White House backs down on wartime powers (Courts & Dems on to him)

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070119/ts_csm/asurveil

White House backs down on wartime powers

By Peter Grier, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor Fri Jan 19, 4:00 AM ET

WASHINGTON -
President Bush has claimed some far-reaching powers for the executive branch in its prosecution of the war against global terrorism - but in the face of legal challenges and newly empowered Democrats, some of those powers slowly are being curtailed.


In the latest such move, the administration itself has decided to put the National Security Agency's secretive domestic spying program under judicial oversight. This program, under which the NSA monitored phone calls and e-mails between the United States and other countries when a participant was suspected of a link to terrorism, has until now operated without court-issued warrants.

The warrantless eavesdropping operation, along with the abuse of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison and other civil-liberties issues, has caused even US allies overseas to question what was happening to the basic nature of the United States, says Joseph Nye, former dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass.

But now US courts have held that some aspects of the administration's detainee policies aren't constitutional. Harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding may no longer be permitted. And judges will apparently now decide whether NSA wiretaps are justified..........

[AndyA]

1. Fall, mighty ones, fall!

Only in your own minds are you as great as you think you are. But Lady Liberty and Justice are greater than you, and will prevail in the long run.

And your worthless sorry asses are about to get kicked to the curb!

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. The hearings are being broadcast live on C-Span today

It was awesome listening to Gonzo Boy squirm.

[wryter2000]

3. I'm not buying it

I'd like to believe he's cleaning up his ways, but I don't. Especially the wiretapping. It appears likely that what he got was a FISA judge to say, "I approve in advance whatever you want to do."

Someone on the judiciary committee was asking about that yesterday -- are the warrants for individuals or for the program as a whole?

If Bush could ignore the ISG, which I thought was the posse come to his rescue, I doubt having Dems in control of Congress is going to stop him.

[underpants]

4. I don't either but this is classic bully tactics and his base won't like it

He has lost all his "swagger" and so have they. That was all they had too.

[Kagemusha]

5. It's amazing how much "swagger" they're losing from this, yes.

Because ultimately how they got their way was to bully and intimidate those who would oppose them. They may still have technicalities on their side as long as they don't see the light of day (yet - a current case concerning wiretapping goes to arguments in 2 weeks!) but, the political swagger has been damaged far out of proportion to the concession they seem to have made.

[antonialee839]

7. Yes, they did ask Gonzo whether the warrants were for

individuals, groups or for the entire program, and the little smirking bastard did nothing but give them a song and dance.
He never did answer the damn question. As good as it was to see the little shit roasted over the coals yesterday, it was also
frustrating that most of the time they couldn't get a straight answer out of him.

[jayfish]

6. Awesome! Break The Law For...

six-years then get away with it because you've decided to stop. I want in on some of that action. :eyes:

Jay

[orleans]

8. we can still proscute these fu*kers once they're out of office, right?

is that why the big fu*khead is buying property in paraguay?