Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Dean On Bush’s Conflicting Statements on Secret Wiretap Program
Washington, DC – Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement on the President’s conflicting statements about his possibly illegal plan to spy on the American people:
“The Bush Administration’s secret program to spy on the American people reminds Americans of the abuse of power during the dark days of President Nixon and Vice President Agnew. Why is it that President Bush went in front of the American people and said that a wiretap ‘requires a court order,’ after having approved a wiretap program without a court order two years earlier? It’s time for the President to tell the truth. Americans deserve real answers.”
Bush Then
Bush: Wiretaps “Require a Court Order.” “Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.”
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040420-2.html#>
Bush Yesterday
Bush: I Authorized Secret Wiretap Program Without Going Through the Courts. “To save American lives, we must be able to act fast and to detect these conversations so we can prevent new attacks. So, consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution, I authorized the interception of international communications of people with known links to al Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. … This program has targeted those with known links to al Qaeda. I've reauthorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks, and I intend to do so for so long as our nation is -- for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill American citizens.” http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/12/20051219-2.html>
http://atrios.blogspot.com/
Did George Bush Break the Law?
Posted by Tim Tagaris on December 20, 2005 at 12:17 PM
(Moments ago, Governor Dean sent out this letter to supporters across the country. Please take a moment to add your name to his on the Freedom of Information Act request -- Tim)
This is not an easy letter to write, and I'm afraid it may be a hard one to believe.
By now you have probably heard the news that George Bush is using the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance on American citizens without the consent of any court. After initially refusing to confirm the story, the President has admitted to personally overseeing this domestic spying program for years and he says he intends to continue the program.
These actions explicitly violate a law designed to protect US citizens. But the administration says that other laws somehow allow for this unprecedented use of a foreign intelligence agency to spy on Americans right here in the United States. According to reports, political appointees in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel wrote still-classified legal opinions laying out the supposed justification for this program.
I have asked our General Counsel to draft a Freedom of Information Act request for the relevant legal opinions and memos written by that office. Since the program's existence is no longer a secret, these memos should be released -- Americans deserve to know exactly what authority this administration believes it has.
You can help pressure the administration to release these documents by signing on to our Freedom of Information Act request in the next 48 hours:
www.democrats.org/foia
Thank you.
Governor Howard Dean, M.D.
Lots more at:
http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/12/did_george_bush.php
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