Bush launches a bid to justify domestic spying

[struggle4progress]

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | January 24, 2006

... ''These efforts might enable Mr. Bush to prevail in the court of public opinion, but his repeated declarations that the NSA program is legal does not make it legal," said Timothy Lynch of the libertarian Cato Institute. ''The transcendent issue is this idea that the president can choose which laws he's going to follow and which laws he's not." ...

And the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, said on CNN yesterday that Bush was required by law to brief every member of the intelligence committee, not just its leaders ...

Martin Lederman, a former Justice Department official in the Clinton administration who now teaches law at Georgetown University, said the memo .. fails to overcome the long history of Congress passing laws that establish the ground rules for how presidents run the military. Moreover, he said, the memo presents no evidence that Congress intended to waive the 1978 surveillance law when it authorized Bush to use force against Al Qaeda ...

By refusing to back down, Bush is essentially telling Congress either to impeach him or let him be, <Bruce Fein, a former Justice Department official in the Reagan administration> said ...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/01/24/bush_launches_a_bid_to_justify_domestic_spying/?page=2

[aquart]

1. How many American citizens are suspected terrorists?

I'm still waiting for the number.

And, yeah, Bush is daring the wusses to impeach.

But not a damn thing will happen until rich men shut their wallets.

[Moochy]

2. This year's brand new Catapult

for "Catapulting the propaganda"

See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.

[salin]

3. Creepy photo and more Big Lies

the lies:

1) asserting that the only spying going on is on conversations with members of al qeada. Nope - reading what is known - any call to or from any foreign source - suspected or not of terrorist ties - can trigger the spying. Even Cheney has admitted as much with his attempt to assuage the public by saying... that calls to a relative in France... well we wouldn't likely be interested in that (ergo - we could note it - eg KNOW IT HAPPENEd - but probably ignore it and let it pass.)

2) stating that Congress was briefed - a few leaders were given very minimal information, and forbidden to discuss it and when requesting additional information were ignored. That is called trying to obfuscate to congress - not the same thing - however bush and gonzalez are pushing the "we consulted with congress" line over and over as a means to demonstrate that it "wasn't illegal - heck we wouldn't have briefed them if it was illegal" (er... is that a subtle admission in that line?)