-SheikhWye

http://israel-commentary.org/?p=6894

Observation: American hypocrisy: refusal to release Pollard causes stalemate in talks to return Abbas to table

Dr. Aaron Lerner
Director IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
28 June, 2013

Ma’an, the independent Palestinian news agency, reported this morning that secret talks are being held over the release of pre-Oslo prisoners. PA head Mahmoud Abbas has insisted that 107 Palestinians detained before the Oslo agreement must be released before the PLO will return to negotiations with Israel.

First a technical note: when PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Ma’an the release of prisoners detained before 1993 was part of the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh memorandum and that Israel was obliged to abide by it he was a barefaced liar. And, I say barefaced liar because, unlike some of his Israeli counterparts, Erekat actually knows the text of the 1999 Sharm el-Sheikh memorandum, and that document in no way obligates Israel to release those prisoners. If Israel releases these terrorists it is because it decided to do it — not because it is obligated to.

Now let’s set the stage:

Here we are with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry going on and on about how important and critical it is for Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table and how we Israelis have to make sacrifices. And, he is pushing us to release the 107 terrorists who carried out crimes against Israel more than two decades ago that were so despicable that they are still in prison today.

So here is the simple question: if U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and his boss President Obama genuinely believe that the talks are important, why aren’t they willing to make a “sacrifice” themselves?

A cold realpolitik fact: if President Obama offered to free Jonathan Pollard in exchange for the 107 terrorists PM Netanyahu would have no choice but accept the deal.

Yes, Jonathan Pollard himself objects to being part of such schemes but, he has no say in the matter. He is no more than a pawn in this story — just as he was a pawn at Wye (with the hypocrisy of Bill Clinton) and elsewhere.

Don’t get me wrong — justice demands that Pollard be immediately released without any strings attached. But I am not talking about justice. I am talking about what commitment the Obama administration actually has to advancing the Palestinian-Israeli “peace process.”

We Israelis have been subject to their endless preaching about how we have to make sacrifices. But if it is more important to President Obama to unjustly keep Jonathan Pollard behind bars than to facilitate a return of the Palestinians to the table then this speaks volumes regarding the lack of an American commitment to advancing the “peace process.” To be clear: the release of Pollard does not require a long procedure involving numerous authorities. It requires a pen, a piece of paper and a president willing to sign.

Dr. Aaron Lerner,
(Mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-7604719/Fax 972-3-7255730
INTERNET ADDRESS: imra@netvision.net.il

- See more at: http://israel-commentary.org/?p=6894#sthash.M0NI6Id1.dpuf

Protecting Public Safety One Smashed Door at a Time

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/56243?utm_source=CFP+Mailout&utm_campaign=2b6fa2b2f8-Call_to_Champions&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d8f503f036-2b6fa2b2f8-291125005

 

Let’s face it, if the government and the police won’t infringe on our rights to protect us from ourselves, who will?

Protecting Public Safety One Smashed Door at a Time

By Gerry Nicholls (Bio and Archives) Sunday, June 30, 2013
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In this increasingly dangerous world, it’s nice to know Canadians can rest secure in the knowledge that RCMP officers are out there, patrolling our streets, ready on a moment’s notice to break into our homes and steal our property.

In fact, the RCMP recently performed a little break and entry action in High River, Alberta, a town which had been evacuated due to massive flooding.

It seems some of the town’s gun owners had left their firearms in what police call “unsecure locations,” such as inside their securely locked homes.

Now, you might ask, what’s so bad about that? The town is evacuated; the guns are out of sight, behind locked doors. Shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Ha, only a “gun nut” would say that!

As any rational and reasonable person knows that leaving guns in an empty locked house, situated in an empty town, is an invitation to anarchy!

Imagine, for instance, if militant household pests, like termites or carpenter ants, decided to arm themselves with those unguarded weapons.

Just think of what that would do to your extermination bills!

Luckily, however, before anything horrible like that could happen, the RCMP – official motto: “Private property rights? Never heard of ‘em” – forcibly broke into several High River homes, where they proceeded to grab guns as if they were donuts.

This, of course, was done in the name of preserving what the police like to call “public safety.”

Yes, some bleeding hearts bemoaned the RCMP action as heavy-handed, others even called it an “act of aggression” against gun owners, but if you ask me, we need more of this kind of aggressive, pre-emptive police work.

After all, there are probably millions of locked homes all across the country jam packed with privately owned, so-called “legal” items that, if they ever fell into the wrong hands, i.e. law-abiding citizens, could potentially threaten civilization as we know it.

Indeed, given the seriousness of this locked home issue, perhaps it’s time to create specially trained police squads whose only job will be to ransack arbitrarily selected homes, in order to find any “public safety” threatening dangers.

And believe me, when the government puts its mind to it, it can find lots of things that threaten our public safety.

