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December 18, 2005
Why Did Bush Circumvent The Law?
President Bush has finally acknowledged that he ordered the National Security Agency to conduct eavesdropping in the U.S. without obtaining warrants. He says he is going to continue this program because it is " a vital tool in our war against terrorists." He claims his actions are "fully consistent with my constitutional responsibilities and authorities" and bashed senators who blocked reauthorization of the Patriot Act when the story went public.
First Amendment attorney Glen Greenwald says pundits have been misquoting the FISA law to justify Bush's actions. But he notes that warrentless domestic spying is clearly not permited under federal statute.
In his live weekly radio address, Bush claims that the senate's actions "endangers the lives of our citizens." The president went on tv again tonight and insisted that "we are winning the war in Iraq."
It's more likely that the revelation about the domestic spying program will endanger what's left of the president' credibility and continue to damage those who kept quiet about it. My representative here in California, Nancy Pelosi, acknowledged today in the New York Times that she knew about the program and never raised a fuss. She'll pay for that back here where people are deeply troubled about warrentless surveillance.
It's still not clear why Bush felt he had to circumvent the law which allows him to seek emergency secret warrants from the FISA court. What was it about this surveillance that the court might have rejected? Why was the FISA judge so uncomforable about the information gathered in this surveillance possibly being used to secure further warrants for the FBI?
Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, says he will conduct hearings to find out if there was any statutory or legal basis for the surveillance, any judicial review, the scope of the intercepts, how callers were identified and what was done with this information. Sounds like a good start.
Posted by ann at December 18, 2005 11:49 PM