Here is the shape of campaigning with only a few weeks left before the mid-term elections:
President Bush urged Congress Thursday to give him “additional authority” to continue his administration’s warrantless eavesdropping program. The speech was his latest effort in several days to mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by framing the election-year national security debate to political and policy advantage.
Bush asserted that his administration has filled many of the security gaps exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks but said he needs more power to adapt to changes in the threat.
“The nature of communications has changed quite dramatically,” Bush warned in an address here. “The terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cellphones and open anonymous e-mail messages. Our laws need to change to take these changes into account.”
The president’s appeal for congressional action to strengthen the legal underpinnings of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program ran into roadblocks even as he spoke. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Spector (R-Pa.) suspended efforts to draft legislation until at least next week after Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) proposed new amendments and a bipartisan group of senators urged more hearings.
Challenges also emerged to new rules Bush outlined Wednesday for putting foreign terrorist suspects on trial. In congressional testimony, U.S. military lawyers criticized his proposed military commissions as lacking sufficient judicial protections for defendants.
Here’s an idea. Why don’t we just burn our constitution? Let’s also throw away our laws and the history that has made our nation. Hell let’s go ahead and make Bush the emperor. That is apparently what he wants. Let’s just strip the country of every freedom and protection we have ever had then there would only be one step left – say we accept Allah and the war is over.
Bush is not protecting this country. Hell he has totally fubared the war on terror all because he had a hard on for Saddam. Now we have the top commander in Afghanistan screaming for more help because the once diminished Taliban has remerged with greater strength under our watch. These are the people who attacked us – NOT SADDAM.
The fact that al Qaeda has developed a reach out of the Mideast is dangerous. The plane bombing plot was developed in London, the London bombings were developed and carried out all within the U.K. Who knows what is being planned on our own shores. Of course that could be a reason to allow Bush to wiretap, but since the terrorists apparently do read the news they will know not to use conventional means of communications. This means in the end the only people effected by the warrentless taps will be innocent citizens. Again we are falling victim to the terrorists and this time with the help of George W. Bush. He is Osama’s greatest ally.