Indeed, here’s just a preliminary list of things the L.P.S. (Looting Police Squads) would be on the look out for as they root through people’s closets, kitchens and bedrooms:

  • Bottled water (Don’t let the benign appearance of bottled water fool you. According to environmentalists, water bottles, if left unchecked, could end human life on earth, leading to our planet being ruled by mutants, super intelligent robots or perhaps by apes.)
  • Bicycles – (These would be returned to owners, but only if they can provide proof they own government-certified bicycle helmets.)
  • Dogs that in anyway resemble a pit bull.
  • All unhealthy or “junk” food items that contains such things as trans-fat, starchy carbohydrates, sodium or glucose. (And God help the person found harboring a Happy Meal Toy!)
  • Cigarettes left within twenty meters of a match.
  • All books and magazines written by non-Canadian authors (a threat to our cultural sovereignty.)
  • Sporting equipment that could also double as weapons, i.e. baseball bats, darts, hockey sticks and, of course, most dangerous of all – dodge balls.

Admittedly, all this might seem like a little bit of an infringement on our Charter guaranteed rights and freedoms, but let’s face it, if the government and the police won’t infringe on our rights to protect us from ourselves, who will?

It’s like I always say … sorry. ..I have to go … somebody’s battering down my front door.

 

Will Obama ask Morsi to Step Down? Duh!

     Will Obama ask Morsi to Step Down? Duh!
Stan Zir, Author
     Susan North, Editor

 

 

 

Due to circumstances that have arisen while writing Obama’s Final Solution Tour Part 2, this essay turned into an emergency alert. The body of the work provides the key to understanding how we arrived at this critical moment in history that will shape the future of mankind, and how to gain ultimate victory over terrorism as we must: For America stands on the very precipice where victory for freedom over tyranny in this world lays in the balance. 

We cannot wait to 2016 to elect a new President –even waiting for the election of a new Congress in 2014 will be too late. We must act now; for we are facing a watershed event, watershed event? To find out read the op-ed when it is published.

 

In the meantime I am sending out a sneak preview of Obama Final Solution Never Again is Now for America andIsrael, Part Two because what is happening in Egypt is newsworthy.

 

Discussing foreign policy in  Obama Final Solution Tour, I quoted  from a December 11, 2012  op-ed “Where is Barack Hussein Obama, the hero who stood for freedom in Egypt and the Islamic World?”
 

"Obama said Americans must respect the rights of the Islamic people and that their voices must be heard.” Why is Obama hesitating? Why is he not asking Morsi, like Mubarak before him, to step down? Isn’t there more than enough proof that Morsi is a dictator, or does Obama believe that the Muslim Brotherhood and their partner in crime, Iran, can be honest brokers for peace in the Middle East?"


It is now 2013, and incredulously, he let Morsi know he has his back as he has just given Egypt 14 fighter jets and $250 million in aid - this to a country that has joined with Iran and Hamas to destroy Israel. Is this the reward he gives to the enemies of America and Israel when they become Islamic terrorist states? It sounds more like an incentive.


How is it possible that everyone ignored the fact that it has been more than 6 months since Morsi took over Egyptand turned it into an Islamic terrorist state, yet during that time Obama had not asked Morsi to step down like he did to Mubarak before him, This is a fact that the mainstream media chose to ignore and still does, while inexplicably the right wing media followed suite..


Now the people in Egypt are in revolt asking Morsi to step down. How about you Obama are you finally ready to ask Morsi to step down, or would you have the Egyptian people do your dirty work.


President Obama, how many Americans have died to ensure our freedoms and the freedoms of others throughout the world? Sir, how can you, as our President, champion a foreign policy that would align our nation with leaders of countries and peoples who are determined to eliminate those precious rights? How can we, as Americans, observe this act of betrayal and not call out for justice.


Do you expect us to just sit here and watch everything we have fought for, for more than 234 years, be dishonored, desecrated and defiled?


Mr. Obama, as President of the United States of America, you swore to protect our Constitution from enemies, foreign and domestic. Obama you violated your oath of office, how can you champion a terrorist initiative? Fascism must be defeated, not cajoled, if we are to achieve  a lasting peace. Where are our youthful American patriots? Why are they not asking Obama to step down?


But a larger question looms, where was the GOP and our political pundits, why did they not launch a national campaign in 2013 to demand  Obama  make his intentions known to the American people concerning Mohammed Morsi’s status. Why did Obama  not ask Morsi to step down?

Millions on streets for anti-Morsi protests; 4 dead in Upper Egypt

Live updates 2: Millions on streets for anti-Morsi protests; 4 dead in Upper Egypt

Hazel Haddon, Nada Hussein Rashwan, Randa Ali, Sherif Tarek, Salma Shukrallah, Bassem Abo El-Abbas, Osman El-Sharnoubi , Sunday 30 Jun 2013

Four killed in clashes in Upper Egypt while Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo is attacked; huge demonstrations in Cairo at presidential palace and Tahrir Square remain peaceful


00:20 That's all for tonight. Today saw unprecedented numbers take to the streets all over Egypt, calling for Morsi to resign. It's hard to estimate numbers, but it's clear that 30 June has been bigger than anyone predicted. 

There was deadly violence in Beni Suef and Assiut, and there are ongoing clashes at the Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, as we close. There were also 30 reported cases of sexual harassment in Tahrir Square - although none reported at Ittihadiya or at the ongoing pro-Morsi demonstration at Rabaa Al-Adawiya. 

