Bush Stretches to Defend Surveillance (a fact check)

[papau]

"selective uses of fact"

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-truth1feb01,0,1999790.story?coll=la-home-headlines
From the Los Angeles Times
NEWS ANALYSIS

Bush Stretches to Defend Surveillance
The president's justification for his spy program has disputable roots, as do some of the facts and figures he put forth in his speech.
By Peter Wallsten and Maura Reynolds
Times Staff Writers

February 1, 2006

WASHINGTON — President Bush received a roaring ovation Tuesday for his prime-time defense of wiretapping phone calls without warrants. But Bush's explanation relied on assumptions that have been widely questioned by experts who say the president offers a debatable interpretation of history.

Defending the surveillance program as crucial in a time of war, Bush said that "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority" that he did. "And," he added, "federal courts have approved the use of that authority."

Bush did not name names, but was apparently reiterating the argument offered earlier this month by Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales, who invoked Presidents Lincoln, Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt for their use of executive authority.

However, warrantless surveillance within the United States for national security purposes was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 — long after Lincoln, Wilson and Roosevelt stopped issuing orders. That led to the 1978 passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that Bush essentially bypassed in authorizing the program after the Sept. 11 attacks.<snip>

[papau]

1. Assertions on Spying, Jobs And Spending Invite Debate (more fact check)

the "omitted context" and "assertions that have been subject to intense debate"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020100029_pf.html

Assertions on Spying, Jobs And Spending Invite Debate
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Write
Wednesday, February 1, 2006; A13

In his State of the Union address last night, President Bush waded right in the middle of the debate over his warrantless domestic eavesdropping program, making a number of assertions that have been subject to intense debate.

For instance, Bush strongly suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks could have been prevented if the phone calls of two hijackers had been monitored under the program. This echoes an assertion made earlier this year by Vice President Cheney.

But the Sept. 11 commission and congressional investigators said the government had compiled significant information on the two suspects before the attacks and that bureaucratic problems -- not a lack of information -- were the main reasons for the security breakdown. The FBI did not even know where the two suspects lived and missed numerous opportunities to track them down in the 20 months before the attacks.

Bush also asserted that "previous presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have." But the most recent example cited by the administration -- involving actions by President Bill Clinton -- is hotly disputed by Democrats who say the current and past situations are not comparable.
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which required the executive branch to get approval from a secret court before conducting wiretaps within the United States, was silent on warrantless physical searches of suspected spies or terrorists. So the Clinton administration asserted that it had the authority to conduct such "black bag" jobs, including searches of CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames's house, which turned up evidence of his spying for Russia.
Clinton later sought amendments to FISA that brought physical searches, as well as wiretaps, under the FISA framework. Bush has never sought such amendments, and he did not publicly acknowledge the program until it was revealed in news reports.
In other sections of his speech, Bush omitted context or made rhetorical claims that are open to question.<snip>

[rodeodance]

2. "struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1972 —" keep hammering

this point!!