Gonzales Suggests Legal Basis for Domestic Eavesdropping

[cal04]

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested on Thursday for the first time that the president might have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on communications between Americans that occur exclusively within the United States. "I'm not going to rule it out," Mr. Gonzales said when asked about that possibility at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The attorney general made his comments, which critics said reflected a broadened view of the president's authority, as President Bush offered another strong defense of his decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls and e-mail messages to or from the United States. Mr. Bush, in an appearance in North Carolina, told a questioner who attacked the program that he would "absolutely not" apologize for authorizing it. "You can come to whatever conclusion you want" about the merits of the program," Mr. Bush said. "The conclusion is I'm not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program."

At the House hearing, Mr. Gonzales faced tough questioning from Democrats and Republicans but declined to discuss many operational details. Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee and one of the administration's staunchest allies, accused the administration of "stonewalling."

"Mr. Attorney General, how can we discharge our oversight responsibilities if every time we ask a pointed question, we're told that the answer is classified?" Mr. Sensenbrenner asked. "Congress has an inherent constitutional responsibility to do oversight. We are attempting to discharge those responsibilities." The House and Senate have conducted limited inquiries into the surveillance program, which many Democrats contend is illegal. Republicans on the Senate intelligence panel have agreed on measures to impose new oversight but allow wiretapping without warrants for up to 45 days.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/washington/07nsa.html?hp&ex=1144382400&en=9aedb40ee43d7452&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[rpannier]

1. With this admin

they think everything they do legal.
So, their basis is...scrub said he could.

[Blutodog]

73. What are any of U going to do about it?

Bu$hCo's attitude is that of every 3rd rate Dictator and schoolyard bully that has ever lived. It boils down to a taunt and a smirk and the statement, Ok, Punk what are u and your 3 midgets going to do about it? Remember The Movie Back to the Future? Right we remember the bully that was always on top of Michael J. Fox right? That's Mr. Bu$h and his pals and were the target.

[joemurphy]

2. This is one keen legal mind at work. Thank you Harvard Law!

[patcox2]

30. He's visibly stupid, isn't he?

Its something to watch, a man so obviously limited in his intellectual ability, he learned the trick of manipulating the symbols, but he doesn't really know what they mean, if you know what I mean.

Its like he's in the special olympics of law.

[Bluestar]

49. So Well Said!!

You said this so well, I found myself LOL!!! I've observed his stupid demeanor and couldn't put it into words. Thanks for articulating this for me.

[wordpix]

52. "special olympics of law," bwahahahahha - that's our Gonzo

[0007]

3. Argh!

[dchill]

4. AG Gonzales has a legal specialty...

like many other lawyers. No, he doesn't do disability claims, no, he doesn't do accident/injury claims, no, he's not a divorce lawyer. His particular specialty is chopping the first two letters from "illegal", sanding off the rough edges, coating it with smooth bullshit, then delivering it with a condescending smirk.

It's all he does, and I for one don't think he's very good at it - but I seem to be in the minority. Everyone in Congress and the media seems to think he's some kind of oracle.

[Felinity]

31. Reminds me of something I made up years ago . . .

You can put icing on a pile of shit, but it doesn't make it chocolate cake.

Hi guys, DU is my homepage, read every day.

[awoke_in_2003]

33. Welcome, Felinity

and thanks for the great saying. Might have to use it sometime :) :hi:

[Felinity]

37. Donated to the public domain.

Use at will. My pleasure.

I'm originally from Pittsburgh-take care of the Santorum idiot for me, will you?

[awoke_in_2003]

83. wish I could,

I am misplaced, also (fort worth, tx)

[dchill]

48. Indeed it is not cake...

but so many of our fellow Amurikans are eating it. Welcome to DU, Felinity!

[saskatoon]

67. your comment felinity

Don't know you from Adam but i LOVE you simply because of that very wise saying of yours. Regards, saskatoon

[The Wielding Truth]

77. I agree. That is why he was chosen for his position.

He has been letting * get away with murder for a long time now.

Welcome,to DU.

Where sanity returns and freedom rings in civil tones.:hi:

[katty]

44. SpeedyGonzo' s smirky,we're fromTX, W's lap dog-cheney's voice

[Zhade]

53. Remind me again how the Dems 'won' by not filibustering this guy?

NT!

[dchill]

62. Well, see, uhh...

Well, they got to keep on keepin' on! Doin' what they do! Which is, uhh...