00:15 There are reports of ongoing clashes at the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Mokattam, Cairo, which was earlier attacked by protesters throwing Molotov cocktails. There seem to be clashes between those inside the building and those attacking it, with birdshot and possibly live ammunition. There are a number of injuries reported, but all unconfirmed so far by official sources. ## 

00:10Crowds have thinned a bit but remain defiant and optimistic at the presidential palace, tooting their horns and calling for the president's resignation reports Ahram Online's Bel Trew. There seems to be strong pro-military sentiment at the palace, most of the people interviewed by Ahram Online were keen for some sort of intervention although they were unsure who should replace the president. 


"We didn't expect anything from him but what he did was far worse, he made lost of promises but didn't fulfill any," says Om Maha, 53, housewife referring to the Brotherhood's Nahda (renaissance) project, that was centre peice to Morsi's presidential campaign but was largely dropped. Om Maha added that she didn't like any of the presidential candidates who ran last year such as Amr Moussa and Mohamed ElBaradei, "I don't think any of them are fit for the position, it needs to be someone outside of any existing political movemnet. 



"The elections were a contract between the people and the president, he broke the rules and put himself first," says Ahmed Nagah, a 47-year-old English teacher. "I voted for Amr Moussa in the first elections only," Nagah added saying he didn't bother in the second round as he didn't want Ahmed Shafiq or Morsi. 


Meanwhile further into the crowds Engineer Abdel-Rehim Kamal, 43, voicing a popular sentiment expressed both on Tahrir Square and at the palace, slammed Morsi for being "the same as [ousted leader] Mubarak." 

Back on Tahrir Square, a little earlier, Fikra Mohamed, 52 director of a company showed Ahram Online his protest art: a tree of notices listing the "achievements, mistakes and economic failures," of the president during his first year in power. 


"I voted for Morsi and I think I got fooled. I will not leave until Morsi steps down, my sons are with me - one of them has an exam - but he will no do his exam until Morsi resigns. This is not a second revolution, it is a continuation of the first one, we still haven't finished that battle yet." 



"Egyptians don't have their basic needs, we have a massive problem of unemployment particularly within the youth, killing continues under his rule, then there is the breakdown of the state like train accidents and electricity outage," says Mohamed Ramadan Badawy, who had travelled from the Southern governorate of Qena to join Tahrir with a delegation of people from Upper Egypt. "Egyptian poverty is on the rise, to the point where people are eating from the rubbish." 


00:00The president's spokesman has just denied that Hatem Bagato, minister of legal and parliamentary affairs, will submit his resignation, as was reported by Ahram Arabic earlier this evening. 

23:55The 30 June coordinating committee has released a statement. 


“Egyptians have shown they are worthy of freedom, democracy and social justice which they have been calling for since the January revolution. We thank the Egyptian people who have revolted in their millions for a free Egypt, free of fascism, tyranny and injustice.” 



Despite the fact that millions of people peacefully protested, said the statement, “the presidency has released a statement belittling us and our legitimate demands and our million man marches all over Egypt’s squares.” 



The statement added that the 30 June coordinating committee “stand behind the people and their just demands” and calls for continuing the national strike which involves “the use of all democratic means to demonstrate, hold sit-ins and strikes and besiege all state institutions and we demand the trial all those responsible for torture, killing and announcing edicts inciting against the people and calls for terrorism which was called for by the Muslim Brotherhood.” 


The committee includes the Revolutionary Youth Union, the Front’s youth organisation, the Maspero Youth Union, the Socialist Youth Union, the Liberal Youth Front, the Justice and Freedom Youth, the April 6 Democratic Front, the Mina Daniel Movement, and the National Salvation Front member parties - the Democratic Front Party, the Constitution Party, the Wafd Party, the Free Egyptians Party, the Egyptian Communist Party, the Egyptian Socialist Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Tagammu Party, the Nasserist Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Karama Party, the Egypt Freedom Party, the Egyptian Popular Current and the National Association for Change. 

23:50 Pro-Morsi demonstrators are still camping out at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City, a short distance away from the presidential palace.## 

23:45The president’s office is holding its second press conference of the day. The spokesman stresses the president’s respect for the demands of the street, but says that dialogue is necessary. 

"We respect the demands of the streets, and we acknowledge that the political scene in Egypt is continuously changing; however, initiatives are being made constantly and communications are ongoing. 

Those who have demands or visions must sit for dialogue," said spokesman Omar Amer who reminded the audience of the president’s ongoing calls for dialogue which have been repeatedly rejected by much of the opposition. 

Amer further stressed that the presidency will continue to protect the peaceful protests in assurance of the right for expression. He also praised the "nationalistic role played by security forces" in protecting the protests.

Asked about reports of police officers joining the anti-Morsi protests, Amer stressed that it is a matter to be judged by the ministry of interior, and not by the presidency. 

23:40The Freedom and Justice Party’s administrative office in Upper Egypt’s Beni Sueif was torched by anti-Morsi protesters, reports Ahram Arabic. 

