Bush leaves America vulnerable to terrorist threat!
January 29th, 2008, 9:36 am · Post a Comment · posted by fsherman
Shocking, but true.
Last year, Congress passed a Bush-backed bill that expanded the government’s ability to eavesdrop without warrants (of course, the White House has been doing that illegally and unconstitutionally since 2001, but this would have made it legal), but only for six months. Congress members admitted they’d voted because Bush terrorism officials warned that the threat level was rising and that the CIA and NSA needed every ounce of eavesdropping authority in order to stop whatever bad stuff al Qaida was sending our way.
The bill expires Saturday (regular intelligence eavesdropping authority—which include being able to apply for a warrant in intelligence cases three days after starting surveillaince—will be unaffected). Because the White House refused to supply documents about past surveillance activity, Congress has refused to vote on renewing the bill. When Bush finally provided the information a couple of weeks back, Congress proposed extending the old bill for an extra month so they’d have time to review the material.
Bush’s response was to threaten a veto—because, according to one anonymous administration official, the pressure of the law expiring would, Bush thought, push Congress to vote the way he wanted.
Only Congress hasn’t passed the bill and—if I’m following the analysis correctly—can’t do so before Saturday. But Bush says he’ll still block any extension bill, which would mean the surveillance powers he claimed were essential to the war on terror will expire.
So either Bush is willing to make us all vulnerable to a terrorist attack if Congress tries to do anything but rubber-stamp his agenda, or he’s lying about how vital that power is. You be the judge.