[lumpy]

69. Gonzales cannot sway public opinion

how US citizens value their privacy rights. And yes, he is not very good at it. I must research his professional background.

[dchill]

85. "...research his professional background..."

He worked for Bush in Texas. There. Your research is done! :)

[rodeodance]

5. John Dean just shook his head 'remarkable" on Keith O. tonight when he

learned of this!

[rodeodance]

6. nominate

[rodeodance]

8. this is BIG stuff--previously pertained to warrentless international calls

[Canuckistanian]

28. Who needs Al-Qaeda calling?

You too, can be a terrorist just by being an American!

Sitting by the phone waiting for OBL to call, hoping to be spied on?

Stop your waiting! You're already under suspicion!

[dchill]

50. "You too, can be a terrorist..."

As I have said, we have met the terrorists, and they are us. Where, oh where is leadership? Oh - busy spying on American citizens (who are probably terrorists because they oppose Bush's policies), busy making deals with terrorist-sponsoring nations for our port security. Busy outing CIA agents for trying to find the truth about WMDs. Busy accusing Democrats of having partisan motives and "pre-9/11 mentality." Busy not imagining someone flying planes into buildings. Busy lying about legal reasons for lying about leaking classified information which they lied about not having leaked. They're just too effin' busy to "lead."

[Zhade]

54. "Too busy lying to lead" would make a catchy campaign slogan.

You know, if the Dems could see the value in going after lying criminals.

[dchill]

61. "if the Dems could see the value..."

indeed.

[Vinnie From Indy]

7. According to him we live in an absolute monarchy now.

Bush is our King and his word is law. Simple gig actually for the "consigliere" of the BushCo regime.

[bluesbassman]

76. If Al Gore was pulling this crap...

bush*t's right wing base would be rioting in the streets. Ever since the '00 election theft, anytime I discuss the questionable activities of bushco with a conservative, I always ask them to put Al Gore's name in place of bush. That usually get's one of two responses; 1. they stammer and sputter about how the Dems do bad things too, or 2. they get that blank, kool-aid induced stare in their eye and change the subject real quick.

But bush and his thugs have crossed the line now. Even the thickest repug has got to start remembering high school civics and the marvelous checks and balances that the constitution provided. I truly do not believe that anyone on the right (well, maybe some of the religious right) wants to be ruled by a dictator. But that's what's unfolding right before their eyes and they can't deny it any longer.

I used to be worried that we were going to have to put up with the neocon stranglehold on our government for many years, but with every new revelation about the corruption, crimes and stupidity of the bush regime, and the absolutely idiotic responses and justifications that they give for their acts, I now know that the American people will not put up with this any longer. It may get ugly, but we, at our core, know what is right; both on the left and on the right. And in the end, We The People will not be lead by criminals.

[TaleWgnDg]

9. I read the entire NYT article. No where can I see where

.

I read the entire NYT article. No where did I read where Attorney General Gonzales cited to relevant law granting authority that Gonzales claims is granted to the U.S. President as Commander-in-Chief. If Gonzales cited to some legal authority then the NYT didn't print it. Of course, I believe Gonzales never did cite to relevant law bc there is no relevant law as Gonzales claims. And, I say that as a lawyer.

I find it extraordinary that the U.S. Supreme Court has jumped into the fray a tad bit when it writes formal legal Notes denying certiorari but chastising this government u/GWBush nonetheless. Unreal.

This administration and all its lackeys will go down in history as one of the nation's most corrupt, both in ethics and in attempts to broaden the authority of the U.S. president beyond that authorized by our federal constitution. Will criminality enter as well due to their behavior?

[Supersedeas]

36. Very well said and I agree with all of it

[Zhade]

55. The vast majority of the world knows they're criminals.

I think history is already judging them as such.

[TaleWgnDg]

66. Only one rational response to that:

.


Only one rational response to that: IMPEACH !!

[Blutodog]

74. The Law??

The Bu$h gang's attitude about the law could be summed up with one Movie line. "Law we don't need no stinkin law! hey, plus they even have a real Mex. to deliver it. U can't say they don't have a sense of humour.

[OnyxCollie]

10. December 19, 2005 WH Press Briefing By AG Alberto Gonzales & Gen. Hayden

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051219-1.html

Q Can you just give us one assurance before you go, General?

ATTORNEY GENERAL GONZALEZ: It depends on what it is. (Laughter.)

Q Can you assure us that all of these intercepts had an international component and that at no time were any of the intercepts purely domestic?