According to Ahram, the empty office was bombarded with Molotov cocktails. 

23:35From Damietta in the north of Egypt, Hatem El-Bayaa of the Socialist Popular Alliance tells Ahram Online that demonstrators in the city, estimated to be several thousand, have taken over the governorate headquarters and the offices of the local education authority. In coordination with employees within the governorate offices, anti-Morsi protesters are planning to occupy other government buildings to prevent Damietta governor Tarek Fathallah Khedr from entering his office. 

Khedr is a police general who was appointed on 16 June by the president. He is a member of the liberal Ghad Al-Thawra Party, a rare liberal ally of Morsi. 

23:25 Some shots of today's protests here. 

23:20In Assiut, the site of today's most deadly clashes, army and police have been deployed at the governorate headquarters and at the Freedom and Justice Party headquarters, located 100 metres apart, reports Ahram’s Osama Sediq. 

Police are firing teargas in front of the FJP headquarters, where clashes are still ongoing and sounds of gunshots can be heard. 

Clashes started when an anti-Morsi demonstration of several thousand passed by the FJP office. The FJP youth, who were forming a human shield to protect the office, thought protesters were attacking them, so they fired birdshot and live rounds, reports Sediq. 

23:10 Sexual harassment seems to be worsening in Tahrir Square. Tahrir Bodyguards, a civil initiative fighting harassment, tweets: 


Lots of reported cases of assault & harassment in #Tahrir. We recommend extreme caution in the area, especially for female protesters #EndSH 


Another anti-harassment initiative, OpAntiSH, reports that the number of cases reported to them has gone up to 26, and tweets that: 


There are men with sticks at the entrance of the metro station across from KFC in #Tahrir who are attacking women. Please avoid. 


23:00Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya’s Building and Development Party have released a statement claiming that the protester killed in Beni Suef earlier was a member of their group. 

Atef Marzouk, a leading member of the Islamist group in Beni Suef, accused opponents of President Mohamed Morsi of initiating the attack by firing birdshot at a pro-Morsi march. 

“We defended ourselves until one of us was martyred," said Marzouk. 

Earlier, journalist Shaimaa Mafhouz told us that a thousand-strong anti-Morsi rally in Beni Suef was fired at. She said: 


"A number of assailants, accused by protesters of being Islamist supporters of Morsi, attacked the rally...Some clusters of protesters scattered and hid inside the mosques surrounding the square; at the same time the armed forces mobilised to contain the situation. Assailants continued briefly to fire at the mosques where protesters were hiding but they ran away when the army arrived," Mahfouz said. 


The Beni Suef office of the Egyptian Popular Current, a leftist group led by opposition leader Hamdeen Sabbahi, also claimed in a statement that 30 members of “the jihadist movement” in Beni Suef were the ones who fired at the protest and that several protesters were injured. 

Mahfouz told Ahram Online she saw a child injured with a bullet to the shoulder. 

Ahram Online has not been able to independently verify what happened in Beni Suef. 

22:50Political forces protesting in front of Ittihadiya presidential palace have announced from the main stage that they will hold an open ended sit-in until “the fall of the regime”, reports state-owned news agency MENA. 

They are further calling on all workers and employees at state institutions to go on a general strike starting Monday until July. 

22:40Thousands of protesters, many of them women, are gathering in front of Qubba presidential palace singing and chanting, reports Ahram Online's Ahmed Abdel-Rasoul. 

An anonymous source had earlier told Al-Ahram Arabic news website that President Mohamed Morsi was at Qubba presidential palace, which is around three kilometres away from Ittihadiya. 

22:30Ahram Online’s Bassem Abo El-Abbas reports from the presidential palace where he says that fireworks are lighting up the sky as military helicopters continue to scan the palace perimeter. 

Fathi Mabrouk, a 36-year-old bearded man in traditional attire told Abbas he is taking part in the protest because he doesn't believe in political Islam, adding that President Morsi “has been unjust to his people and thus he should be forced out of power for he disobeyed Islamic values.” 


"I am also against the return of military rule even for another transitional period. I approve of the scenario of the head of the High Constitutional Court replacing Morsi until new elections are held," Mabrouk added. 


22:20Three protesters have been killed in Upper Egypt’s Assiut, chief of security in the city General Abou El-Qassem Abou El-Deif has said in a press statement. 

The three people were part of an anti-Morsi protest of thousands which was attacked by unknown assailants as they were marching near the Freedom and Justice Party’s headquarters in the Upper Egyptian governorate. 

According to Ahram Arabic, one of the slain, Abanob Atef, was killed after being shot in the head by gunmen on a motorcycle. 

At least eight were injured in the attack, including a police officer. 

22:15A military source told Ahram Arabic that the army helicopters hovering over Cairo aim to secure protesters and make sure everything is peaceful.The same source says Egypt's armed forces are securing the borders. 

Ahram Online’s Ayat Al-Tawy was in Tahrir around an hour ago, and she reported that the helicopters flying overhead were welcomed with rapturous applause, flag-waving, and pro-army slogans. 

She spoke to protester Wafaa Mohamed, who was wearing the full face veil, about why she was in Tahrir today. 


