Bush Says This PM That September 2001 Resolution Gave Him Authority To Spy

[kpete]

Bush Says This PM That September 2001 Resolution Gave Him Authority To Spy Inside US

Late this afternoon, Bush had the Justice Department send a letter over to the two intelligence committee chairmen in the Congress, and defend his decision to conduct electronic eavesdropping by saying that protecting us from terrorists is more important that privacy rights. Really?

When did we, or Congress for that matter have that debate or grant the president that authority?

The issue here isn’t whether or not Bush was trying to protect us from terrorists; we can have that debate too. The issue is what authority does Bush claim he has to do this spying outside of FISA, congressional authority, or the Constitution of the United States? If Bush wants to claim that his oath of office to the Constitution grants him broad extra-judicial authority to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens without probable cause or due process, or if he claims that the post-9/11 military authorization grants him powers in excess of going after militarily those who attacked us, then we should have both Congress and the courts deal with this now.

.... So why would Bush take this approach, instead of basing his case on his interpretation of his oath? Well, he would take this approach if he wants to blame Congress for passing a resolution that they didn’t understand in light of the new threat we face. In other words, it’s a replay of the “it’s your fault you authorized me to use force against Saddam” routine.
http://www.theleftcoaster.com/

[rzemanfl]

1. This is the same clown who said that the trucks the Iraqis used

to fill weather ballons were weapons of mass destruction. Ignore the fucker.