GENERAL HAYDEN: The authorization given to NSA by the President requires that one end of these communications has to be outside the United States. I can assure you, by the physics of the intercept, by how we actually conduct our activities, that one end of these communications are always outside the United States of America.

Lying bastard.

[Theduckno2]

11. Gee Mr. Bush, I don't want you to apologize for what you did.

I want you to do time after you are impeached. Maybe Mr. Gonzales could be your cellmate.

I am in awe of their audacity, even when they are in a weak position, they keep trying to grab more power.

A war without end, limitless executive power, when will the 36%approvals finally wise up?

[Judi Lynn]

12. Could anyone explain the final paragraph?

A department spokeswoman, Tasia Scolinos, said, "The attorney general's comments today should not be interpreted to suggest the existence or nonexistence of a domestic program or whether any such program would be lawful under the existing legal analysis."

How scary is this?

What WOULD have been, then, the purpose of the attorney general's communication?

[wordpix]

56. translation: Gobbledygook is *US *

to keep YOU in the dark.

Also: Don't think what Gonzo says is confirmation that there IS a domestic spy program or ISN'T one. Also, don't think that Gonzo is saying such a program is lawful because it's not and even repukes are getting the heevy jeevies about it.

[worldgonekrazy]

63. Don't you wonder how people can actually bring themselves to say that?

"...should not be interpreted to suggest the existence or nonexistence of a domestic program..."

So this program might or might not exist. If it did exist, it would be legal, but we can't really debate that because it might not exist, or if it did exist then we would be helping the terrorists by discussing the merits of it. Quite a rationale there.

[annabanana]

13. Consiglieri Gonzales is at it again....

It drives me insane that he's just barely keeping himself from laughing in our faces while he does this...

[truthisfreedom]

14. "I'm not going to hold back this long, stinky fart" Gonzales exclaimed, as

he wet himself and several memebers of Congress.

he makes me fucking sick.

[C_U_L8R]

15. Something Republicans cannot understand

All the legal weaseling in the world will
not make spying on Americans without
a warrant the RIGHT THING TO DO.

Republicans are either incredibly dumb
or blindingly ignorant of our Constitution.

What assh*les.

[awoke_in_2003]

35. how bout both

[Solly Mack]

16. well, that means it's already happening and has been happening

Big DUH!, right?

You know, people can tell themselves that the damage Bush has done can be corrected - but it can't.
You can't bring the dead back to life. You can't undo years of detention. You can't undo the scars of torture. You can't regrow arms and legs. You can't just wake up one morning and trust your government again.

My biggest fear though is America not learning from this...

I won't be one of those who breathe a sigh of relief once Bush is out of office. To me, unless the entire Bush Regime is tried for their crimes - all of their crimes - America will have shown it has no intention of learning anything. That America has no intention of fixing a very broken system. If we don't have integrity enough to punish Bush for his corruption and his abuse of power and his crimes, how can anyone think America has integrity enough to correct election fraud? Unless the Bush Regime goes to prison - we will get another regime like Bush's in the future. And I can't find any comfort in that. None. So no sigh of relief from me...I'll still be holding my breath - waiting - for the next outrage that will surely come.

[atreides1]

21. "If we don't have integrity...."

That's the problem, we have the integrity, it's our elected officials who have failed the integrity
test.

[Solly Mack]

22. I know "we" have the integrity

:)


but I was allowing for the fact that "we" (Congress,included) are all Americans and this problem (Bush) belong to us all...unfortunately.

[atreides1]

39. You Shouldn't Include Congress

At least not all of them, until they stand up to this traitor and his minions.

The only Americans are those who hold the US Constitution paramount, those that put Bush and the
Republican party above the good of the country are no better then those who supported Hitler and
his ilk.

[Solly Mack]

40. You're right

[saskatoon]

68. Hitler

Is it too ridiculous to say that we are on the path to having an Adolph as our leader? Frankly I"m scared---that's the way it began in Germany, little by little and not anyone doing enough to stop it.

[Zhade]

57. See below - I too think they're already doing this.

And we already saw that Americans don't learn SHIT after Iran-Contra.

Hence, Canada for me.

[worldgonekrazy]

64. I agree entirely

Just getting Bush out of office, through impeachment or running out his term, is not enough. This criminal gang must be held accountable for their actions, or the damage they have done will permanently erode the already tenuous integrity of our government.