“The people in Rabaa Al-Adawiya are brainwashed. Morsi is a hypocrite, a liar; he’s unjust.” 


22:05Minister of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Judge Hatem Bagato, has written his resignation and will submit it on Monday, sources have told Ahram Arabic website. 

22:00Egyptian Health Minister Mohamed Hamed confirms the death of 25-year-old Ammar Gouda, the protester who was killed in Beni Suef earlier when unknown assailants open-fired on an anti-Morsi protest. 

Hamed also said that the injury toll across seven governorates had increased to 228 from 174, with 36 being discharged from hospitals. A lot of the injuries are related to the heat and crowds rather than clashes. 

21:50In Assiut, Aswat Masriya reports, unknown assailants riding a motorcycle shot at an anti-Morsi demonstration, injuring one protester who took a bullet in the head. He was transferred to hospital. 

Protesters in Assiut have said that they will start a sit-in. 

21:45 The 6 April Youth Movement and the liberal Constitution Party have announced that they will hold a sit-in in front of Abdeen Palace in downtown Cairo. 

The announcement said they had received information that Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil is currently inside. 


"Our peaceful assembly in front of Abdeen Palace comes as another instrument of pressure against the government in order to achieve the people's demand of holding snap presidential elections," said spokesman Mohamed Adel in a press statement following the announcement. 


21:30An eyewitness tells Ahram Online that she saw 12 people injured in the ongoing melee at the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters, saying the number of injuries is likely be higher and is expected to further rise the coming few hours. 

The 26-year-old, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some were injured by birdshot, including a photojournalist who was shot in the eye. 

An officer had his back wounded by birdshot, as did a female journalist who sustained a leg injury.According to the witness, the building was first attacked with Molotov cocktails and stones. 

The eyewitness also stresses that birdshot is used by both Muslim Brotherhood members and their opponents. 

21:20 OpAntiSH, one of the civil society anti-sexual harassment initiatives that is present in Tahrir Square tonight, reports on Twitter that there have been a number of incidents: 


The total number of mob assaults in #Tahrir has risen to 13. Three took place near Hardee's, 
and we were able to intervene. 


Tahrir Bodyguards, another such initiative, tweets that the huge crowds in Tahrir are reducing mobility, creating opportunities for sexual harassment and making it difficult for the group's members to rescue victims. 
Ahram Online's Ayat Al-Tawy who is in the square says that she has felt a bit uncomfortable at times, and has seen some minor harassment by groups of men surrounding girls and catcalling them. 


"One girl screamed and slapped a guy who was approaching her. I don't know what started it, but a number of people surrounded her and asked her if she needed help." 




21:15TheEgyptian health ministry reports that hospitals have received 174 injured protesters today in seven different governorates: Cairo, Alexandria, Daqahliya, Gharbiya, Menoufiya, Beni Suef and Beheira. 

The ministry said four cases in Gharbiya were from birdshot wounds, with no official confirmation of the Beni Suef anti-Morsi protester who died, according to the city’s police chief. 

21:10It’s now 9:10pm, and millions are filling squares in Cairo and in other locations all over Egytp, protesting against President Mohamed Morsi. 

In addition to Tahrir Square and the vicinity outside the presidential palace, squares in Alexandria, in the Nile Delta and in Upper Egypt are also full of protesters. 

There is relatively little violence so far, with the exception of brief clashes in Beni Suef where one person was killed. The army broke up the situation after unknown assailants fired on anti-Morsi protesters, and the situation is now calm, with the protest continuing. 

Supporters of the president remain gathered at Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Nasr City, where hundreds of thousands are holding their sit-in for the third day. 

20:50 It seems that the protest areas in Cairo are so packed, mobile networks are overloaded and it's hard to get through to people in the area. 

20:40Osman El-Sharnoubi, who is still at the presidential palace in Heliopolis, says that protesters are carrying flags bearing the face of revolution’s slain protesters, like Mohamed ‘Gika’ Gabr who was killed during Morsi’s rule, Mina Daniel who was killed during the rule of the military council, and Khaled Said who was killed under Mubarak. 

20:37Prominent Sunni cleric Youssef El-Qaradawi, known for his support for the Muslim Brotherhood, has released a video statement calling on Egyptians to stay patient with President Mohamed Morsi, stressing that he is expected to make mistakes as he is a human being. 


“If we have waited on the Mubarak’s regime for 30 years, and another 30 years before him on the tyrants, why can’t we wait on Morsi for a year?” asked El-Qaradawi. 


El-Qaradawi further pointed out that President Morsi has been asking for dialogue. 

20:35Thousands of protesters have joined rallies at Al-Shoun Square in key industrial city of Mahalla. 

Protesters are chanting against President Mohamed Morsi, repeating slogans such as“Abdel-Nasser has said it before, the Muslim Brotherhood are not to be trusted,” a famous chant referring to former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser whose era witnessed the persecution of several Islamist figures. 

20:30American journalist Kristen Chick is at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo right now. She reports on her Twitter account that there is a fire in the yard and the sound of shots being fired. She tweets: 


"We want to break in" one guy tells me at MB HQ. "why?" "Bc they are choking us" he says." 


