The Bush administration is apparently better at spying on US citizens than catching terrorists abroad. Two stories:First, President Bush refuses to say whether he told the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans -- without getting warrants first.
The New York Times broke the story this morning. Their report says the President allowed the spying on Americans in a 2002 order. The spying reportedly allowed the NSA to tap into hundreds -- or thousands -- of phone calls and e-mails from US citizens to people overseas.
Critics say the move violates Constitutional protections against illegal searches.
Sen Arlen Specter (R-PA) called the action "inappropriate." He chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and suggested a Congressional investigation was in order after the first of the year.
By this afternoon, Google News had tracked more than 570 news articles and stories on the spying issue.
Meanwhile, we find out that public enemy number one in Iraq -- terrorist leader Abu Susab al-Zarqawi -- was captured last year. This is the guy who's leading the terrorists that are a major part of the 90 attacks a day across Iraq.
CNN reports a US intelligence source says it's possible that our Iraqi allies had him in custody -- and let him go. Possibly because they didn't know who he was.
Let me get this straight. We've spent 200-and-some-odd billion dollars on the Iraq War and no one thought to put the guy's picture up in Iraqi police stations, phone poles, or on milk cartons?
Our intel missed 9/11 and now let a leading terrorist slip away.
But they might just know what some Army wife told her husband in Iraq in that last steamy e-mail she sent him. (NYT/Austin American Statesman/Forbes)
6 comments:
The NSA is spying on us?
Really?
Cryptography_Manifesto.txt
We will win this war against Eurasia, no matter what it takes.
It's more important to be safe than have Constitutional rights.
We got fooled again.
If Bush violated the Constitution he broke his oath of office. This is an impeachable offense, is it not?
The White House claims the president can issue any executive order he wants, including NSA domestic spying. If you disagree with that, then you agree that it is a theoretically impeachable offense.
BTW, the Cryptography Manifesto includes a treatment of how the NSA performs Internet email
monitoring, by way of my describing how I monitored the
emails of more than 7000 employees on Wall Street.
Just a reminder...You can not be safe without Constitutional rights. History shows us this; China, Chile, Nazi Germany, South Africa...the list goes on and on.
It's about time we put the brakes on an Administration which creates laws that violate our constitutional rights, and then also brakes the laws that were put in place to protect those rights. The same rights that were given to us by the hearts and lives of our soldiers. Those same soldiers that are now giving their lives for a personal interest war.
This is absolutely a complete violation of our constitutional right to privacy. The current laws provide for the ability to immediately tap a line as long as the proper warrants are obtained within 72 hours. It was completely unnecessary for this administration to go behind everyone's back. They did so only to avoid having to prove that the need for the tap was warranted.
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