The Latest Volley in the War Against Bush
The Democratic National Committee has made a request under the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. §552 (“FOIA”) concerning "the Bush Administration’s reported decision to undertake a massive program of spying on American citizens in apparent violation of the law and the Constitution." The FOIA request demands copies of "all documents in the possession, custody or control of the Office of Legal Counsel, prepared on or after January 20, 2001, referring, relating to or discussing the authority of the President of the United States to authorize any agency of the U.S. Government" to conduct the warrantless searches.
The following is an excerpt from the DNC Freedom of Information Act request available at http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/domesticspying:
I find this act of political grandstanding and lack of respect for core legal principles by the DNC far more offensive than pushing-the-envelope warrantless wiretaps of people communicating with people in foreign countries believed to be terrorists bent on killing us all. This type of warrantless search-- which was previously defended in a memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Clinton administration in 1994 --is merely the latest fodder for the Democratic War against Bush.
Compare the feined outrage over the warrantless searches designed to protect against terrorist attacks with a very frequent occurrence in the District of Columbia: Here the police will set up roadblocks, then randomly stop cars and ask for identification and registration, then ask questions of the occupants in order to track down stolen vehicles, find drugs, etc. No one is batting an eye at these dragnet activities.
While the Republicans are focused on a war against the terrorists (too zealously, some have in good faith argued), the Democrats are focused on a political war against Bush and the Republican Party.
The following is an excerpt from the DNC Freedom of Information Act request available at http://www.democrats.org/page/petition/domesticspying:
We urge you, in considering this request, to forego invoking Exemption 5 to FOIA allowing the government to withhold documents based on deliberative process or attorney-client privilege. In these exceptional circumstances, where the President of the United States may have acted in gross disregard of the law and the Constitution, the stakes for the American people are too high for the Bush Administration and the Department of Justice to hide behind legal privileges as an excuse for withholding these documents.Translation: The Democrats think that the President may have committed impeachable offenses. Therefore, they seek to deny the President his right to maintain the attorney client privilege available to every other American so that evidence based upon confidential legal discussions may be used against him.
I find this act of political grandstanding and lack of respect for core legal principles by the DNC far more offensive than pushing-the-envelope warrantless wiretaps of people communicating with people in foreign countries believed to be terrorists bent on killing us all. This type of warrantless search-- which was previously defended in a memorandum by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General during the Clinton administration in 1994 --is merely the latest fodder for the Democratic War against Bush.
Compare the feined outrage over the warrantless searches designed to protect against terrorist attacks with a very frequent occurrence in the District of Columbia: Here the police will set up roadblocks, then randomly stop cars and ask for identification and registration, then ask questions of the occupants in order to track down stolen vehicles, find drugs, etc. No one is batting an eye at these dragnet activities.
While the Republicans are focused on a war against the terrorists (too zealously, some have in good faith argued), the Democrats are focused on a political war against Bush and the Republican Party.
posted by The Libertarian Republican at 1:27 AM
4 Comments:
"the Democrats are focused on a political war against Bush and the Republican Party."
Keeps 'em busy, I say. Better coming up with impeachment schemes they'll drop once Dick Cheney shows his face than trying to attach a tax increase or fighting the budget cuts.
I actually think that although “domestic spying” will keep the Democrats busy, it may have some impact on the voters. I do hope though, that this will be an opportunity to educate the American public about what the real dangers of domestic spying are.
I’ve never understood why Americans have this strange fear of the government intruding on their personal lives. We’ve stretched the Fourth Amendment far beyond what it was originally intended for - preventing government trespass - and turned it into something that prevents law enforcement from gathering any information at all.
I spent nearly seven years in Army Intelligence and it’s always annoyed me when people complain that the government is going to read their emails or listen to their telephone conversations. Do they really think that someone at NSA has time to listen to or cares what their grocery list is? I don’t think the average citizen realizes just how boring their life is.
Americans have clearly been conditioned to believe that there is a serious danger of the government intruding on their personal lives. However, many other countries, such as Great Brittan, maintain domestic spying agencies without repressing their citizens’ rights. Even if we do allow some warrantless searches, there will always be other safeguards to protect citizens from a George Orwell 1984 scenario.
Jack
I am an indepenent.
Hitler became a Dictator bypassing all of Germanies government entities, and pushed his agenda forward.
This issue wil have to play out to find the truth, but needs to be investigated.
There are also Republican Congressman that are concerned if the law was broken here, and that is my concern, was the law broken.
If the shoe was on the other foot, don't you think the Republican party would want an investigation.
Jack,
I could write for pages and pages on why I don't think the law was actually broken. However, I'm lucky enough not to have to do so because the Federalist Society posted an exchange on the matter. The exchange contains viewpoints on why the president's actions could be considered both legal and illegal. You can read it here:
http://www.fed-soc.org/pdf/domesticsurveillance.pdf
As for Hitler, I don't think it was that he spied on his citizens, I think it was the lack of safeguards in place and the reasons why he did it. He abused his other powers as well, certainly in much worse ways.
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