excuseme

Bush caught in more lies about domestic spying
By Staff and Wire Reports
Jan 2, 2006, 07:28
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President George W. Bush, caught in a growing web of lifes about his domestic spying program, clung to his claim of "limited" eavesdropping activities Sunday admit revelations that top Justice Department Officials, including Attorney General John Ashcroft, refused to sign off on the snooping on Americans by the National Security Agency.

James Comey, a deputy to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, questioned legality of the NSA program and refused to extend it in 2004. White House aides then turned to Ashcroft while the attorney general was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery, but Ashcroft, author of the controversial USA Patriot Act, also refused to endorse the spyhing.

"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America," Bush claimed after visiting wounded troops at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio. But with mountain evidence showing otherwise, calls increased for a Senate inquiry into spying on Americans.

The NSA program "listens to a few numbers called from the outside of the United States and of known al Qaeda or affiliate people," he said. "If somebody from al Qaeda is calling you, we'd like to know why," Bush said.

White House spokesman Trent Duffy later said that while the president focused on calls being made from abroad, the eavesdropping program was also conducted on communications originating from inside the United States.

"We're at war," Bush said. "I've got to use the resources at my disposal, within the law, to protect the American people. And that's what we're doing."

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he would ask committee Chairman Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, to seek testimony from Comey, Ashcroft, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

"Today's revelations really heighten concerns about this," Schumer said on "Fox News Sunday."

Capitol Hill Blue revealed last year that Bush authorized the NSA to monitor, without court approval, the international telephone calls and e-mails of U.S. citizens suspected of links to foreign terrorists. The New York Times knew about the spying last year as well but withheld the story under pressure from the White House, choosing instead to publish the information two weeks ago.

A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without the approval of a special court.

Schumer said if the president thought the law hampered the war on terrorism he should have asked Congress to consider making changes.

In an attempt to divert attention away from the legal questions surrounding the spying, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on "Fox News Sunday" that Congress should focus on investigating who in the U.S. government leaked the existence of the program.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, which usually meets in closed session, would be a better place than the judiciary panel to investigate the program, McConnell said.

Comey's refusal to reauthorize the NSA program prompted Card and Gonzales to try to get approval from Ashcroft in March 2004 while he was in a Washington hospital for gallbladder surgery.

Ashcroft also refused to give his authorization to continue with aspects of the program.

But the Bush administration went ahead with the program without approval from the nation's top law enforcement officials.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artma...cle_7933.shtml

dlwt

All Bush has to do to make this right is say what they have CAUGHT with this system. If they can show they caught some good stuff I would be satisfied, however if they did catch anything I doubt its terrorist related or it would be out there already. I have written the White House saying this same thing, SHOW US who you caught with this and all would be well in the world, however I dont think they have at all CAUGHT any terrorist this way, however they have caught some non terrorist activites. So....to me they didnt do that that legally, JMO.
I dont like it and I am not doing anything wrong

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tngirl

What non terrorist activities have they caught? Don't remember the specifics, but one call they monitored led them to an Al Quida big whig in the desert where they bombed his car. And what can they show us? You expect them to just hand over all the top secret information they have to prove their point? Yeah, then all the other creepos will know their buddies have been caught and just go farther into hiding.

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excuseme

Uh, every time they think they've caught someone important they immediately tell the press. Haven't you notice the Whitehouse has claimed to have captured the #2 Al Quaeda leader like a dozen times now?

Char

LOL... it's wartime ! They HAVE to lie about what spying is going on ! That's what they do in a war, every war.

The bottom line is this:

"This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America"

Bush and his family live here in the USA too... the idea is to keep us, you, and everyone as safe as possible. Spying is only one of several ways they try to do that. This is nothing new... spying during wartime is crucial. What do you want them to do, tell Al Quaeda and equivalents everything ??? *duh*

I personally want to know if they are planning another attack that could kill thousands - and if spying is the way to find out, go for it !

