All the arguments last year over the warrentless wiretapping, and all the spin by wingnuts to say it is legal has now come to an end:
President George W. Bush has decided not to reauthorize the controversial domestic warrantless surveillance program for terrorism suspects and to put it under the authority of a secret special court, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday.
“The president has determined not to reauthorize the Terrorist Surveillance Program when the current authorization expires,” Gonzales wrote in a letter to Senate leaders.
“Any electronic surveillance that was occurring as part of the Terrorist Surveillance Program will now be conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court,” Gonzales said.
The only possible reason I can see for such a drastic about face on this is the question of legality. I suspect that someone in the administration told Bush that he was really walking a tight rope on this and the Democrats are ready to push him over. Of course this doesn’t absolve him from any previous wrong doings on this, and the Democrats still must investigate the past incidents and take appropriate actions against Bush for them.