Why is Bush after unchecked power to spy on Americans?

Question

And why is he using the threat of terrorism to excuse this totalitarian style abuse of power?

A note for the ignorant: They can still wiretap ANYONE, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME they want, and get a warrant after the fact.

i.e. THIS WILL NOT PREVENT INVESTIGATION OF ANY TERRORIST LEAD.

i.e. There is only one reason for these warrantless wiretaps: SO THAT BUSH CAN CONDUCT WIRETAPS WITH ABSOLUTELY NO OVERSIGHT. THIS IS DEFACTO TOTALITARIANISM.

Answer 1

That one gets me. Supposedly it only takes 20 minutes to get a warrant from the secret court. Yet they want special rules for unlimited spying.

Go big Red Go

Answer 2

Well, as of today, we'll see how the fight goes. It's not over yet. The Presidential advisers and Cheney are quite power mad..and Bush thinks he is Emperor,, and the neocons could care less about the US Constitution.


ReutersJudge nixes warrantless surveillance
AP - 30 minutes ago
DETROIT - A federal judge ruled Thursday that the government's warrantless wiretapping program is unconstitutional and ordered an immediate halt to it. U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit became the first judge to strike down the National Security Agency's program, which she says violates the rights to free speech and privacy as well as the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution.

Answer 3

Bush believes he is above the law. If the law gets in his way he Signature Statements himself above it.

He uses the "threat of terrorism" as an excuse to do everything. He always has. In fact, that is how to got re-elected. He had classified information declassified specifically so it could be released to the public to make it appear as though he was a necesary part of the government. It is unfortunate that so many people fell for his feint.

Saying "declaring the warrentless spying unconstitutional is weakening our country" or "the terrorist have won a great victory" or "it's necessary to protect our country" "It only affects a small amount of people" is just plain ignorant.

I agree that some wiretapping may be useful. All you have to do is get a judge, which they have on hand just for this reason, to sign a warrent for it. But, that's just too difficult for Bush, I guess. He believes he IS the law.

Answer 4

Because he believes in the doctrine of the Unitary Executive.

Basically, this legal theory states that the Chief Executive (the president) has primary power to enforce the laws as he sees fit.

Under this theory, the Executive branch functions effectively unchecked. While Congress may advise by passing laws, and the court may comment by interpreting laws, this model holds the actions of the Executive as unchecked and unbound by either the limitations of Congress or the holdings of the courts.

It is a counter-theory in direct opposition to the traditional separation of powers model that holds all three branches of the federal government to be equal, and responsible for keeping each other in check.

It's most recent strong proponent, aside from Bush, was Nixon. Who was impeached for conducting warrantless electronic surveillance, which in turn led to the passing of FISA (50 USC 1801 et seq).

Terrorism is a good excuse for claiming this power, because it allows the president to assert a compelling government interest -- national security. Unfortunately, he and his advisers missed the second day of Con Law, where we find out that a compelling interest is not enough. The programs must also be narrowly tailored to achieve that goal through the least intrusive means.

So, the bottom line is that he's advancing a radical and poorly supported legal theory, one that the Supreme Court has repeatedly rejected over the past century, as an excuse to justify his illegal actions. And he's using terrorism as a shill, so the American people become afraid and allow him to continue abusing his position in this manner.

Answer 5

Uncheckd power to spy on Americans is nothing new .
We had DCS 1000 , Carnavore and Echelon where created in the 90's and used ,but when Bush comes to power it becomes a problem .

Don’t know what DCS-1000 is? That’s intentional. Does the name Carnivore ring a stronger memory bell? It should. That’s the FBI computer intelligence program to covertly monitor e-mail of suspects, all preceded by appropriate warrants, all so carefully controlled as to not grab the e-mail of innocents. That’s what we were told. Well, crap called a rose won’t ever smell like one, and Carnivore renamed DCS-1000 to eliminate the ominous connotation of the name will not change the ominous reality of the program.

As the emerging story goes, based on documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), in March 2000


BTW Notice the date long before the election of GW Bush .

Answer 6

Did you read today's NY Times? A Federal Judge in Detroit has ruled against the Administration's warrantless activities. Stay tuned!

Answer 7

Mr Bush wants to know who has money and where it is going. Terrorism is just to scare the people. If you ever see the word terrorism it is spell like this TERRORISM just to put the scare in you. I think what you do in your life is just for you to know, NOT MR> BUSH, he should keep his nose out of our lives.

Answer 8

He setting the stage for something greater and worse to come by future presidents after him who will continue with their main agenda.

the "new world order" while people play it off as conspiracy theory actually has a lot of merit.

Put the pieces together.

Answer 9

terrorism is an excuse???? no wonder no one trusts libs on defense....and if you try and do some research...bubba Clinton also spied on Americans...but not for reasons of terrorism.

Answer 10

he only wiretaps those calls going overseas......why are you bi*tching.....you make a lot of calls overseas? If so, are you a terorist? IF you aren't....then wht are you worried about.....