Cheney strongly defends eavesdropping

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney strongly defended a secret domestic eavesdropping operation in use since the September 11, 2001, attacks, saying it was not violating American civil liberties and has helped fend off potential terrorist attacks.

"The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured yet it is still lethal and planning to hit us again. Either we are serious about fighting this war or we are not," Cheney said in remarks prepared for a speech at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

Revelations that the National Security Agency was secretly monitoring phone calls between people in the United States and suspected al Qaeda followers abroad has sparked an outcry from Democrats and Republicans, with many lawmakers and rights groups questioning whether it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Cheney, in speech excerpts released by the White House, called President George W. Bush's decision to intercept "a certain category of terrorist-linked international communications" a vital step. "There are no communications more important to the safety of the United States than those related to al Qaeda that have one end in the United States. If we'd been able to do this before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon," Cheney said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060104/pl_nm/security_cheney_dc

[texpatriot2004]

1. LYING EVIL BASTARD! nm

[emad]

2. The humbug season still in full flourish. Cheney shitting himself

and hoping the Brits don't spill the beans on just which US citizens have been bugged. And why.

[wtmusic]

3. Dick is putting on some poundage

Evidently he can't spew the bullshit fast enough.

[OKthatsIT]

15. Let's encourage this unmodified behavior

and let's do some 'remote viewing' on that pacemaker ; )

[PuraVidaDreamin]

4. I'm going to start evesdropping on everyone

everywhere.

[rustydog]

5. Nazis strongly defended trying to exterminate a race of people

That doesnot make it right or L E G A L, ok cheny you gutless fuck.

[pinniped]

6. His doctor has a funny sense of humor.

Moron McClellan already scared me with a scary line this morning, now this.

--"The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured yet it is still lethal and planning to hit us again.--:scared:

[Hyernel]

7. Went from defending torture to defending warrantless spying?

What an unamerican piece of heartless shit.

[HuffleClaw]

8. they are only digging themselves into a nice deep hole

and i for one say GOOD. this press for imperial powers will fail ultimately. only question is how much more damage will be done before it does.

[phantom power]

9. They have to defend it. All of it.

This is the only horse they've got to ride, and they know it. If they back off on anything, the entire house of cards comes crashing down. Which may happen anyway (here's hoping!), but it's clear that they live or die based on whether they can keep their game-faces on.

[Cha]

10. Good..then we can Eavesdrop

on that cheneyasshole.

[Kokonoe]

12. No , Eavesdropping will declared a high crime and misdemeanor.

When there is any chance that Democrats may wield the same "national security issues" as the republicans.

[truthisfreedom]

11. hey dick, how many of those phone calls were between Kerry and his

associates during erection 2004?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

13. After all...without eavesdropping,

they probably wouldn't be where they are today...

[Uncle Joe]

14. Yes, I hear Christiane Armanpour was a major threat

to our nation's security.:sarcasm:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=51423&mesg_id=51423

[PurityOfEssence]

16. then had some farm-raised birds' feet stapled to a fence post and shot 'em

Paragon of humanity, that Mr. Paslo...

Nothing about this organism is anything but deep, deep, selfish ugliness.

[okoboji]

17. oh, isn't this so special?

"....If we'd been able to do this before 9/11, we might have been able to pick up on two of the hijackers who flew a jet into the Pentagon"


key words there .... "Might have"


but in the mean time, we still would have not scrambled the jets to intercept the two planes heading for New York, so they could be shot down.

[rucky]

18. Well, if Cheney says so, it must be true.

Suddenly I'm having a change of heart on the whole spying issue. It must be his magnetic charisma, above-board reputation and airtight logic that won me over.