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mesue

No I want them to follow the law. The law is they can't eavesdrop on American citizens without a warrant and they can get one without al-qaida or the Ameican citizen being eavesdropped on knowing, that is why the FISA court is a secret court and their rulings kept in secret. It is there to help law enforcement maintain secrecy when needed but yet protect your rights.

They can even eavesdrop without a warrant for up to 72 hrs in emergency cases so the law allows for the circumstance of need to know without a warrant for up to 72 hrs which is plenty of time to obtain a warrant.

All they have to prove is justified cause for the surveillance and very few get turned down in the FISA court and it is all done in total secrecy so al-qaida is not going to know nor is the American citizen who is being surveilled.

What some of you people keep failing to understand is the laws are already designed and in place to provide our government and law enforcement all the leeway they need to surveill us and to do it in complete and total secrecy. The only protection you have as an American citizen is that your government and law enforcement just has to show just cause as to why they need to surveill a US citizen, thats it and if they can there is no problem in obtaining a warrant. And if they do go to the FISA court you will not know about it, nor will Al-qaida, it is all done in complete and total secrecy. That is why there is a FISA court.

So if you are under the impression that that if law enforcement goes and gets a warrant through the FISA court to surveill you, to read your mail, to wiretap your phones, to surveill you in any way, that you are going to somehow be notified of the warrant and of the surveillance, wake up no one is going to notify you of anything. It is all done in secret and the warrants are under lock and key. So please tell me again why the Bush Administration can't go and get the warrant since that is the law.

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tngirl

But mesue, you are missing the point....they are listening to calls coming from out of the country, calls made by Al Quida to persons within the US....as in other Al Quida members....as in they are not listening to US citizens. By your own words, they can listen up to 72 hours without a warrant, it doesn't normally take them that long to learn what they need to learn.

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mesue

So you think this is just al-qaida calling one another and one of them happen to be inside the US but neither is a US citizen?

And how do you know it takes them less than 72 hrs to learn what they need to know? Any data or proof on that?

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Chiizii

Well, if they are US Citizens, they are crappy American's to want to "team up" with Al Qaeda and cause harm to fellow citizens.

I think the government should listen in on people who are communicating with KNOWN TERRORISTS. Listening in just might save innocent American lives.

The courts have published legal opinions on this type of surveillance, and Carter and Clinton signed executive orders authorizing similar actions.

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mesue

Chiizii, these Americans have the same rights you or I do, no matter who their talking to. What a nightmare if one of these people accidentally call a wrong number, maybe your number, do you think your rights should be protected? Even if they are talking to al-qaida the letter of the law must be followed on this. Why? Two reasons often information obtained without a warrant is rendered worthless no matter how incrimanating and the other is that we are a country of laws that are designed to protect us and to make us equal and if we allow these laws to be trampled upon by those in power then we have no rights.

Bush and them can listen all day long without fail even up to 72 hrs without a warrant but after that they must show just cause and obtain a warrant.

It is little enough for the American people to expect and it is not hard for this Administration to get if they have just cause. The majority of cases that go in front of FISA are given warrants, many people in the past have complained it is a rubber stamp court and that the American people's rights have been lost and now this Administation wants to bypass it altogether.

What you should be asking yourself is. why if it is easy to obtain a warrant, if they can listen at first on a need to know basis without a warrant, if even after obtaining a warrant it is secret and the surveillance can continue without a problem; then why are they not following the law?

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Ignorance is bliss but the question is can we afford it?

Chiizii

Now, if I got a wrong number and a known terrorist gave me a call. I would welcome the wiretap. I know with FISA that warrant would come in 72 hours, due to the red tape involved it could take longer, so what... Maybe that is the difference between you and I. I am willing to make a sacrifice of my personal liberties if I get a wrong phone number ringing my phone by a known terrorist and you are not.

Last time I checked there are great groups of people that are have formed and declared war upon the American people as well as the American government. A decade ago I put my hand up and swore allegiance to the United States, swore to protect this nation, its citizens and the Constitution against enemies foreign and domestic. This oath didn't stop the moment my uniform came off after the first Gulf War.

As I said, I guess it is all in what you will do for the country you love.

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