## 

20:25Around two hundred protesters are gathering in front of President Mohamed Morsi's house in New Cairo, a wealthy satellite city outside of Cairo, as security forces deploy barriers to keep protesters away from the building. 

20:25An enormous tent made of blankets is being erected near Omar Al-Eslam Mosque in Sidi Gaber for protesters to sleep under, reports Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi. 

One of the protesters in Alexandria, Wael Nabil, tells Yasmine thathe is determined to stay until Morsi leaves, even if it means waiting a year. 


“Mubarak repressed us, but at least he gave us services; at least he didn’t cut the electricity, water and petrol like now.” 



“Nothing has changed; my salary didn’t increase. My wife is pregnant, how will I provide for my baby?” added Nabil. 


20:23Ahram Online’s Osman El-Sharnoubi reports that the vicinity of the Ittihadiya presidential palace is extremely crowded, with moving even small distances taking a long time. The crowd seems never-ending as one walks away from the palace. Fireworks are being lit from a building overlooking the avenue as the crowds cheer. 

According to Osman, it’s not possible to see the end of the crowd. 

20:20Reports of violence at the headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood in Cairo. 

Around 500 people gathered at headquarters in Cairo's Moqattam district, hurling Molotov cocktails and stones at the building, says state news agency MENA, which quoted eyewitness as saying they had heard shots during the melee. 

Senior FJP official Gehad El-Haddad says on Twitter: 


No police on scene yet in #Moqatam. Security is dealing w/ attacking thugs. They were joined by othrs wearing blackblock uniform w/ firearms 


A number of offices of the Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, have been attacked in recent days. 

20:15Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi says spirits in Alexandria’s Sidi Gaber are high. “People are playing drums, clapping, waving flags,” she reports. 

Occasionally, helicopters pass over the protests and people cheer and wave, reports Fathi. 

20:12In Gharbiya governorate’s Kafr El-Zayat, hundreds are participating in anti-Morsi protests. 

Crowds are chanting: “national unity against the Muslim Brotherhood” and “you who rule in the name of religion, where is justice and where is religion?” 

20:10Leading labour activist Kamal El-Fayoumi, currently protesting in front of Ittihadiya palace in Cairo, tells Ahram Online that he will be heading back to the industrial city of Mahalla tomorrow. 


“By then, if the regime hasn’t been toppled we will join the sit-in and the calls for civil disobedience,”added Al-Fayoumi. 


Amir Bassam, Shura Council member from the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party, tells Orbit TV that crowds supporting President Morsi around Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque in Cairo are more than all the anti-Morsi protesters, not only in Tahrir Square, but all across Egypt. 

Given the numbers of people reported in Tahrir Square and at the Ittihadiya presidential palace - both packed to overflowing - this seems highly unlikely. 

20:05The main opposition coalition group, the National Salvation Front, has issued a “revolutionary statement.”


"In the name of the Egyptian people with all their factions, the National Salvation Front announces public endorsement of the ouster of the regime of Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood," the statement reads.
"The Egyptian population continue their revolution and will impose their will, which has become unequivocally clear in all Egypt's squares." 
"The Salvation Front also trusts that the Egyptian people will protect its revolution until peaceful transition of power is fulfilled...we also call on all political forces and all citizens to remain peaceful…and refrain from dealing with the failed Brotherhood government until the fall of this tyrannical organisation." 


20:00There are reports of deadly violence in Beni Suef in Upper Egypt. 

Ibrahim Hodeib, chief of security in Beni Suef, said that one protester was killed and 30 injured following an attack by unknown assailants, in a phone interview with private satellite channel CBC. 

Journalist Shaimaa Mafhouz tells Ahram Online that a thousand-strong anti-Morsi rally in El-Modereya Square, the main square in Muslim Brotherhood stronghold Beni Suef, was fired at. 

"A number of assailants, accused by protesters of being Islamist supporters of Morsi, attacked the rally...Some clusters of protesters scattered and hid inside the mosques surrounding the square; at the same time the armed forces mobilised to contain the situation. Assailants continued briefly to fire at the mosques where protesters were hiding but they ran away when the army arrived," Mahfouz said. 

The Beni Suef office of the Egyptian Popular Current, a leftist group led by opposition leader Hamdeen Sabbahi, claimed in a statement that 30 members of “the jihadist movement” in Beni Suef were the ones who fired at the protest and that several protesters were injured. 

Mahfouz told Ahram Online she saw a child injured with a bullet to the shoulder. 

Hodeib told Ahram Arabic news website that one suspect behind the violence is Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya leader in the city named Ahmed Youssef. 

Ahram Arabic reporter in Beni Suef Emad Abouzeid says the assailants fired birdshot at the protest, although others said that the assailants used live ammunition. 

19:55Members of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) have gathered in Aswan in front of their party headquarters to secure them, reports Ahram Arabic website. 

Aswan, in Upper Egypt has also seen a heavy security presence securing police stations. 