[Solly Mack]

70. I honestly don't see any coming back from this

unless they're held accountable - and then as a nation, we might have a chance.

And maybe others in the past have felt the exact same way about the times they lived in - and then I think of how the past is never really the past, especially when actions have far reaching consequences, so far reaching that future generations are still paying the price for the horrible mistakes, incredible bad judgments, and crimes against the people that passed for government policy

If Bush walks free, that is our legacy to future generations. A tyrant...a war criminal...a man of treason...we can't undo all the damage but the least we can do is hold him accountable....if we don't do that, history won't exactly be kind and forgiving to us either.

[chill_wind]

79. Completely agree.

It's not just the shuck and jiving Gonzales, but all the criminal sleaze and hustlers pardoned by senior, that now form a protective and perpetual junta around junior.

So much corruption, and so much now that seems fundamentally lost, trashed and broken. Not a day goes by anymore that I don't think the very same things you've expressed throughout this thread. Impeachment is not enough to repair the damage.

[Thor_MN]

90. They are looking for leaks, *'s Nixonian paranoia is flaring.

They are drifting away from looking for al Qaeda terraists and now conducting searches for the true patriots that are trying to sound the alarm on the neocons. The main priority of the * White House has turned to self-preservation. Basically they are now using our tax dollars to try to stay out of prison.

[OKthatsIT]

17. Sensenbrenner is a PIG. A little too late to clean up his fascist image.

"Mr. Attorney General, how can we discharge our oversight responsibilities if every time we ask a pointed question, we're told that the answer is classified?" Mr. Sensenbrenner asked. "Congress has an inherent constitutional responsibility to do oversight. We are attempting to discharge those responsibilities."

YEAH? LIKE 5 YRS AGO, ASSHOLE!

[Zhade]

60. Tell me about it! Most secretive admin, EVER, and NOW he gets it?

"Stonewalling" - no shit, dude. Where the fuck have you been? Any idiot would have gotten these guys' M.O. after the secret energy task force meetings!

[pfitz59]

18. "....tough questioning from Democrats and Republicans..."

Tough questions from Rethuglicans my behind! I saw this on CSPAN. The Repukes didn't ask questions, they 'embellished and clarified' Mr. Gonzales' remarks. Gonzales' answer to everything was "The Commander-in-Chief HAS DICTATORIAL POWERS DURING WARTIME!" (Or words to that effect!) It was horrible thing to behold!

[niallmac]

19. I'd really like to see Gonzales support his case.

Would he use previous similiar cases from '30's Berlin?
Would he claim the U.S. Constitution was partly written in invisible ink
so lots of stuff isn't real clear to the average citizen?
What a Maroon.

[rainy]

20. When Gonzales was testifying he kept saying "This program"

making sure that if he ever gets caught about "other" programs he can say he was only commenting on the program in question. But, as we are now learning, there are other programs we are not suppose to know about.

[wordpix]

58. yes, there are other programs but Gonzo can't talk about them b/c they're

secret

[Patsy Stone]

23. How many laws have they negated now, if you add this one?

Why doesn't anyone care that they're gutting the Bill of Rights? Where is the outrage?

[wordpix]

59. uh, I've lost track

[hobbit709]

24. Fine

Let's put him on the list as number 1

[Orion The Hunter]

25. AG Gonzalez - did he even go to law school?

I mean, I've taken Constitutional law classes, and even I know his commentary is bogus!

[Brigid]

87. Constitutional Law

I Gonzalez must have skipped class a lot the semester he was supposed to be taking Constitutional Law. Or, he was doing this :beer: instead of studying.

[Norquist Nemesis]

26. Yes, that would be the DSP which shouldn't be confused with the TSP

That's the thing that bugs me the most every time they start hearings and questions over spying. Quickly, they categorize it to be "TSP" as if that covers all spy programs (plural).

[Deep13]

27. Alternate headline: "Gonzales Makes Shit Up."

:(

[Mandate My Ass]

29. If we had a true "free" press in this country, it *would* say that

The whores just parrot the outrageous lies as if all the Bush administration has to do is say something and saying it automatically makes it true. No analysis, no context, no opposing viewpoint, they're just stenographers.

[UpInArms]

32. Time for a history lesson. Let's look at Otto Georg Thierack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Georg_Thierack

Thierack took part in the First World War from 1914 to 1918 as a volunteer, reaching the rank of lieutenant. He suffered a face injury and was decorated with the Iron Cross, second class. After the war ended, he resumed his interrupted law studies and ended them in 1920 with his Assessor (junior lawyer) examination. In the same year, he was hired as a court Assessor in Saxony.

