Re: Re: please read this
Posted by Robby on 2005-12-19 2:56:47pm
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This conference was AMAZING. I think he answered 2 questions without hopping all-the-fuck around them. Here is what I gathered from it. "I'm doing this this way. I'm the President. Why can't you idiots see why I'm right and this is good?! Terrorist are going to kill you!"
:i'm all over this. dude has really outdone himself this time. i mean, i've been relatively calm about bush and most people who know me know i'm not that into politics, but i really don't know what's going on with the states anymore.
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:nice to see the senate pull through, though. still some hope left before i resign to the titorian apocalypse.
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:Bush vows more eavesdropping
:Mon Dec 19, 2005 1:10 PM ET
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:WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush vowed on Monday to authorize more eavesdropping on Americans suspected of ties to terrorists and said he believed a probe was underway into who committed "the shameful act" of revealing the covert program.
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:Bush, struggling with low approval ratings and wide public discontent with the rising U.S. death toll, also defended his decision to invade Iraq, saying "it wasn't a mistake."
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:At a year-end White House news conference he faced a barrage of questions about his decision to authorize eavesdropping on international telephone and other communication by Americans suspected of links to al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations.
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:"As president of the United States and commander in chief I have the constitutional responsibility and the constitutional authority to protect our country," he said.
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:Several Republican and Democratic lawmakers have backed plans by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, to hold a hearing on the issue. Many have questioned whether spying on Americans violates the U.S. Constitution.
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:The spying program, under which the National Security Agency was given the authority to intercept the communications without court approval, was first disclosed by the New York Times last Friday. A 1978 law, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, makes it illegal to spy on U.S. citizens in the United States without court approval.
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:"There's a process that goes on inside the Justice Department about leaks. I presume that process is moving forward," Bush said. "My personal opinion is it was a shameful act for someone to disclose this very important program in a time of war."
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:U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said earlier on Monday the U.S. Congress' authorization of military force after the September 11, 2001, attacks also gave Bush the right to order the eavesdropping.
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:Bush said the program had been effective in disrupting terrorist acts, but gave no details.
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:"I've reauthorized this program more than 30 times since September the 11th attacks, and
I intend to do so for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill our American citizens," he declared.
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:Bush noted that he had sworn to uphold the law. "Do I have the legal authority to do this? The answer is ''absolutely''."
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:On Iraq, Bush pointed to the country's election last Thursday as a sign of progress in the war, which is costing taxpayers $6 billion a month and in which more than 2,100 U.S. troops have died.
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:"It wasn't a mistake to go into Iraq," he said. "It was the right decision to make. I think that there's going to be a lot of analysis done on the decisions made on the ground in Iraq ... History will judge."
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