Sunday, December 18, 2005

Bush's Illegal Spying CANNOT be Defended

Bush tries to defend illegally spying on US citizens w/ his usual spew of "9/11 changed everything... including every fucking law we have on the books and the 200+ yr old Constitution, which by the way, will still be here long after my evil temporary 8 yrs are gone AND I'd do it all over again b/c this illegal activity is a vital tool." But the facts remain that Bush did commit a crime, whether he claims that his lawyer, John Yoo, gave him a note excusing it or not. Funny, but the NSA mission statement doesn't mention illegal spying: "The NSA is the nation's cryptologic orgnz and as such, coordinates, directs, and performs highly specialized activities to produce foreign intelligence info and protect US info systems. NSA is also one of the most important centers of foreign language analysis and research w/in the US Govt." Besides, what Bush did is a clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act- Subchapter 1, Sec 1802b: "Applications for a crt order under this subchapter are authorized if the President has, by written authorization, empowered the Att Genrl to approve applications to the crt having jurisdiction under section 1803 of this title, and a judge to whom an application is made may, notwithstanding any other law, grant an order, in conformity with section 1805 of this title, approving electronic surveillance of a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power for the purpose of obtaining foreign intelligence info, except that the court shall not have jurisdiction to grant any order approving electronic surveillance directed solely as described in paragraph (1)(A) of subsection (a) of this section unless such surveillance may involve the acquisition of communications of any US person." Basically, it breaks down to this: Tapping internatl conversations: Legal. Tapping domestic conversations: Illegal unless w/ a warrant for normal crimes, or following the FISA procedure, which allows 72 hrs at most before seeing the FISA crt. Then there is lil pesky Bill of Rights, specifically the 4th Amendment that Bush violated: "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." Bush committed a crime, PERIOD. Clinton was impeached over lying about his sexual infidelities in a civil case. Bush authorized a criminal act in his pursuit of the 'war on terror'. That is a high crime, and for that, he should be impeached.
Posted by Tina :: 12:36 AM :: 4 Comments:

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