On 1 August 1932, he joined the Nazi Party. After the Nazis seized power in 1933, he managed within a very short time to rise high in the ranks from a prosecutor to President of the Volksgerichtshof. The groundwork on which this rise was built was not merely that Thierack had been a Nazi Party member, but rather also that he had been leader of the National Socialist jurists' organization, the so-called Rechtswahrerbund.

On 12 May 1933, having been appointed Saxony's justice minister, it was Thierack's job to "Nazify" justice, which was a part of the Nazis' Gleichschaltung that he had to put into practice in Saxony. After going through several mid-level professional posts, he became Vice President of the Reich Court in 1935 and in 1936 President of the Volksgerichtshof, which had been newly founded in 1934. He held this job, interrupted as it was by two stints in the armed forces, until 1942, when he was succeeded in the position by Roland Freisler.

On 20 August 1942, Thierack assumed the office of Reich Minister of Justice. He introduced the monthly Richterbriefe in October 1942, in which were presented model – from the Nazi leaders' standpoint – decisions, with names left out, upon which German jurisprudence was to be based. He also introduced the so-called Vorschauen and Nachschauen ("previews" and "inspections"). After this, the higher state court presidents, in proceedings of public interest, had at least every fortnight to discuss with the public prosecutor's office and the State Court President – who had to pass this on the responsible criminal courts – how a case was to be judged before the court's decision.

Thierack not only made penal prosecution of all unpopular persons and groups harsher. "Antisocial" convicts on the whole were much more often turned over to the SS. This usually meant Jews, Poles, Russians, and Gypsies. Soon afterwards, though, he utterly forwent any pretense of legality and simply began handing these people over to the SS

Thierack came to an understanding with Heinrich Himmler that certain categories of prisoners were to be, to use their words, "annihilated through work"

...more...

[Betsy Ross]

34. Gonzales and wiretapping are so yesterday.

Gonzales should be coming out with a way to justify the declassification of the NIE report and Valerie Plame's identity.

[Bullshot]

38. Gonzales said FDR used this authority during WW I

It was on a 3:00 a.m. Fox Radio news report today.

I've always said there's a correlation between how conservative you are and how ignorant you are on history.

I'd like to have heard that soundbite again just to confirm what I heard, but Fox hasn't given me the satisfaction.

[McCamy Taylor]

41. Gonzales is STILL WH Counsel.Schummer and me (CSPAN) called it

during the confirmation hearings, but none of the panty-waist news commentators on the MSM wanted to talk about it. They preferred to talk about race and torture. When I called CSPAN and said as much, there was dead silence and they quickly switched to the next caller.

[Kurovski]

42. When it comes to this maladministration,

impeachment is the one thing that has the greatest legal basis.

The rest is chitter-chatter by the criminals within it, seeking a foothold as they ooze down a very slimy slope.

[Warren DeMontague]

43. Lloyd Dangle nailed it:

[coalition_unwilling]

45. Whenever talking on the phone nowadays, I always make sure

to say (esp. when discussing BFEE matters), "Are you listening, NSA?" It's my little shout-out :) to the G14 grunts who probably are having to do the grunt work of the actual domestic monitoring.

A friend of mine always makes sure he says "Insh'allah" (or something like that) every time he talks on the phone, the idea being to so flood their in-boxes with background noise as to render their work meaningless.

[savemefromdumbya]

46. What does Gonzales mean that Buah MIGHT have?

[The Wizard]

47. Abu Gonzalez

He's just a failed attorney who made friends with a political crime family. It would really be interesting to see him in a trial------------as a defendant. He has violated the public trust and played a key role in damaging this nation's image and reputation. For approving war crimes and torture he could find himself in a cell at The Hague awaiting trial.
The words he'd hear most often at Leavenworth would be, "Isn't this the guy who violated your civil rights," and "You sure got a purty mouth."

[Zhade]

51. You know this means they're already doing it as we speak.

This is preemptive on their part, so that when we finally discover that they're spying on average Americans, they can point back to this claim as 'precedent' for it.

Who can stop these evil men???

[onehandle]

65. Onehandle Suggests that Gonzales is a Whore. nt

[Loge23]

71. He's a terrorist, really.

He is an enemy of freedom and the America we all know and miss.
His aggressive actions in destroying our freedom is essentially an act of terrorism.

