Apr. 07, 2006 - 20:40 MDT

THE LINE

Even if things are morally wrong, ethically and legally wrong, it seems that our administration is going to stonewall and do what they want to do.

An article in the Rocky Mountain News of today by Jennifer A. Dlouhy of Hearst Newspapers deals with what Attorney General of our country comes out with now. In full, bolds and italics mine:

TAPPING LOCAL CALLS AN OPTION

Gonzales defends such action in war

WASHINGTON -- "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told lawmakers Thursday that warrantless spying on purely domestic phone calls between Americans on U.S. soil was an option in the war against terrorism."

"In a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Gozales said he would not rule out such surveillance."

"Pressed by Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Gonzales said administration lawyers would have to look at what other presidents have authorized in times of war. Gonzales added that the administration would have to determine whether such surveillance was "fundamentally incidental" to waging war against Al-Qaida."

"Gonzales comments came as lawmakers continued their criticism of Bush's October 2001 decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on international phone calls and e-mails of Americans in the U.S. without first getting warrants from a secret intelligence court."

"Critics have argued that the program violates the Fourth Amendment's requirements for "reasonable" searches and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, which requires a secret court to approve NSA surveillance of U.S. citizens."

"Bush and other administration officials have defended the decision to bypass the court, arguing that the president has the power to authorize the surveillance as part of his inherent constitutional powers as commander-in-chief and by a congressional resolution passed after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks that authorized the use of military force."

"Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., R.-Wis., the head of the House Judicary committee complained Thursday that Gozales was "stonewalling" Congress about the NSA program."

"Sensenbrenner was frustrated that Gonzales would not specifically answer questions about who reviewed the NSA program before Bush authorized it. Gonzales said that information was classified."

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A curious turn of my mind makes me wonder if all the presidents who authorized such activities including Abraham Lincoln were brought back to life and were asked to truthfully answer whether their actions were at all wise ? What would their answers be ?

So what good would it do to go back and see which presidents authorized what ? ? The question in my mind is were those totally intelligent decisions ? Why ?

I guess from Mr. Bush's viewpoint what ever power the commander-in-chief desires, it is his automatically without having to ask for it, just grab it.

And it appears that Mr. Gonzales is using the typical ploy when faced with questions he doesn't want to answer, he claims that information is classified. Huh, by who for what reasons ?

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Then in this morning's paper is an article by Jim Rutenberg of The New York Times about this, in part ---

BUSH ADMITS MISTAKES IN IRAQ

President Bush on Thursday faced some unusually tough -- even hostile, in one case -- questioning from members of a bipartisan audience in North Carolina as part of his ongoing campaign to buoy support for the Iraq war."

" He in turn, offered some of his most candid comments yet about where he thought U.S. operations in Iraq had gone wrong, saying that perhaps training of Iraqi police officers coudld have started earlier, that the Iraqi military was initially unprepared for threats from within its borders; and that prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib was disgraceful."

"Still he said, "I STRONGLY BELIEVE WHAT WE'RE DOING IS THE RIGHT THING." and he said HE WAS CERTAIN OF VICTORY."

"Bush said that his approval of a program for eaves droppping without warrants came after consultation with members of Congress from both parties and lawyers and called it "a decision I MADE about protecting this country."

+++++++++++++++++++ And still there is the question of whether a preemptive war is the right, moral, ethical and legal way to go. The Pols are engaged in diversionary measures in these conflabs.

Apparently not all members of Congress were consulted and approved. The lawyers ? Administration types ? Probably. Guess they told him he could wrap himself in the Patriot Act and do his will.

It looks as if all the administrative types in his cohort are going to strictly toe his LINE . . . . . . . . . . . .

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