The Death of the Intelligence Panel-Pres Most Certainly Breaking Law (NYT)

[kpete]

The Death of the Intelligence Panel

Published: March 9, 2006
The wrenching debate in the 1970's over the abuse of presidential power produced two groundbreaking reforms aimed at preventing a president from using war or broader claims of national security to trample Americans' rights.

One was the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which struck the proper balance between national security and bedrock civil liberties, and the other was the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, a symbol of bipartisan leadership. They endured for a quarter of a century — until George W. Bush and Dick Cheney left FISA in tatters and the Senate Select Committee on its deathbed in just five years.

The Senate panel has become so paralyzingly partisan that it could not even manage to do its basic job this week and look into President Bush's warrantless spying on Americans' international e-mail and phone calls. Senator Pat Roberts, the chairman, said Tuesday that there would be no investigation. Instead, the committee's Republicans voted to create a subcommittee that is supposed to get reports from the White House on any future warrantless surveillance.

It's breathtakingly cynical. Faced with a president who is almost certainly breaking the law, the Senate sets up a panel to watch him do it and calls that control. This new Senate plan is being presented as a way to increase the supervision of intelligence gathering while giving the spies needed flexibility. But it does no such thing.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/09/opinion/09thur1.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[acmejack]

1. One of the more impressive displays of ass kissing this old man has seen

in a long and widely traveled life. I have seen many practitioners of the art, engaging in many styles, but none rising to this level of obsequiousness, why don't these guys just hang up an "out to lunch" sign and go home? They might as well they are totally useless.

If they went home at least they would save us some money.

[kpete]

2. and from the Boston Globe

GLOBE EDITORIAL
The wiretap standoff
March 9, 2006

................................

But the NSA is not tapping the calls of terrorism suspects with an eye toward bringing them into court. It is seeking information that could help prevent terrorist attacks. No judge is looking over the taps and determining whether they pass muster under the 1978 law. The possibility that the government is breaking the law has caused unease in Congress.

The administration grasps onto a thin legal reed to justify the warrantless tapping: the Authorization for Use of Military Force that Congress passed on Sept. 14, 2001. Since the administration started using that vote as justification for setting aside the 1978 law, no member of Congress has said he or she had that in mind in passing the authorization.

With both chambers under Republican control, Congress has not been nearly aggressive enough in scrutinizing the legality of the warrantless taps or in finding out what other surveillance liberties the administration is taking. Public forums like the one attended Saturday in Wayland by Democratic Representative Martin Meehan can help build support for Congress to show more backbone.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has taken another tack, by seeking information about the wiretapping from the telecommunication companies that assist in it. They cannot be pleased at the prospect that they might be accessories to breaking the law. Congressmen who do not like to see laws they passed ignored by the executive branch should be investigators, not enablers.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2006/03/09/the_wiretap_standoff/

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

3. The Republicans on the committee should be prosecuted for aiding

and abetting.

[spanone]

4. NYTimes has it right. PRESIDENT IS BREAKING THE LAW.

[librechik]

5. RECALL PAT ROBERTS

or at least somebody get the jaws of life to remove his lips from Cheney's shotgun

[slaveplanet]

6. K&R

we are now effectivly under full dictatorship