19:55Ayman Masoud, keyboardist for Egyptian band Massar Egbari, tells Ahram Online’s Rowan El-Shimi that "there is a lot of energy among people marching to Tahrir,” adding that in Alexandria, the hometown of the band, they are used to marching everywhere and not having sit-ins. 


“Here everyone is excited and putting their energy into the chants,” added Masoud. 


## 

19:50 Solidarity protests have been taking place at a number of locations around the world. Dozens of Palestinians in the West Bank held a small protest in Ramallah in solidarity with Egyptians demanding that President Morsi step down. Protesters held placards saying "No injustice, Egypt is the mother of freedom.” 

There were also reportedly protests by Egyptian expats in Jordan and in Norway, according to state news agency MENA. 

19:45Heba El-Sayed, a nurse at the field clinic in Omar El-Islam Mosque in Alexandria’s Sidi Gaber, tells Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi that several people have been injured in sporadic scuffles between protesters. So far, however, Alexandria has not seen the kind of violent clashes that have been taking place over the last few days. 

19:40Meanwhile, in Upper Egypt's Luxor, hundreds of boats are reportedly heading down the Nile to voice their opposition to President Mohamed Morsi. 

Hundreds of other protesters are marching around the touristic city en route to their rallying-point at the governorate building, where they plan to hold a sit-in until their demands are met. 

19:35 “If Morsi or the Brotherhood had any real presence, they would have organised a million-man march either here [Alexandria] or in Cairo, but they could only fill Rabaa Al-Adawiya,” Sarah Mamdouh, one of the protesters at Alexandria’s Sidi Gaber, tells Ahram Online’s Yasmine Fathi. 


Mamdouh added that Morsi had lost his legitimacy by “his dictatorial decisions and his inability to listen to other political opinions. 



“He made people who were against each other unite against him, even the remnants of the former regime,” added Mamdouh. 


## 

19:30From the vicinity of the presidential palace, former MP Mostafa El-Naggar tells Ahram Online that “talks of Morsi’s legitimacy is null and void now and is used by the Brotherhood to scare people off the early elections scenario...there is a revolutionary legitimacy now. The legitimacy of millions in the street trumps the previous electoral legitimacy,” 

He adds that the army’s role should be to protect the transitional period. 

19:30 Welcome to the second part of Ahram Online's live updates. Today, the anniversary of President Mohamed Morsi's first year in power, we are seeing virtually unprecedented numbers of protesters taking to the streets to demand that the president step down. Both Tahrir Square and the vicinity of the Itihadiya presidential palace in Heliopolis are packed with people. 

There are also protests all over Egypt, including Mansoura, Damanhour, Alexandria, Mahalla, Suez, Minya and Sharqiya, and there have been some violent clashes reported in Tanta. 

There is also a large demonstration and sit-in taking place in Cairo's Nasr City in support of President Morsi. 

For the first part of Ahram's live updates, click here. 

http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/75341.aspx

Misinformation on classified NSA programs includes lies by senior U.S. officials

Deliberate lying by Clapper and other is not “misinformation”…it is lying.

 

B

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/misinformation-on-classified-nsa-programs-includes-statements-by-senior-us-officials/2013/06/30/7b5103a2-e028-11e2-b2d4-ea6d8f477a01_print.html

Misinformation on classified NSA programs includes statements by senior U.S. officials

By Greg Miller, Published: June 30

Amid the cascading disclosures about National Security Agency surveillance programs, the top lawyer in the U.S. intelligence community opened his remarks at a rare public appearance last week with a lament about how much of the information being spilled was wrong.

“A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on,” said Robert Litt, citing a line often attributed to Mark Twain. “Unfortunately, there’s been a lot of misinformation that’s come out about these programs.”

The remark by Litt, general counsel for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, was aimed at news organizations. But details that have emerged from the exposure of hundreds of pages of previously classified NSA documents indicate that public assertions about these programs by senior U.S. officials have also often been misleading, erroneous or simply false.

The same day Litt spoke, the NSA quietly removed from its Web site a fact sheet about its collection activities because it contained inaccuracies discovered by lawmakers.

A week earlier, President Obama, in a television interview, asserted that oversight of the surveillance programs was “transparent” because of the involvement of a special court, even though that court’s sessions and decisions are sealed from the public. “It is transparent,” Obama said of the oversight process. “That’s why we set up the FISA court.”

A remark by Litt’s boss, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr., has perhaps drawn the most attention. Asked during a congressional hearing in March whether the NSA collected data on millions of Americans, Clapper replied, “No, sir.”

U.S. officials have cited a variety of factors to explain the discrepancies, including the challenge of speaking publicly and definitively about programs that remain classified and involve procedures and technical systems that are highly complex.

Jane Harman, a former ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said that speaking about secret programs can be a “minefield” for public officials.

“Are people deliberately misleading other people? I suppose it can happen,” Harman said in an interview. Facts can be obscured through “selective declassification that means you put out some pieces but not others,” she said. “But I assume most people are acting in good faith.”

Acknowledging the “heated controversy” over his remark, Clapper sent a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee on June 21 saying that he had misunderstood the question he had been asked.

