Dougherty Arts Center
Why Is the President Doing This?
RECEIVED Mon., Jan. 23, 2006
Dear Editor,
I'm not a lawyer, I hear the arguments concerning the wiretaps and I'm still left with a question.
It seems that the president broke the law in that he refused to notify FISA.
I found this on the Web (www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/12/us_wiretapping_laws/page5.html), "If these taps truly were aimed narrowly at 'bad persons talking to bad persons' why couldn't the NSA get a FISA warrant? The President and Attorney General have both opined that it would be impossible to do so because of the 'need for speed,' despite the fact that FISA allows warrants to be issued after the fact."
So the administration had no problem here; they could do the taps and just very easily report them after the fact. So my question is, why in the world would the president set such a precedent? He, President Bush, would not do anything terrible like Hitler did, but by setting such a precedent he weakens our checks and balances and some evil person could some day rise to power in our country and do terrible things with such license.
So, why is the president doing this? What could possibly be his motivation?
I'm not a lawyer, I hear the arguments concerning the wiretaps and I'm still left with a question.
It seems that the president broke the law in that he refused to notify FISA.
I found this on the Web (www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/12/us_wiretapping_laws/page5.html), "If these taps truly were aimed narrowly at 'bad persons talking to bad persons' why couldn't the NSA get a FISA warrant? The President and Attorney General have both opined that it would be impossible to do so because of the 'need for speed,' despite the fact that FISA allows warrants to be issued after the fact."
So the administration had no problem here; they could do the taps and just very easily report them after the fact. So my question is, why in the world would the president set such a precedent? He, President Bush, would not do anything terrible like Hitler did, but by setting such a precedent he weakens our checks and balances and some evil person could some day rise to power in our country and do terrible things with such license.
So, why is the president doing this? What could possibly be his motivation?
Ken Ashe
