Posted on 12/22/2005 8:50:01 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
The Bush administration requested, and Congress rejected, war-making authority "in the United States" in negotiations over the joint resolution passed days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, according to an opinion article by former Senate majority leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.) in today's Washington Post.
Daschle's disclosure challenges a central legal argument offered by the White House in defense of the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizens and permanent residents. It suggests that Congress refused explicitly to grant authority that the Bush administration now asserts is implicit in the resolution.
The Justice Department acknowledged yesterday, in a letter to Congress, that the president's October 2001 eavesdropping order did not comply with "the 'procedures' of" the law that has regulated domestic espionage since 1978. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, established a secret intelligence court and made it a criminal offense to conduct electronic surveillance without a warrant from that court, "except as authorized by statute."
There is one other statutory authority for wiretapping, which covers conventional criminal cases. That law describes itself, along with FISA, as "the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance . . . may be conducted."
Yesterday's letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General William Moschella, asserted that Congress implicitly created an exception to FISA's warrant requirement by authorizing President Bush to use military force in response to the destruction of the World Trade Center and a wing of the Pentagon. The congressional resolution of Sept. 18, 2001, formally titled "Authorization for the Use of Military Force," made no reference to surveillance or to the president's intelligence-gathering powers, and the Bush administration made no public claim of new authority until news accounts disclosed the secret NSA operation.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
5.56mm
Everyone have FoxNews on tonite..9 PM..I ain't promising anything, but the word is Hannity will be there..
Might be worth a DVD or TVO or DVR..
Ya'll have a Merry Christmas, God's Blessings on everyone..especially JimRob and our brave soldiers everywhere
AAR will be up on Saturday, if I'm not in jail.
Amazing, isn't it. Little Tommy is telling us that just days after we suffered the worst attack on American soil that he didn't want to give the President the power to monitor enemies within this country. This despite the fact that the 9/11 attack was carried out by terrorists within this country, using our own resources.
Yet, even with this admission I don't recall ANY objection by these same liberals when the president started shutting down US-based Islamic charities, which obviously required some kind of domestic surveillance to gather evidence of their collaboration with our enemies. These people are the biggest, most dangerous frauds I've ever seen.
Tom Dashle, rewriting history. 'Nuff said.
Yeah, South Dakota disowned their "favorite son", he's an embarrassment to the good people of that state.
It's also because it wasn't new. The authority the Bush administration exercised is based on Article 2 of the Constitution and has been exercised by almost every President since the country began. It has been exercised in exactly this way by most presidents since World War 2, FDR included.
Congress cannot limit the inherent powers of the Presidency in carrying out his Constitutional duties, even if they tried, and that logic was explicitly rejected during the debates on FISA at the time it was enacted.
The media doesn't even bother to read their own articles.
He's a lying POS that sold his own state out to the Kennedy's and the Kerry's so they told him to take a hike, and live off of his wife's LOBBYING MONEY.
Supersize that too, Tommy.
And here all this time I figured Puff Boy was busy running Tom Daschle Pontiac somewhere back home....
Why are we having to hear from this Marist?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.