“I have thought long and hard to re-create what went through my mind at the time,” Clapper said in the previously undisclosed letter. “My response was clearly erroneous — for which I apologize.”

Beyond inadvertent missteps, however, an examination of public statements over a period of years suggests that officials have often relied on legalistic parsing and carefully hedged characterizations in discussing the NSA’s collection of communications.

Obama’s assurances have hinged, for example, on a term — targeting — that has a specific meaning for U.S. spy agencies that would elude most ordinary citizens.

“What I can say unequivocally is that if you are a U.S. person, the NSA cannot listen to your telephone calls and the NSA cannot target your e-mails,” Obama said in his June 17 interview on PBS’s “Charlie Rose Show.”

But even if it is not allowed to target U.S. citizens, the NSA has significant latitude to collect and keep the contents of e-mails and other communications of U.S. citizens that are swept up as part of the agency’s court-approved monitoring of a target overseas.

The law allows the NSA to examine such messages and share them with other agencies if it determines that the information contained is evidence of a crime, conveys a serious threat or is necessary to understand foreign intelligence.

The threshold for scrutinizing other data not regarded as content but still potentially revealing is lower than it is for the contents of communications. A 2009 report by the NSA inspector general and obtained by The Washington Post indicates that the agency for years examined metadata on e-mails flowing into and out of the United States, including “the sender and recipient e-mail addresses.”

President George W. Bush at times engaged in similarly careful phrasing to defend surveillance programs in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. In 2004, while calling for renewal of the Patriot Act, Bush sought to assuage critics by saying “the government can’t move on wiretaps or roving wiretaps without getting a court order.”

At the time, it had not yet been publicly disclosed that Bush had secretly authorized NSA surveillance of communications between U.S. residents and contacts overseas while bypassing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

When the wiretapping operation was exposed in the news media two years later, Bush defended it as a program “that listens to a few numbers, called from outside of the United States, and of known al-Qaeda or affiliate people.” Subsequent revelations have made clear that the scope was far greater than his words would suggest.

News accounts of the NSA programs have also contained inaccuracies, in some cases because of the source materials. Classified NSA slides that were published by The Post indicated that the NSA was able to tap directly into the servers of Google, Microsoft, Apple and other technology companies. The companies denied that they allowed direct access to their equipment, although they did not dispute that they cooperated with the NSA.

Current and former U.S. officials have defended the programs, and some have called for greater transparency as a way of allaying concerns.

“I’m convinced, the more the American people know exactly what it is we are doing in this balance between privacy and security — the more they know, the more comfortable they will feel,” Michael V. Hayden, former director of the NSA and CIA, told “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “Frankly, I think we ought to be doing a bit more to explain what it is we’re doing, why, and the very tight safeguards under which we’re operating.”

For now, the crumbling secrecy surrounding the programs has underscored the extent to which obscuring their dimensions had served government interests beyond the importance of the intelligence they produced.

Secret court rulings that allowed the NSA to gather phone records enabled the spy service to assemble a massive database on Americans’ phone records without public debate or the risk of political blowback.

The binding secrecy built into the PRISM program of tracking international e-mail allowed the NSA to compel powerful technology companies to comply with requests for information about their users while keeping them essentially powerless to protest.

The careful depiction of NSA programs also served diplomatic ends. Until recently, the United States had positioned itself as such an innocent victim of cyber intrusions by Russia and China that the State Department issued a secret demarche, or official diplomatic communication, in January scolding Beijing. That posture became more problematic after leaks by the former NSA contractor and acknowledged source of the NSA leaks, Edward Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong and is thought to be stuck at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow.

Clapper’s testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March has drawn comparisons to other cases in which U.S. intelligence officials faced, under oath, questions that to answer truthfully would require exposing a classified program.

In 1973, then-CIA Director Richard Helms denied agency involvement in CIA operations in Chile, a falsehood that led to him pleading no contest four years later to misdemeanor charges of misleading Congress.

There is no indication that lawmakers have contemplated pursuing such a course against Clapper, in part because he subsequently corrected his claim, although there is disagreement over how quickly he did so.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who had asked Clapper the question about information collection on Americans, said in a recent statement that the director had failed to clarify the remark promptly despite being asked to do so. Clapper disputed that in his note to the committee, saying his “staff acknowledged the error to Senator Wyden’s staff soon after the hearing.”

In early June, after the NSA leaks had brought renewed attention to Clapper’s “No, sir,” Clapper cited the difficulty of answering a question about a classified program and said in an interview on NBC News that he had responded in the “least most untruthful manner.”

He made a new attempt to explain the exchange in his June 21 correspondence, which included a hand-written note to Wyden saying that an attached letter was addressed to the committee chairman but that he “wanted [Wyden] to see this first.”

Clapper said he thought Wyden was referring to NSA surveillance of e-mail traffic involving overseas targets, not the separate program in which the agency is authorized to collect records of Americans’ phone calls that include the numbers and duration of calls but not individuals’ names or the contents of their calls.

Referring to his appearances before Congress over several decades, Clapper concluded by saying that “mistakes will happen, and when I make one, I correct it.”

 

I don't read cursive (obviously)