GOP Leaders Back Bush on Wiretapping, Tribunals - WTF!!

Ian_rd

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Thu Sep-14-06 06:33 AM
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GOP Leaders Back Bush on Wiretapping, Tribunals - WTF!!

Edited on Thu Sep-14-06 06:39 AM by Ian_rd

GOP Leaders Back Bush on Wiretapping, Tribunals
Congress's Republican leadership yesterday threw its weight behind two of President Bush's most controversial national security programs, warrantless wiretapping and extrajudicial military tribunals.

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With prodding from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10 to 8 along party lines to approve a bill negotiated with the White House to allow -- but not require -- Bush to submit the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program to a secret court for constitutional review.

"The committee took the important step of acknowledging the president's constitutional authority to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), an ardent Bush ally.

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This isn't one of those "Hmmmm, now what did the Founding Fathers intend?" The fucking Bill of Rights is perfectly clear on this point!

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Where the fuck am I? Who the fuck are these people? Can the Republicans truly be so anti-American to want Bush to be able to search and seize without a warrant? Yes, they must be, because they keep characterizing the issue as whether or not Bush should be able to spy on terrorists, completely avoiding the warrant issue. This is a goddamn lie and they must know it. Let's consider Bush's actions logically. There are only a few possible reasons why Bush would NOT want to obey the Constitution and FISA law by getting warrants:

1. He thinks the FISA courts have been infiltrated by terrorist elements or terrorist appeasers.

2. He frequently has to act at a moment's notice and his legal team keeps forgetting that they can get warrants 72 hours after spying operations have started.

3. He considers himself above the law and believes that this supposed time of war gives him unlimited power. And therefore why should he have to obey such silly "democratic" niceties?

4. He doesn't want the courts, not even secret courts, to see who he's spying on. Meaning: He has something to hide.

If you picked 3 and/or 4, I agree with you. We all know Bush has a teensy problem with people within his administration leaking information to the press after their conscience gets the better of them (the "better" of them indeed). It's leaks from within that have shed light his many unconstitutional actions - warrantless spying, phone records, torture in foreign secret prisons, and God knows how many WMD related leaks. And if Bush can spy on his own people and the press to prevent his crimes from becoming discovered, wouldn't he want to do that?

And, hey, why not spy on the Democrats too? After all, don't Cheney and Rumsfeld believe that they're aiding terrorists with their criticism?