Daschle: Congress Denied Bush War Powers in U.S. (unf***ing believable)

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

By Barton Gellman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 23, 2005; Page A04

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."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122202119.html

MKJ

edited to add, full props to kpete, who broke this in GD.

[usregimechange]

1. Another one bites the dust.

[FogerRox]

2. K N R

[Pachamama]

3. Ahh..I wondered when Daschle who as Leader knew what was going on was

going to get his "day in court" and his story in...

The Republicans shit on this man and swiftboated and did everything they could to destroy him...they succeeded, but in the end, he may get the last word.....

:applause:

[electropop]

8. They anthraxed him too,

which is probably why he had to leave. It'll all come out in the impeachments and indictments in the next couple of years.

[LiberalPartisan]

25. Senator Leahy too

The Democrats in Congress had recently become the majority due to Jim Jeffords switching to become Independent. Leahy and Daschle were the two members capable of stopping the PA and they were the only two Anthraxed. Coincidence? I think not.

[stepnw1f]

48. Great Catch..

Yup... the truth will come out and there is nothing the Fascist Propaganda machine can do to stop it. They will have submit or turn this country into an absolute "Police State".

Time is running out for the latter to come to fruition. I hope they all burn for this sooner than later. They are committing treason everyday against the people they swore to protect. Disgusting traitors.

[alfredo]

4. K&R Revenge is sweet.

[Crunchy Frog]

5. What exactly does

war-making authority "in the United States" mean?

I'm having a little difficulty understanding the implications of this statement. Is it as frightening as it sounds?

[redacted]

6. Yep. Unbelievable. That's why Daschle got the anthrax, right?

[psychopomp]

7. It can't be good if the R-controlled Congress nixed it

...and this is the same Congress who gave * his war in Iraq with scarcely any debate whatsoever.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. That may mean that even the Republican party has its limits

beyond which it is not willing to go.

It's kind of a sad state of affairs when it's seen as reassuring and surprising that a ruling party isn't ready to confer dictatorial powers on its president, but that's what it's come to in this country it looks like.

[54anickel]

21. Yea, their limit is simply "nothing in it for me". n/t

[Pachamama]

10. Wasn't Daschle the Majority Leader at the time? Or am I mixing up the

timeline? I thought that because of Jeffords becoming an Independent, the Senate was at the time led by Daschle and the Dems....

That is why Wellstone had to go and they Anthraxed these guys...

[Carolab]

11. You got it right. n/t

[psychopomp]

18. You are correct

Thanks for pointing that out...I was mistaken.

O8)

[AuntiBush]

42. Sure Does Look Like it *NOW*

So surreal, but everything eventually comes out in the wash.
Thank you Daschle, for finally stepping-up. Must have taken a lot of courage to do so.

Been reading some of the comments about him. He's a brave man w/a mission one can see, now plainly.

We're in for one very interesting ride, 2006. :yoiks:

[Zhade]

16. Pretty sure it means "ending Posse Comitatus".

NT!

[EuroObserver]

28. == US only (potentially) at war with the rest of the world?

not yet (formally) with itself.

[Jim__]

32. Given that he interprets the statute to give him complete dictatorial

power already; he couldn't really use the phrase to interpret it more broadly than he already does. It would just strengthen his arguments.

But just the fact that he is seeking this power proves how dangerous he is. I believe most presidents have understood that their power is extremely dangerous. This fool has no idea.

[BikeWriter]

12. Kick!

[lovuian]

13. This Man is trying to take over our country and our rights

we haven't been free for sometime...

[Nutmegger]

14. Bush Inc is an atrocity.

I can't believe that we're going through this. Of all countries...Bush Inc needs to face retribution.

[0007]

23. The White House gang has turned into the Mafia, no doubt about it.

They are all guilty of war crimes.

[nashville_brook]

15. holy freaking crap

thanks for posting this!

[Marr]

17. Remember all the admonishments about comparing Bush to Hitler?

Doesn't seem so inappropriate now, does it?

[Enraged_Ape]

27. Oh, believe me, people here will still jump on you for it

And it's unbelievable. It's like we actually have to WAIT until Bush kills 12 million of us before we make the SHOCKING comparison of Bush to a fucking Nazi.

I would have a hard time comparing Bush to Hitler. They are both crazy and evil to the bone, but at least Hitler had an above-room-temperature IQ, appreciated art, and didn't crawfish on his military obligations like our current Coward-in-Chief.

[leftchick]

30. and hitler was what he was

unlike the cheap dime store cowboy imitation we have.

[flordehinojos]

19. remember when the bushes used to call clinton"slick willie"?boy! don't the

bushes like to project their own shadowy selves unto other people!

[depakid]

20. Just goes to show you can't make deals with Republicans

Ever. They have zero integrity and will break deal you try to make.

