| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Michelle Malkin" |
| Date: |
19 Dec 2005 06:23:37 PM |
| Object: |
No President Is Above the Law |
December 19, 2005 Senator Byrd: No President is Above the Law
byrd2006.com
Senator Byrd
Americans have been stunned at the recent news of the abuses of
power by an overzealous President. It has become apparent that this
Administration has engaged in a consistent and unrelenting pattern of abuse
against our Country's law-abiding citizens, and against our Constitution.
We have been stunned to hear reports about the Pentagon
gathering information and creating databases to spy on ordinary Americans
whose only sin is choose to exercise their First Amendment right to
peaceably assemble. Those Americans who choose to question the
Administration's flawed policy in Iraq are labeled by this Administration as
"domestic terrorists."
We now know that the F.B.I.'s use of National Security Letters
on American citizens has increased one hundred fold, requiring tens of
thousands of individuals to turn over personal information and records.
These letters are issued without prior judicial review, and provide no real
means for an individual to challenge a permanent gag order.
Through news reports, we have been shocked to learn of the CIAs
practice of rendition, and the so-called "black sites," secret locations in
foreign countries, where abuse and interrogation have been exported, to
escape the reach of U.S. laws protecting against human rights abuses.
We know that Vice President ***** Cheney has asked for exemptions
for the CIA from the language contained in the McCain torture amendment
banning cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment. Thank God his pleas have
been rejected by this Congress.
Now comes the stomach-churning revelation through an executive
order, that President Bush has circumvented both the Congress and the
courts. He has usurped the Third Branch of government -- the branch charged
with protecting the civil liberties of our people -- by directing the
National Security Agency to intercept and eavesdrop on the phone
conversations and e-mails of American citizens without a warrant, which is a
clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. He has stiff-armed the People's
Branch of government. He has rationalized the use of domestic, civilian
surveillance with a flimsy claim that he has such authority because we are
at war. The executive order, which has been acknowledged by the President,
is an end-run around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which makes
it unlawful for any official to monitor the communications of an individual
on American soil without the approval of the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court.
What is the President thinking? Congress has provided for the
very situations which the President is blatantly exploiting. The Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court, housed in the Department of Justice,
reviews requests for warrants for domestic surveillance. The Court can
review these requests expeditiously and in times of great emergency. In
extreme cases, where time is of the essence and national security is at
stake, surveillance can be conducted before the warrant is even applied for.
This secret court was established so that sensitive surveillance
could be conducted, and information could be gathered without compromising
the security of the investigation. The purpose of the FISA Court is to
balance the government's role in fighting the war on terror with the Fourth
Amendment rights afforded to each and every American.
The American public is given vague and empty assurances by the
President that amount to little more than "trust me." But, we are a nation
of laws and not of men. Where is the source of that authority he claims? I
defy the Administration to show me where in the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act, or the U.S. Constitution, they are allowed to steal into
the lives of innocent America citizens and spy.
When asked yesterday what the source of this authority was,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had no answer. Secretary Rice seemed to
insinuate that eavesdropping on Americans was acceptable because FISA was an
outdated law, and could not address the needs of the government in combating
the new war on terror. This is a patent falsehood. The USA Patriot Act
expanded FISA significantly, equipping the government with the tools it
needed to fight terrorism. Further amendments to FISA were granted under
the Intelligence Authorization Act of 2002 and the Homeland Security Act of
2002. In fact, in its final report, the 9/11 Commission noted that the
removal of the pre-9/11 "wall" between intelligence officials and law
enforcement was significant in that it "opened up new opportunities for
cooperative action."
The President claims that these powers are within his role as
Commander in Chief. Make no mistake, the powers granted to the Commander in
Chief are specifically those as head of the Armed Forces. These warrantless
searches are conducted not against a foreign power, but against unsuspecting
and unknowing American citizens. They are conducted against individuals
living on American soil, not in Iraq or Afghanistan. There is nothing
within the powers granted in the Commander in Chief clause that grants the
President the ability to conduct clandestine surveillance of American
civilians. We must not allow such groundless, foolish claims to stand.
The President claims a boundless authority through the
resolution that authorized the war on those who perpetrated the September
11th attacks. But that resolution does not give the President unchecked
power to spy on our own people. That resolution does not give the
Administration the power to create covert prisons for secret prisoners.
That resolution does not authorize the torture of prisoners to extract
information from them. That resolution does not authorize running
black-hole secret prisons in foreign countries to get around U.S. law. That
resolution does not give the President the powers reserved only for kings
and potentates.
I continue to be shocked and astounded by the breadth with which
the Administration undermines the constitutional protections afforded to the
people, and the arrogance with which it rebukes the powers held by the
Legislative and Judicial Branches. The President has cast off federal law,
enacted by Congress, often bearing his own signature, as mere formality. He
has rebuffed the rule of law, and he has trivialized and trampled upon the
prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizures guaranteed to
Americans by the United States Constitution.
We are supposed to accept these dirty little secrets. We are
told that it is irresponsible to draw attention to President Bush's gross
abuse of power and Constitutional violations. But what is truly
irresponsible is to neglect to uphold the rule of law. We listened to the
President speak last night on the potential for democracy in Iraq. He
claims to want to instill in the Iraqi people a tangible freedom and a
working democracy, at the same time he violates our own U.S. laws and checks
and balances? President Bush called the recent Iraqi election "a landmark
day in the history of liberty." I dare say in this country we may have
reached our own sort of landmark. Never have the promises and protections
of Liberty seemed so illusory. Never have the freedoms we cherish seemed so
imperiled.
These renegade assaults on the Constitution and our system of
laws strike at the very core of our values, and foster a sense of mistrust
and apprehension about the reach of government.
I am reminded of Thomas Payne's famous words, "These are the
times that try men's souls."
These astounding revelations about the bending and contorting of
the Constitution to justify a grasping, irresponsible Administration under
the banner of "national security" are an outrage. Congress can no longer
sit on the sidelines. It is time to ask hard questions of the Attorney
General, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director
of the CIA. The White House should not be allowed to exempt itself from
answering the same questions simply because it might assert some kind of
"executive privilege" in order to avoid further embarrassment.
The practice of domestic spying on citizens should halt
immediately. Oversight hearings need to be conducted. Judicial action may
be in order. We need to finally be given answers to our questions: where is
the constitutional and statutory authority for spying on American citizens,
what is the content of these classified legal opinions asserting there is a
legality in this criminal usurpation of rights, who is responsible for this
dangerous and unconstitutional policy, and how many American citizens' lives
have been unknowingly affected?
--
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
Michelle Malkin (Mickey) aa list#1
BAAWA Knight & Bible Thumper Thumper
^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^
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