Just before Christmas, news broke that George W. Bush had secretly
ordered the NSA to wiretap American citizens without getting a
legally-required warrant.
Ever since then, Bush and Co. have been busting their asses trying to
justify the program.
***** Cheney argued that if the wiretapping program had been in place
earlier, 9/11 might have been prevented.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/13550516.htm
(Although in hindsight they don't seem to mind that 9/11 wasn't
prevented - after all, without 9/11 what would they have to base every
single one of their policies on?)
And George W. Bush has been desperately trying to claim that the
program is legal, because, hey, he's the president so he can damn well
do what he pleases.
Last month he called the program "consistent with U.S. law and the
Constitution,"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121701233.html
and said last week that "This is a limited program designed to prevent
attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited."
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/13533790.htm
Shame that's a load of crap.
According to the New York Times:
http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/index.cfm?Page=Article&ID=5946
The National Security Agency has traced and analyzed large volumes of
telephone and Internet communications flowing into and out of the
United States as part of the eavesdropping program that President Bush
approved after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to hunt for evidence of
terrorist activity, according to current and former government
officials.
The volume of information harvested from telecommunication data and
voice networks, without court-approved warrants, is much larger than
the White House has acknowledged, the officials said.
It was collected by tapping directly into some of the American
telecommunication system's main arteries, they said.
As for the program's legality, a recent non-partisan Congressional
report concluded that "The administration's legal justification, as
presented in the summary analysis from the Office of Legislative
Affairs, does not seem to be as well-grounded as the tenor that letter
suggests."
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_D_1dytzk6Y&refer=us
The report noted that "It appears unlikely that a court would hold
that Congress has expressly or impliedly authorized the NSA
electronic-surveillance operations here under discussion."
So despite what the administration has been saying, it appears that
their little spying scheme is neither consistent with U.S. law, nor is
it limited.
What a surprise.
From The Democratic Underground
http://www.democraticunderground.com/
Harry
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