Bush Battles Back on Eavesdropping

Good. It's time to give up on the futile "uniter" crap. If the Disloyal Opposition wants a political war, well, we're capable of fighting on two fronts:

President Bush said Saturday he personally has authorized a secret eavesdropping program in the U.S. more than 30 times since the Sept. 11 attacks and he lashed out at those involved in publicly revealing the program. "This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security," he said in a radio address delivered live from the White House's Roosevelt Room.

I was so tired of Bush's Silent Cal act. It left him open to charges of secrecy and chicanery, and it let the Disloyal Opposition rip into him without defense or counterpunch.

This heartens me.

"This authorization is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties and that is exactly what I will continue to do as long as I am president of the United States," Bush said.

Angry members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the program, first revealed in Friday's New York Times and whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency violates civil liberties.

Defending the program, Bush said in his address that it is used only to intercept the international communications of people inside the United States who have been determined to have "a clear link" to al- Qaida or related terrorist organizations.

He said the program is reviewed every 45 days, using fresh threat assessments, legal reviews by the Justice Department, White House counsel and others, and information from previous activities under the program.

Without identifying specific lawmakers, Bush said congressional leaders have been briefed more than a dozen times on the program's activities.

It's time to identify them. Let the country know these people were kept in the loop and did not voice objections. And then, for purely political reasons, at the expense of sabotaging our nation's security, they attacked the President for doing what they acquiesced in, or let their confederates do the dirty work for them.

There are real questions about civil liberties and national security and the necessary tradeoffs each requires. But no genuine debate can be had with the Disloyal Opposition engaging in such dishonestly partisan sniping at every turn.

posted by Ace at 12:40 PM

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