Myth-making and excuse-making on the Feingold Resolution

[Wisconsin Larry]

Glen Greenwald examines the two most common myths surrounding the Censure Resolution at
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/

Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Myth-making and excuse-making on the Feingold Resolution
(cross-posted at The Huffington Post)

In order to generate further support for the Feingold Censure Resolution, numerous bloggers are encouraging everyone to pay an actual physical visit to their Senators' local offices in order to urge support for censure. Anyone doing so is likely to encounter the two primary myths/excuses which have been concocted by Senators and others in order to justify their refusal to support the Resolution. They are both plainly false:

MYTH/EXCUSE NUMBER ONE: An investigation is needed before it can be known whether the President broke the law.

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This excuse for not taking a position on censure is not only false, but also outright illogical on its face. There are two distinct and independent issues raised by the NSA scandal:

ISSUE 1: Did the President break the law when he ordered warrantless eavesdropping on Americans?

ISSUE 2: What was the scope and extent of the President's secret eavesdropping? Did the warrantless eavesdropping include only international calls, as he claims, or purely domestic calls as well? Were only suspected Al Qaeda members eavesdropped, on as he claims, or did the eavesdropping extend beyond that? How was it determined who would be eavesdropped on? And what was done with the information?

MYTH/EXCUSE NUMBER TWO: Republicans want this scandal to persist because it benefits them politically.

More at http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/