[whopis01]

72. kick n/t

[Triana]

75. 'terrorist surveillance" eh?

PETA, NRDC, Greenpeace. Oh yea. Right.

[Kenergy]

78. the president might have the legal authority

In other words, he needs more time to spin an excuse for der Fuhrer.

[Pat Speer]

80. same ole bs

In the sixties, this was an issue as well. Ironically, Bobby Kennedy authorized the FBI to wire-tap MLK after he was shown evidence that MLK was meeting with known communists, blah blah blah. Hoover used this against Bobby for the rest of his life. Nixon was criticized as well for his tapping the phones of journalists and his own employees. And now AG the AG and Bush-boy claim that those controversies were over nothing? That the executive branch has had the power to tap willy-nilly since FDR? BS!

To read about the incompetence/criminality of the last president from Texas:

http://homepage.mac.com/bkohley/Menu18.html

I know it's history, but the funny thing about history is it never goes away...

[Brigid]

81. 1984 is Coming a Little Late

Hello, everyone. I'm new here to DU, but I've been on a few other political forums as well. I hope to talk to some fellow Bush-haters here.

As for the topic: This is just plain scary to a hardcore civil libertarian like myself. Since when has the Constitution become something to be got around rather than the supreme law of the land, which even the president must obey? It was designed to protect citizens from government abuse of power, and now it is itself under attack. And this administration -- excuse me, I meant, regime -- just wants us to trust them? To that I resond simply, "Why?"

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

82. Governments that demand that you simply "trust" them, just like people you

may know in real life who make similar demands of you to "just trust them", are, as a rule, the least deserving of that trust, and prove it time and again.

[Kenergy]

93. Welcome to DU Brigid! n/t

[cosmicdot]

84. "Wiretapping on the Increase in Europe"

"authorities across the continent are getting more powers to electronically eavesdrop, and meeting less apparent opposition than President Bush did over his post-9/11 wiretapping program"

and, "the European Parliament in December approved legislation requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone date and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations."

and, "the complaints are relatively muted compared to the criticism that has arisen in the U.S."


well, Italy is referenced a lot (Berlusconi?)

across the continent ... more powers ... less opposition ...

what exactly is the purpose of this article?
comparing notes?
what's the Associated Press selling, if anything???
who is the Associated Press helping, if anyone???


guess something similar could have been said about Mussolini and Hitler in their heyday

something should be said of why the Founders wrote a Declaration of Independence and a Bill of Rights


Wiretapping on the Increase in Europe
`````````````````````````````````````

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

April 08, 2006 11:43 AM EDT

ROME - In Europe, Big Brother is listening - and being allowed to hear more and more.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks and the terrorist bombings that followed in Madrid and London, authorities across the continent are getting more powers to electronically eavesdrop, and meeting less apparent opposition than President Bush did over his post-9/11 wiretapping program.

As part of a package of European Union anti-terrorism measures, the European Parliament in December approved legislation requiring telecommunications companies to retain phone date and Internet logs for a minimum of six months in case they are needed for criminal investigations.

In Italy, which experts agree is the most wiretapped Western democracy, a report to parliament in January by Justice Minister Roberto Castelli said the number of authorized wiretaps more than tripled from 32,000 in 2001 to 106,000 last year.

~snip~

Still, the complaints are relatively muted compared to the criticism that has arisen in the U.S. Congress and among civil liberties groups over the Bush administration's surveillance operations. After the Sept. 11 attacks Bush granted intelligence officers the power to monitor, without court approval, international calls and e-mails between people in the United States and suspected terrorists overseas.

~snip~

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EUROPE_WIRETAPPING?SITE=OHWIL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[dchill]

86. Gonzales "Suggests" Legal Basis ...

How about a little straight talk, nytimes? How about "Invents"? Or "Pulls Out Of His Ass"? I don't think he meant to "Suggest" anything. I think he's running it up the flagpole of Neoconservative Certainty.

[Rex]

88. AG Torture loves the idea of domestic spying, it fits his profile

of hatred for Americans and disrespect for our US Constitution.

[LiberalFighter]

89. Send Gonzales back to Mexico!!

Need I say more?

[fshrink]

91. The job of this slime ball is just that.

Find legality in anything that his neo-fascist bosses do. Justice has nothing to do with it. He would be great at the so-called "supreme" court.

[goforit]

92. Gonzales changes the laws as fast as Parker Bros change 'Monopoly'

Whatever you say Gonzales.