Posted on 12/17/2005 7:35:57 AM PST by joinedafterattack
WAR ON TERRORISM
Congress blasts Bush's surveillance of U.S. calls, e-mailsA secret government program sparked outrage in Congress and hurt efforts to extend the Patriot Act.By RON HUTCHESONrhutcheson@krwashington.comWASHINGTON - 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 terrorist 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 United States 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 in violation of our law -- beyond any question,'' Specter said.
Democrats accused the administration of trampling constitutional rights in the name of national security. ''This administration feels it's above the law, and the American people and our Constitution pay the price,'' Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said. ``This is Big Brother run amok.'' Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said Bush may have broken the federal law restricting domestic surveillance and violated constitutional protections against intrusive searches by approving the wiretaps ''We are a government of law. The Congress was never asked to give the president the kind of unilateral authority that appears to have been exercised,'' she said. Bush declined to discuss the substance of the newspaper report, but he said he tries to strike a balance between protecting Americans from terrorist attacks and safeguarding civil liberties.
''I think the point that Americans really want to know is twofold. One, are we doing everything we can to protect the people? And two, are we protecting civil liberties as we do so? And my answer to both questions is yes, we are,'' Bush said in an interview with PBS anchorman Jim Lehrer. Anger over the surveillance operation helped derail the Bush administration's efforts Friday to extend the police powers granted by the Patriot Act. Supporters of the anti-terror law failed to get the 60 votes needed to bring the extension to a vote in the Senate. Some key provisions of the Patriot Act, which sailed through Congress after the terrorist attacks in 2001, are set to expire at year's end. ''I don't want to hear again from the attorney general or anyone on this [Senate] floor that this government has shown it can be trusted to use the power we give it with restraint and care,'' Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said in opposing the law's extension without an overhaul. ``This shocking revelation ought to send a chill down the spine of every senator and every American.'' The domestic surveillance effort -- a significant departure from previous practice -- is in keeping with Bush's aggressive approach to potential terrorist threats. The president has faced similar criticism in the past over the treatment of terrorist suspects at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; the practice of sending suspects to third countries with a history of torture and the establishment of secret interrogation facilities in Europe. ''This is a different kind of war,'' Bush said in a speech shortly after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. ``Some victories will be won outside of public view, in tragedies avoided and threats eliminated. Other victories will be clear to all.'' According to The New York Times, Bush established the domestic surveillance program in 2002 by authorizing the National Security Agency to monitor international communications by suspected terrorists in the United States. The secret presidential order relaxed safeguards intended to prohibit government spying on American citizens.
Government officials told the newspaper that government eavesdroppers sought court-approved warrants only for conversations within the United States, not for overseas calls. The paper reported that ''hundreds, perhaps thousands of people inside the United States'' have been targeted for monitoring over the past three years.
''The president has, in effect, created an off-the-books surveillance procedure without any legislative authority,'' said Marc Rotenberg, a law professor at Georgetown University and executive director of the Electronic Security Information Center, a civil liberties group. ``The president has claimed an extraordinary power, the right to conduct surveillance without judicial review. He is in a place where no president has been before.'' Government officials told The New York Times that the clandestine program helped disrupt a planned 2003 attack on the Brooklyn Bridge. According to the paper, congressional leaders from both parties were briefed on the surveillance effort. Former Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2002, said he was not informed of the domestic surveillance program. In an interview, Graham recalled a 2002 meeting in Vice President Dick Cheney's office about a far more narrow plan by the National Security Agency to intercept communications from outside the United States to other foreign destinations that rely on U.S. satellite links. ''What the administration did was not justified,'' Graham said. ``You don't fight terrorism by taking away the constitutional liberties of U.S. citizens. . . . I never saw a situation of extreme urgency that would warrant this.''
Miami Herald staff writer Frank Davies contributed to this report, along with Knight Ridder bureau reporters Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel.
Dems master plan: Protect the terrorists at all costs.
