US Democratic senators took the Bush administration to task on Friday for four years of domestic spying, while the president fought back with announcement of a planned embrace of the intelligence agency that is doing the spying.
In preparation for Senate hearings, Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy noted that Bush had asserted in 2004 that "when we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so."
That Bush statement came at the same time the National Security Agency (NSA) was engaging, at the president's direction, in warrantless eavesdropping on Americans.
"If President Bush can make his own rules for domestic surveillance, Big Brother has run amok,'' Kennedy said.
Introducing a proposed Senate resolution, Kennedy and Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy rejected White House assertions that congressional action after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks authorized eavesdropping inside the US without court warrants.
A joint resolution of Congress authorized the use of force against those responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, but it "says nothing about domestic electronic surveillance," Kennedy said.
Pushing back, Bush is slated to visit the NSA on Wednesday, to reassert his claim that he has constitutional authority to let intelligence officials listen in to international phone calls of Americans with suspected ties to terrorists.
"We are stepping up our efforts to educate the American people," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said about the trip to the NSA, based at Fort Meade in Maryland.
McClellan called the program "a critical tool that helps us save lives and prevent attacks. It is limited to and targeted at al-Qaeda communications, with the focus being on detection and prevention.''
Deputy National Intelligence Director Mike Hayden, who led the NSA when the program began in October 2001, will speak tomorrow about the issue at the National Press Club in Washington.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is delivering a speech on the program in Washington.
Gonzales also plans to testify about the secret program on Feb. 6 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Kennedy and Leahy are members.
House Democrats contend that Bush committed a crime in authorizing the spying, and Republicans in the House of Representatives have abdicated their responsibilities by refusing to hold hearings.
Representative John Conyers, the House Judiciary Committee's top Democrat, and other Democrats met in a basement room of a House office building on Friday to hear a panel of lawyers and activists discuss whether Bush had committed an impeachable offense.
The Justice Department issued on Wednesday a 42-page legal justification for the eavesdropping program, an expanded version of a document the agency sent Congress late last month.
"Making their argument longer didn't make it any better," said Democratic Representative Chris Van Hollen, a judiciary committee member.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS