Sneaking Around
The Right Wing Spin Machine has been making a lot of noise about how important wiretapping is for our national security, and how the President would never wiretap innocent Americans- only those dastardly terrorists. That’s why we should all be ashamed of ourselves for questioning him, and be good Americans by looking the other way while he breaks the law.
This argument doesn’t hold water.
According to current law, the government can legally wiretap U.S. Citizens inside U.S. borders- as long as there is a warrant. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court was established specifically to have oversight of such warrants. This law goes on to say that if they need to rush, they can get the warrant AFTER the tap. Up to three days after the fact.
So why does the President need to disregard this law? Why is it important for our national security that he not get the necessary warrant?
There is only one reason I can think of that anyone would need to wiretap U.S. Citizens without a warrant.
And that’s if he doesn’t want anyone to know what he’s doing.
The last time a president was caught illegally spying on U.S. Citizens it had nothing to do with national security. President Nixon was caught spying on the Democratic National Committee’s Campaign headquarters.
June 17, 1972: Five men, one of whom says he used to work for the CIA, are arrested at 2:30 a.m. trying to bug the offices of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate hotel and office complex.
June 19, 1972: A GOP security aide is among the Watergate burglars, The Washington Post reports. Former attorney general John Mitchell, head of the Nixon reelection campaign, denies any link to the operation.
August 1, 1972: A $25,000 cashier’s check, apparently earmarked for the Nixon campaign, wound up in the bank account of a Watergate burglar, The Washington Post reports.
September 29, 1972: John Mitchell, while serving as attorney general, controlled a secret Republican fund used to finance widespread intelligence-gathering operations against the Democrats, The Post reports.
October 10, 1972: FBI agents establish that the Watergate break-in stems from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage conducted on behalf of the Nixon reelection effort, The Post reports.
November 11, 1972: Nixon is reelected in one of the largest landslides in American political history, taking more than 60 percent of the vote and crushing the Democratic nominee, Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.
Nixon, also, defended his illegal actions by claiming he was acting in the interests of national security:
I had been acting, as did my predecessors—President Truman, President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, and President Johnson—in a reasonable belief that in certain circumstances the Constitution permitted and sometimes even required such measures to protect the national security in the public interest.
The Bush Administration uses the National Defense defense to excuse a variety of ills:
- Invading a country that did not attack us
- Running up record breaking budget deficits
- Torturing prisoners
- Illegally spying on U.S. citizens without warrants
The Bush Administration did learn a thing or two from Nixon’s mistakes. Many of the activities that got Nixon impeached are now entirely legal, thanks to The Patriot Act.
Day by day, this Administrations policies are doing much more damage to our American Dream of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness than any terrorist possibly could.