LOL!!! Oh my.. the Democrats continue: "WE HAVE TO DESTROY THE VILLAGE IN ORDER TO SAVE IT!". ;>
Members of Congress from both parties expressed outrage
Oh how grand of the MSM to report that ALL THE DEMOCRATS and 3 of the HUGE Republican party "expressed outrage". That's right up there with how they count "liberal protestors". If there's 10, it must be printed and aired as "massive" protestors.
So are all of you "Moderates" happy now!
The 'RATS are laying the foundation for a nasty impeachment effort of the President in the event that they win a few more seats in the 2006 Congressional election. They have forgotten 9/11. They fail to grasp the reality that if we're wiped off the face of the earth by their brothers-in-arms, then Constitutional rights will be meaningless.
That fool Specter has got to go...
These are the same people who shrugged when the Clintons ended up with hundreds of FBI files.
There is NO compromising with these people. The DEMS have so much hatred for Bush, they will allow and do anything to assist our enemies....just so they can gain power back. I am disgusted beyond belief. These senators and some repub senators are doing NOTHING for our national security.... they are cowards who will not speak the truth about our borders, our visa policy, the patriot act, al queda, profiling.....they are COWARDS who have put this country (you and me) in danger. President Bush and his cabinet are the only ones that GIVE A DAMN about protecting us.
"That fool Specter has got to go..."
I agree.
Of course I hope it doesn't happen, but the only thing that would wake up these RATS and RINOS is to get hit again with another huge terrorist attack.
I love how the media makes THIS the headline for the weekend....no talk about the amazing election in Iraq.... let freedom ring and leave this President alone. I am so damn sick of the media, the comedians, the actors, the rap stars...insulting the Commander in Chief. I have one thing to say to all of those people that do this: I despise you more than anything. I will never watch your movies, buy your music, or subscribe to your cable....go to hell.
And there is the crux of the matter. I'm willing to concede certain niceties to win this war. But this is a disturbing development, even if only because it gives the natterers more ammunition.
I only hope the Bush people were smart enough to review the legality of this action before implementing it, or we're going to have to listen to Ted Kennedy (of all people) pontificating for the next 3 years about impeachment.
Security and Freedom have an inverse relationship. Dramatically increasing one usually has a negative effect on the other.
I agree that this may be going to far, however, the people who are loudest about it are the same ones who complained that Bush should have "done something" to prevent 9-11.
I've been asking for the past four years...."How is it that we've gone all this time, since 9/11, without another attack?"
I think my question got answered when this eavesdropping plan was revealed.
More power to them, it they listen in on terrorists and are able to gather info, most common sense Americans will feel the same way. Wasn't that what the Dems were yelling about after 9/11 that we didn't have adequate info?
This ploy will backfire on the Dems if they try to use it as an issue.
Even the NY Times article admitted the administration informed appropriate members of congress and ran this by a secret court before proceeding.
Even in the article from this post it says the NSA "only obtained warrants for domestic taps" and not for calls to International numbers. The NSA is already authorized to monitor International phone and message traffic. I don't think there's a restriction against monitoring calls to or from the US that are International in nature. The president came out swinging in his radio address today. I hope he shuts those bastards up.
Hey Congress ..you knew about this because you were briefed
So take your email and stuff it where the sun doesn't shine
I AM SICK OF CONGRESS PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES WITH OUR LIVES
What the HELL is Negroponte doing? Why hasn't he been able to stop these leaks or identify these leakers. The man is the most inept human on the planet. National Security is HIS job and he's failing miserably. GET RID OF NEGROPONTE!
You just nailed it.
DISGUSTING! Oh, I am so mad.
Some POS on FNC just said that the only reason the administration claimed shortly after 9/11 that Iraq/AQ were connected is because we tortured someone and he gave them faulty information to get out of the torture.
Argh! So the MSM writes dozens of articles in the 90's about OBL developing a relationship with Saddam and that's okay. But fast forward to a Republican president, and he's lying. I cannot take the lies any more.
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