King George Spins Some Tall Tales About Illegal Wiretapping >>>

[Stephanie]

You see, the first thing he asked is, how can we connect the dots? And then he asked, is it legal? And guess what? It was!

QUESTION: On the NSA eavesdropping program, there seems to be growing momentum in Congress to either modify the existing law or write some new law that would give you the latitude to do this and at the same time ensure that people's's civil liberties are protected.

Would you be resistant to the notion of new laws if Congress were to give you what you need to conduct these operations?

BUSH: The terrorist surveillance program is necessary to protect America from attack.

I asked the very questions you asked when we first got going. Let me tell you exactly how this happened.

Right after September the 11th, I said to the people, "What can we do? Can we do more?" -- the people being the operators, a guy like Mike Hayden -- "Can we do more to protect the people? There's going to be a lot of investigation and a lot of discussion about connecting dots. And we have a responsibility to protect the people, so let's make sure we connect the dots."

BUSH: And so he came forward with this program. It wasn't designed in the White House. It was designed where you expect it to be designed, in the NSA.

Secondly, I said, "Before we do anything, I want to make sure it's legal."

And so we had our lawyers look at it. And as part of the debate, the discussion with the American people as to the legality of the program, there's no doubt in my mind it is legal.

And thirdly, "Will there be safeguards to safeguard the civil liberties of the American people?"

There's no doubt in my mind there are safeguards in place to make sure the program focuses on calls coming from outside the United States in, with an Al Qaida -- with a belief that there's an Al Qaida person making the call to somebody here in the States, or vice versa, but not domestic calls.

And so, as I stand here right now, I can tell the American people the program's legal, it's designed to protect civil liberties and it's necessary.

BUSH: Now, my concern has always been that, in an attempt to try to pass a law on something that's already legal, we'll show the enemy what we're doing.

And we briefed Congress -- members of Congress. We'll continue to do that.

But it's important for people to understand that this program is so sensitive and so important that if information gets out to how we run it or how we operate it, it'll help the enemy.

And so, of course, we'll listen to ideas. But I want to make sure that people understand that if the attempt to write law makes this program -- is likely to expose the nature of the program, I'll resist it.

BUSH: And I think the American people understand that.

Why tell the enemy what we're doing if the program is necessary to protect us from the enemy? And it is.

And it's legal. And we'll continue to brief Congress. And we review it a lot. And we review it not only at the Justice Department but with a good legal staff inside NSA.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/26/AR2006012600853.html?nav=hcmodule

[sakabatou]

1. Liar, liar pants on fire...

[Donkeykick]

2. I hope that he continues talking about it;

it can only get him in more trouble with the public. :)

[Oilwellian]

3. He's concerned about letting the terrorists know what we're doing?

BUSH: Now, my concern has always been that, in an attempt to try to pass a law on something that's already legal, we'll show the enemy what we're doing.


George Bush, in 2004, telling terrorists that we are engaging in notice-less "sneak and peak" searches of their apartments - Hershey, Pennsylvania, April 19, 2004:


The Patriot Act authorizes what are called delayed notification search warrants. I'm not a lawyer, either. (Laughter.) These allow law enforcement personnel, with court approval, to carry out a lawful search without tipping off suspects and giving them a chance to flee or destroy evidence. It is an important part of conducting operations against organized groups.


George Bush, alerting terrorists to changes in our techniques for eavesdropping on their cell phone calls - Baltimore, Maryland, July 20, 2005:


Before the Patriot Act agents could use wire taps to investigate a person committing mail fraud, but not specifically to investigate a foreign terrorist carrying deadly weapons. Before the Patriot Act, investigators could follow the calls of mobsters who switched cell phones, but not terrorists who switched cell phones. That didn't make any sense. The Patriot Act ended all these double standards.


George Bush, alerting terrorists to the fact that we are eavesdropping on their telephone calls - Baltimore, Maryland, July 20, 2005:


The judicial branch has a strong oversight role in the application of the Patriot Act. Law enforcement officers need a federal judge's permission to wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone, or to track his calls, or to search his property.



George Bush, in 2004, telling terrorists that we monitor them by tracing their "money trails" - Hershey, Pennsylvania, April 19, 2004:


Before September the 11th, law enforcement could more easily obtain business and financial records of white-collar criminals than of suspected terrorists. See, part of the way to make sure that we catch terrorists is we chase money trails. And yet it was easier to chase a money trail with a white-collar criminal than it was a terrorist. The Patriot Act ended this double standard and it made it easier for investigators to catch suspected terrorists by following paper trails here in America.


George Bush, telling terrorists how the Government monitors their computer communications and obtains their e-mails - Columbus, Ohio, June 9, 2005:


Third, we need to renew the critical provisions of the Patriot Act that updated the law to meet high-tech threats like computer espionage and cyberterrorism. Before the Patriot Act, Internet providers who notified federal authorities about threatening e-mails ran the risk of getting sued. The Patriot Act modernized the law to protect Internet companies who voluntarily disclose information to save lives.

It's common sense reform, and it's delivered results. In April 2004, a man sent an e-mail to an Islamic center in El Paso, and threatened to burn the mosque to the ground in three days. Before the Patriot Act, the FBI could have spent a week or more waiting for the information they needed. Thanks to the Patriot Act, an Internet provider was able to provide the information quickly and without fear of a lawsuit -- and the FBI arrested the man before he could fulfill his -- fulfill his threat.


George Bush, detailing the threat priorities of the Homeland Security Department - Columbus, Ohio, July 20, 2005:


That's what Mike Chertoff recommended to me after the London bombings. In other words, he took a look at the situation and said, let's enhance our security and infrastructure points, and he raised the threat level.

We're widening the use of explosive detection teams and nearly doubling the number of rail security inspectors. We're targeting assets and resources to our infrastructure. We're accelerating the development and deployment of new technologies to rapidly detect biological, radiological and chemical attacks. That's what Mike announced last week. We're going to continue to make sure that we assess our weaknesses and strengthen our transportation systems.


George Bush, detailing security measures taken against threats to American seaports - Columbus, Ohio, July 20, 2005:


This is a gateway for foreign markets, which provides an opportunity and an important challenge for us. And we recognized that early. We've made dramatic advancements in port security since September the 11th. We've established strict new safety rules for both domestic and international shipping, and we have taken new steps to identify and inspect high-risk cargo. And that's important for our citizens to understand.

We launched what we call the Container Security Initiative, to screen American-bound containers at more than 35 foreign ports so we can identify dangerous cargo before it reaches our shore. Doesn't that make sense? It seems like it does to me. In other words, we're stationing Custom folks overseas and we're working with places that ship goods to us, to inspect cargo there so we don't burden our ports.

And, for good measure, here are the Editors of National Review -- before the Times ever breathed a word about the President's eavesdropping "program" -- damaging national security and helping Al Qaeda by telling terrorists that we monitor their phone calls, use roving wiretaps, examine their library records, use "sneak-and-peak" searches of their apartments, and read their e-mails. Doesn't President Bush and National Review realize that "discussing th(ese) program(s) is helping the enemy" because "the discussion about how we try to find them will enable them to adjust"?

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2005/12/why-is-bush-...

(Sublinks provided at Mr. Greenwald's blog for all Bush quotes.)

[Stephanie]

4. and you see, he wouldnt HAVE to reveal his methods by enacting new laws

All he would have to do is follow the OLD LAWS and share what he's doing with the SECRET FISA COURTS.

They have spun such a vast web of lies that they simply cannot sustain it. The whole thing's unravelling.