Yet the Dems are still doing it- and still getting burned. You'd think they'd learn, but instead they just act like battered women and keep going back to their abusers.

[Zynx]

22. Okay. First it proves that Bush knows that he didn't have the authority

he claims. Second, HOLY SHIT THAT'S SCARY!

[goforit]

43. And Congress has not handcuffed these bozos and imprisoned them.

[54anickel]

24. This paragraph may prove interesting in the Iraq war argument -

Daschle wrote that Congress also rejected draft language from the White House that would have authorized the use of force to "deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States," not only against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks.


Blows their final "legal" justification for Iraq. No wonder this mal-admin is so insistent on the "bad intelligence" meme.

[DiverDave]

26. And all along WE were called the un american traitors.

They need to be held accountable, but who will do it?

[greiner3]

29. bushco will deny to the day of impeachment;

That's been their battle plan from the start.

[KyndCulture]

31. Kick! nt

[HuffleClaw]

33. and the noose tightens !

i'm sure folks noticed their sudden annoucement of 'troop withdrawls'? i think that is supposed to make people happy, never mind its the complete opposite of what they've been saying and never mind they were all but calling democrats traitors and defeatests for suggesting the very thing.

[UpInArms]

34. K 'n R!

thanks for the post!

I am waiting for the impeachment to begin.

[TNOE]

35. Ditto that!

:kick:

[Gregorian]

36. Power We Didn't Grant

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201101.html


Just before the Senate acted on this compromise resolution, the White House sought one last change. Literally minutes before the Senate cast its vote, the administration sought to add the words "in the United States and" after "appropriate force" in the agreed-upon text. This last-minute change would have given the president broad authority to exercise expansive powers not just overseas -- where we all understood he wanted authority to act -- but right here in the United States, potentially against American citizens. I could see no justification for Congress to accede to this extraordinary request for additional authority. I refused.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

37. Interesting note from former majority leader Daschle, on passing

the original Patriot Act.

[Greeby]

38. No wonder he gave into Bushco on everything after that

The Anthrax attacks were a metaphorical gun to his head

[goforit]

44. And I'm sure verbal threats were made as well!!

[rodeodance]

39. but bushco can twist the meaning the meaning of ANYTHING!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122201101.html

Power We Didn't Grant

By Tom Daschle
Friday, December 23, 2005; A21

In the face of mounting questions about news stories saying that President Bush approved a program to wiretap American citizens without getting warrants, the White House argues that Congress granted it authority for such surveillance in the 2001 legislation authorizing the use of force against al Qaeda. On Tuesday, Vice President Cheney said the president "was granted authority by the Congress to use all means necessary to take on the terrorists, and that's what we've done."

As Senate majority leader at the time, I helped negotiate that law with the White House counsel's office over two harried days. I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up. I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps. I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance.

On the evening of Sept. 12, 2001, the White House proposed that Congress authorize the use of military force to "deter and pre-empt any future acts of terrorism or aggression against the United States." Believing the scope of this language was too broad and ill defined, Congress chose instead, on Sept. 14, to authorize "all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations or persons determines planned, authorized, committed or aided" the attacks of Sept. 11. With this language, Congress denied the president the more expansive authority he sought and insisted that his authority be used specifically against Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda.

[rodeodance]

40. "the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up"

nough said!!

.....As Senate majority leader at the time, I helped negotiate that law with the White House counsel's office over two harried days. I can state categorically that the subject of warrantless wiretaps of American citizens never came up. I did not and never would have supported giving authority to the president for such wiretaps. I am also confident that the 98 senators who voted in favor of authorization of force against al Qaeda did not believe that they were also voting for warrantless domestic surveillance.

[rodeodance]

41. and he is calling for an investigation.

.....If the stories in the media over the past week are accurate, the president has exercised authority that I do not believe is granted to him in the Constitution, and that I know is not granted to him in the law that I helped negotiate with his counsel and that Congress approved in the days after Sept. 11. For that reason, the president should explain the specific legal justification for his authorization of these actions, Congress should fully investigate these actions and the president's justification for them, and the administration should cooperate fully with that investigation.

In the meantime, if the president believes the current legal architecture of our country is insufficient for the fight against terrorism, he should propose changes to our laws in the light of day.

That is how a great democracy operates. And that is how this great democracy will defeat
terrorism.

[pberq]

45. Kick! - Recommended

I wonder if they'll use something stronger than anthrax on him this time.

[donkeyotay]

46. Great thread

I'd just like to add that the meme about how the president is obligated to protect us is bullshit. They're claiming he can do anything if he says it's for our security. Yet the oath he swore to was to uphold and defend the Constitution. Big difference.

[Uncle Joe]

47. Trying to remember the first lie,

oh yea, something about "honor and integrity", too bad they did not think to bring a dictionary to the White House.