Posted on 12/17/2005 5:30:48 AM PST by advance_copy
WASHINGTON - Members of Congress from both parties expressed outrage Friday over revelations that President Bush launched a secret domestic surveillance program in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The disclosure that the National Security Agency has been eavesdropping on domestic telephone conversations created a furor that could have far-reaching implications for the Bush presidency. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, promised a thorough investigation into the secret program early next year.
The surveillance operation was disclosed Friday by The New York Times, which reported that the government has been monitoring phone calls and e-mail messages from the U.S. to foreign destinations without warrants for the past three years.
"There is no doubt that this is inappropriate. It's inexcusable to have spying on people in the United States without court surveillance," Specter said.
(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...
Just what part of the 4th Amendment does Specter think protects privacy for someone talking on a phone in the U.S. to Al Qaeda suspects overseas? Does he think that people talking on the phone to our enemies is a Constitutional right?
L
The timing of this story : just after major win in IRAQ with voting landslide..and IMO to drowned out ABLE DANGER.
the same old MSM tactic find another story to blunt the real news.
If these freakin' morons were in Congress during WWII, we'd all be speaking German or Japanese.
Yep. It's time to bring Able Danger OUT in the Open.
It wasn't secret. The lead of this story starts this way: "Months after the September 11th attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the US to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying."
Bush did no such thing. He did nothing secretly. Rockefeller knew about it. The special judge and all kinds of members of Congress knew about it. Try this paragraph: "The officials said the administration had briefed congressional leaders about the program and notified the judge in charge of the foreign intelligence surveillance court, the secret Washington court that deals with national security issues." How in the name of heaven can this be secret when the -- and this is from the story. The story headlined "Bush secretly lifted," and then the opening sentence, "President Bush secretly authorized," and then later on in this story, we learn that Rockefeller knew about it! That means a lot of members of Congress did, and that officials said the administration had briefed congressional leaders about the program. There was nothing secret about this. It was after 9/11, for crying out loud. I am telling you there is an organized effort within our country at the highest levels of the Democratic Party and their media accomplices to destroy our ability to wage war against this enemy. Can I tell you how this story would have been written, had this happened during the Clinton administration, assuming it would have been written at all?
Let me tell you how it would have been written: "Months after the September 11th attacks, the government authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the US to search for evidence of terrorist activity in order to ensure that another 9/11 attack doesn't happen," thereby approving the whole thing because the key words would have been "the government authorized the National Security Agency." In this case, the government didn't do diddlysquat, see? According to the New York Times George Bush -- the evil George Bush – secretly, secretly, called the NSA and said, "I want you to start spying on Americans. They're the real problem here." This is so bogus; this is so outrageous; it is so irresponsible, and it is so indicative of the absolute fear that the left finds itself in today. They cannot succeed and triumph in an up-and-up, open-and-honest debate about anything. They have to deceive. They have to lie. They have to twist. They have to turn. They can't even stand the good news that came out of Iraq yesterday. No, no, no, no, no! Not at all!
They have to try to cover that up and make it sound like this country, this administration, is spying on you. You're the enemy. Then we got McCain's idiotic, foolish, stupid, dangerous torture bill to deal with, and that will be on the news all weekend long. I'm telling you, folks, this is getting serious. It's not just so much that the left imploding, which is a sure sign of what this is, but the bottom line is this is an all-out effort to tie our hands in dealing with this enemy. It is exactly what this is. I read this last night and I saw it being blurbed all over everywhere and I said, "Ah, jeez! Would people read the story. Stop just reading the headlines and read the story!" (interruption). Well, I know your pot (interruption). Did your pot boil when you (interruption). Livid at what, though? Snerdley's (interruption). Well, I'm going to get to that in a second.
I'm going to get to that. Snerdley is upset about the people that leaked this stuff, and you know something? This is putting the silliness and the absolute irrelevance and the childishness of this Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson thing in perspective. If we need a special counsel, if we need an independent prosecutor, we need to find out who in the hell it is that is leaking this rot-gut lying, stinking garbage to the newspaper of the Democrat National Committee, the New York bleeping Times -- and we need to find out where they are and we need to find out who they are and we need to stop this. The CIA needs to call for one of these referrals to the justice department, and we need to find out who's leaking automatic this rot-gut, folks. The Valerie Plame stuff is still in the minds of the media and of the Democrats much bigger than any of this. I have to take a quick break but I want to expand on all of the incestuous, synergistic, maniacal ties that exist between this story, major publishing, a major network, CBS, and the Democratic Party.
I could be wrong, but I thought the NSA has always been monitoring US-overseas calls. It's part of their job.
I don't get it; the FBI was given permission to do this as part of the Patriot Act.
Maybe some Senators have something (phone conversations) to hide..?
I could care less if someone eaves drops on me; I have nothing to hide and my rights and pursuit of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness has not been hindered by it, and neither has anyone elses, except the paranoid amongst us are having a tough time right now.
Specter needs a butt-whuppin.
I wonder what Arlen MacSpecter wears under his kiltie?
Maybe Specter should go back and re-examine his magic bullet theory. . .
Specter's thrilled. He's been wanting to "get" Dubya for years!
Interesting thought.
Doesn't Senator Toomey sound good about now, President Bush?
Maybe Rockefeller and his staff are worried about some of the calls going from HIS office to places in Syria or Iran
Rove and Santorum gave us this idiot, now live with it.
This is right on the money!
Boy, I'll bet the President and Santorum are really happy they went all out to save Sphincter in the Republican primary last year. And all the FReepers who thought this was a great move should also be served their words with a heaping topping of horse manure. Snarlin' Arlen has never been and will never be a Republican, and the fact that he hasn't been stripped of his chairmanship on the Judiciary Com. shows the cowardice of Bill Frist. Could he not be replaced as committee chairman in the 2006 Congress? Republicans should demand it.
Here's the irony -- had Toomey won the primary, Bush would have won Pennsylvania in 2004, and Santorum would not be in trouble next year. They alienated conservatives by backing Specter over Toomey. He does not make many mistakes, but the Specter thing was a big one by Karl Rove.
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