The Scum at the Top
Commentary on the Rats in Washington
Bush: Eavesdropping Helps Save U.S. Lives
By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press
© December 17, 2005
Facing angry criticism and challenges
to his authority in Congress, President Bush on Saturday
unapologetically defended his administration's right to
conduct secret post-Sept. 11 spying in the United
States as "critical to saving American lives."
One Democrat said Bush was acting more like a king
than a democratically elected leader. But Bush said
congressional leaders had been briefed on the
operation more than a dozen times. That included
Democrats as well as Republicans in the House and
Senate, a GOP lawmaker said.
Often appearing angry in an eight-minute address,
the president made clear he has no intention of
halting his authorizations of the monitoring
activities and said public disclosure of the
program by the news media had endangered Americans.
Bush's willingness to publicly acknowledge a highly
classified spying program was a stunning development
for a president known to dislike disclosure of even
the most mundane inner workings of his White House.
Just a day earlier he had refused to talk about it.
Since October 2001, the super-secret National
Security Agency has eavesdropped on the international
phone calls and e-mails of people inside the
United States without court-approved warrants.
Bush said steps like these would help fight
terrorists like those who involved in the Sept.
11 plot.
"The activities I have authorized make it more
likely that killers like these 9/11 hijackers
will be identified and located in time," Bush
said. "And the activities conducted under this
authorization have helped detect and prevent
possible terrorist attacks in the United States
and abroad."
News of the program came at a particularly
damaging and delicate time.
Already, the administration was under fire for
allegedly operating secret prisons in Eastern
Europe and shipping suspected terrorists to other
countries for harsh interrogations.
The NSA program's existence surfaced as Bush was
fighting to save the expiring provisions of the USA
Patriot Act, the domestic anti-terrorism law enacted
after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Democrats and
a few Republicans who say the law gives so much
latitude to law enforcement officials that it
threatens Americans' constitutional liberties
succeeded Friday in stalling its renewal.
So Bush scrapped the version of his weekly radio
address that he had already taped - on the recent
elections in Iraq - and delivered a live speech from
the Roosevelt Room in which he lashed out at the
senators blocking the Patriot Act as irresponsible
and confirmed the NSA program.
Bush said his authority to approve what he called
a "vital tool in our war against the terrorists"
came from his constitutional powers as commander
in chief. He said that he has personally signed off
on reauthorizations more than 30 times.
"The American people expect me to do everything in
my power under our laws and Constitution to protect
them and their civil liberties," Bush said. "And
that is exactly what I will continue to do, so long
as I'm the president of the United States."
James Bamford, author of two books on the NSA, said
the program could be problematic because it bypasses
a special court set up by the 1978 Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act to authorize eavesdropping on suspected
terrorists.
"I didn't hear him specify any legal right, except
his right as president, which in a democracy doesn't
make much sense," Bamford said in an interview.
"Today, what Bush said is he went around the law,
which is a violation of the law - which is illegal."
Retired Adm. Bobby Inman, who led the NSA from 1977
to 1981, said Bush's authorization of the eavesdropping
would have been justified in the immediate aftermath
of the Sept. 11 attacks "because at that point you
couldn't get a court warrant unless you could show
probable cause."
"Once the Patriot Act was in place, I am puzzled what
was the need to continue outside the court," Inman
added. But he said, "If the fact is valid that Congress
was notified, there will be no consequences."
Susan Low Bloch, a professor of constitutional law
at Georgetown University Law Center, said Bush was
"taking a hugely expansive interpretation of the
Constitution and the president's powers under the
Constitution.
That view was echoed by congressional Democrats.
"I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King
George Bush. This is not the system of government
we have and that we fought for," Sen. Russell Feingold,
D-Wis., told The Associated Press.
Added Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.: "The Bush administration
seems to believe it is above the law."
Bush defended the program as narrowly designed and
used "consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution."
He said it is employed only to intercept the international
communications of people inside the U.S. who have
been determined to have "a clear link" to al-Qaida
or related terrorist organizations.
Government officials have refused to provide details,
including defining the standards used to establish such
a link or saying how many people are being monitored.
The program is reviewed every 45 days, using fresh
threat assessments, legal reviews, and information from
previous activities under the program, the president
said. Intelligence officials involved in the monitoring
receive extensive training in civil liberties, he said.
Bush said leaders in Congress have been briefed more
than a dozen times. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., told
House Republicans that those informed were the top
Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and
Senate and of each chamber's intelligence committees.
"They've been through the whole thing," Hoekstra said.
The president had harsh words for those who revealed
the program to the media, saying they acted improperly
and illegally. The surveillance was first disclosed in
Friday's New York Times.
"As a result, our enemies have learned information
they should not have," Bush said. "The unauthorized
disclosure of this effort damages our national security
and puts our citizens at risk."
Bush has more to worry about on Capitol Hill than his
difficulties with the Patriot Act. Lawmakers have
begun challenging Bush on his Iraq policy, reflecting
polling that shows half of the country is not behind
him on the war.
On Sunday, the president was continuing his effort to
reverse that by giving his fifth major speech in less
than three weeks on Iraq.
One bright spot for the White House was a new poll showing
that a strong majority of Americans oppose, as does Bush
and most lawmakers, an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops
from Iraq. The AP-Ipsos poll found 57 percent of those
surveyed said the U.S. military should stay until Iraq
is stabilized.
Associated Press Special Correspondent David Espo
and writers Andrew Bridges and Will Lester contributed
to this report.
The Scum at the Top - Home
E-mail: dwagner2@isd.net
©2007 DJW
Last Modified:
January 15, 2007