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Don''t Ask, Don''t Tell - Just Do It

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movie zombie

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'' "President Bush did not ask Congress to include provisions for the NSA domestic surveillance program as part of the Patriot Act and has not sought any other laws to authorize the operation," the Times stated at the very end of its piece. Why? Because, as the Times noted, the White House knew "the proposal would be certain to face intense opposition on civil liberties grounds."


That''s right. At the same time that administration officials were claiming they really believed Bush''s actions were legal, Bush in fact knew that he had to ask Congress for statutory approval first. However, he specifically decided not to, because he knew Congress would refuse. He couldn''t get what he legally needed to subvert Americans'' civil liberties, so he decided to pretend he didn''t need anything at all. The result was a new White House policy that mixed two well-known shibboleths: the military''s homosexuality policy, and Nike''s marketing slogan. Only the policy had nothing to do with gay soldiers or sneakers. It was "Don''t ask, don''t tell—just do it," a dangerous doctrine indeed. ''


http://www.washingtonspectator.com/articles/20060115snooping_1.cfm?gp=GNI260780896


"If Bush isn''t allowed to break the law, we are asked to believe, then he won''t be able to move quickly—and that means we should fear that America isn''t being protected from terrorist attacks.

But there''s just one problem: law enforcement already has the ability to move as quickly as Bush wants through existing, warrant-requiring legal channels. Put another way, the president''s legal obligation to obtain a warrant for domestic spying in no way inhibits the speed with which surveillance operations can be ordered and deployed.


How is that possible? Because domestic spying warrants are granted by secret courts created by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). In these FISA courts, the government is permitted to obtain warrants retroactively. The government can immediately order surveillance operations, and then go back and get a warrant, meaning the warrant process never precludes "the need for speed."

And it''s not like getting a warrant from a FISA court is difficult. As journalist/blogger Josh Marshall pointed out, the government''s own data shows that "in a quarter century, the FISA Court has rejected four [out of more than 15,000] government applications for warrants." ''



movie zombie
 
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