Posted on 07/01/2013 8:30:29 AM PDT by USS Johnston
Former President George W. Bush has weighed in on the Edward Snowden saga, telling CNN the former National Security Agency contractor threatened the security of U.S. citizens by leaking information about the surveillance program his administration created after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"I know he damaged the country," Bush said in an interview from Zambia, where he and his wife, Laura, are on a humanitarian mission. "The Obama administration will deal with it. I think he damaged the security of the country."
Like President Barack Obama, Bush deflected criticism of the spy program.
"I put the program in place to protect the country, and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed," Bush said in the interview...
Bush also refused to criticize his successor. "It doesn't do any good," he said. "It's a hard job. He has plenty on his agenda and it's difficult. [A] former president doesn't need to make it harder."
The White House said Obama will meet Bush on Tuesday in Tanzania...
He added: "You know, ultimately history will judge the decisions that I made. And I won't be around because it's going to take a while for the objective historians to show up. So I'm pretty comfortable with it. I did what I did."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
NAIL ON HEAD.
Bush started this , Obama is taking it on steroids and Obama gets a pass but if it were the other way around then there would be holy hell
Also, the FISA court is one which grants warrants - it is not a court in which people are accused or charged or indicted or convicted of crimes.
Warrants are always obtained secretly - it is kind of the point of a warrant.
p.s. I stupidly voted for him in ‘04, going away from my libertarian-3rd party ways (I know, not like that would have made a difference either, but...). We had massive signs up across our whole yard for him, and sent money, made phone calls, walked the ‘hood, all of it.
I was locally involved with R elections, and my friends convinced me that Jr.would do something about amnesty/illeg immig next. (That and they said they wouldn’t talk to me unless I voted for him, lol.) Yeah.... all he did was hawk more of it and call us names.
Your assumption that anything was conveyed to China of which they were not already aware demonstrates your gullibility and excessively agrandising self assessment.
What a messed up country where both political parties are now in unison! Does it matter which party is now running things?
Of COURSE Bush is supporting Zero! They are very much cut from the same cloth! Spying on Americans, an unprotected border, globalism, the works.
And when Bush started spying on Americans in the name of security, and calling something completely Un-patriotic and Un-American “The Patriot Act” too many RINOs said, “He’s our guy! And the Constitution isn’t a suicide pact!”
Which is a disgrace to the founding fathers, who WERE willing to DIE for the sake of the Constitution.
It’s time we started to scream LOUD about ending ALL the spying on innocent Americans who aren’t even suspected of a crime! Heck, since Bush supports the spying, maybe we can even get the few on the left who still care about America to agree with us. This must END.
The Ruling Class protects its own. To GWB, the fact that Obama also went to Harvard more than outweighs the fact that he's trying to destroy the Constitution.
Nooooooooooooooo! Now you’re thinking of what your personal spy satellites and drones captured of the snake’s yard.
The Bush Republicans are on a pathway that they must change or else.
I will not get angry and hate them but I will choose a different path than they are taking.
WITH AMNESTY AND SPYING ON EVERYONE THEY ARE HELPING TO DRIVE A BATTERING RAM INTO THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
True & watch out for the next elected (by fraud) president. With the corruption this once great nation faces each day from a prez to a school janitor one can only expect nothing better & only worse.
Look if any agency in our government needs to run Spook Ops it should be one with the highest accountability, no political agenda meaning politically neutral, and the ones operating it under the strictest disciple which exceeds any civilian alphabet agency. The Pentagon specifically the military {not the civilians} should be running INTEL gathering operations and discern then act upon actual threats.
Do I trust political appointees in positions like this? No! Do I think alphabet agencies leak like sieves and are highly political agenda motivated in nature? Yes. If the program was so darn critical to national security WTH was it doing being ran in such a manner?
I passed them on to Bunhilda the TSA pat down lady.......
:-)
>> “Warrants are always obtained secretly - it is kind of the point of a warrant” <<
.
The constitution offers no such thing as the secrecy of a warrant. Court proceedings are all assumed to be open to public scrutiny, and any secrecy must be publicly requested in open court by requesting a meeting in chambers.
BTTT
I don't think you get it.
It is one think for China to know of something or to have strong suspicions about it.
It is an entirely other thing to receive outside independent confirmation of it, and to have that information published in the international press by a citizen of the foreign country you are hoping to embarrass.
The GOP-E must oppose the data collection period.....
They are too busy shouting “security” and “traitor” to hear what many of us are saying out here??????
oops! That would be Brunhilda.
You are more than welcome to fix it if you like, but I do not believe it was broken.
America has most definitely damaged herself. If she had behaved honorably, then Snowden would have had nothing to expose, but she did not behave honorably.
Thank you, USS Johnston.
I wish my words were not the case, but I very sadly believe that they are.
You really believe that it is common practice for a search warrant to be issued after a formal court hearing?
All it takes, and has ever taken, is for a peace officer to go to a judge and make an affidavit that he has reasonable grounds for a search.
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