I was listening to Roberto Gonzales being grilled by Congress, and i found it funny. Here was Senator Leahy, who has already been thrown off one committee, BTW, for leaking information,telling Gonzales that he wanted to know if anyone in the White House had planned to use wiretaps at any time prior to Sept. 18th, when Congress gave bush the authority 'to do whatever he had to do against Al Qaeda' (Not MY words - Leahy's!).
The 1st thing I found funny was that Senator Leahy was grilling Gonzales about something he thought might be inappropriate or criminal. As I mentioned, Leahy had already been kicked off a committee once before in the past for leaking confidential/classified information. :roll:
The 2nd thing I find funny is that Leahy himself stated in his question that Congress had approved Bush to do whatever he had to do against Al Qaeda on Sept 18th! So, Bush had the approval of Congress to do whatever he so saw fit to do, what was required, to combat Al Qaeda and protect this country!
3rd thing I found funny was that Leahy demanded to know if Bush began his wire taps, or even had been discussing them, prior to Sept 18th, inferring that the power conduct these Wire Taps was a power the President had to receive from Congress, that it was a power Congress even HAD in order to give to the President! :doh
The power that George Bush has invoked is mandated in/by the Constitution and has been used by numerous presidents throughout history.
Brief history Lesson:
George Washington authorized/directed that correspondence/letters/couriers be intercepted to discern information about British Plans during the Revolution.
Abraham Lincoln directed wire tapping of telegrapgh lines in order to learn enemy/Rebel plans.
FDR ordered that all in-coming calls from out of the country be tapped/listened to during his time of war to find out what the spies within our borders knew and/or were planning.
Bill Clinton not only ordered wire taps, but he authorized the entry, searchm and seisure of private property - all without a warrant and NOT during a time of war. (Of course we won't go into all those illegal FBI files he had on all the GOP and his opponents for his personal use!)
War is not run by committee but by the Commander in Chief. The constitution empowers the President, just as it empowered the Presidents listed above, to act in a time of war. This is not some knew revelation to those who are holding this witch hunt against Bush. No, Leahy's claim to power not afforded him in the Constitution is just an attempt for Congress to gain more power, to weaken the powers given to the President by the Constitution, and therefore, IMHO, to say to the President they could not defeat in the last 2 elections that THEY still have the power, even though they are a minority party.
Some Democrat and/or reporter leaked this classified program - a tool in the war against terror, and now that tool has pretty much been redered useless - this country made even less safe now, all because the Democrats are trying to do anything they can to bring down the President of the United States during a time of war for no other reason than because he is a Republican - 'Party 1st, American 2nd'. This alone is a borderline act of treason as, in their efforts to take down George Buh they have made this country less safe by exposing one of our primary tools with which to combat terrorists who we already know have cells inside our borders! This is aiding and abetting the enemy. Who would have thought that one of the 2 main parties in our nation would be assisting the enemy eliminate the only President who has stood up to them and who has acted to defend American lives in the last 13 years!?
Where is the rabid demand for the head of the person who leaked the existence and practice of this program to the media? Where is the outrage and the demnand for punishment for the reporter(s) who ran this story, exposing a classified project, therebyreigning in a media out of control who thinks they have the right to run any story even if it jeopardizes this country's security?!