The Price The WH Is Paying For Gonzalez

[DeSwiss]

Gonzales Issue Snarls Surveillance Law

LARA JAKES JORDAN
August 2, 2007 07:35 PM EST

WASHINGTON — Congress struggled Thursday over giving the government more power to eavesdrop on suspected terrorists, bogged down by concerns about the man who would oversee the plan _ Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Democrats and Republicans alike said they wanted to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 before leaving Washington at week's end for a monthlong break. Summer generally is considered a vulnerable time for attacks because more people are traveling and terrorists can move around undetected more easily. Gonzales "is clearly one of the concerns that has been expressed by the Democratic leaders," House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio told reporters.

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Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said lawmakers scoff when "they say Gonzales should do the reviews because nobody believes he has any independence." "You just can't rely on Gonzales, and the president and the Republicans know it," said Schumer, one of the attorney general's chief critics. The administration accused Congress of playing politics with national security.

*snip*

Democrats, who control Congress, would allow the messages from foreign targets to be intercepted, but only after a review by the special FISA court to make sure the surveillance does not focus on communications that might be sent to and from Americans. They reject the Bush administration's proposal to give Gonzales speedy authority to decide if the surveillance properly targets people overseas _ and not in the United States.

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., senators said any final plan should ensure the special court has oversight. "We are reluctant to amend FISA without assurances that the administration will actually follow the law," wrote Democratic Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070802/terrorism-surveillance/

*** - Good. I'm glad the Byrd man has gotten off Vick and his dogs long enough to remember us humans....