George W. Bush,  Global War on Terror,  NSA Surveillance Leak Case,  Politics

NSA Surveillance Leak Case Watch: President Bush Defends NSA Surveillance

President Bush delivers remarks after visiting wounded soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center, Sunday Jan. 1, 2006, in San Antonio, Texas.

The ASSociated Press has Bush Defends Domestic Spying Program

President Bush on Sunday strongly defended his domestic spying program, saying it’s a limited initiative that tracks only incoming calls to the United States.

The Quotes:

“It’s seems logical to me that if we know there’s a phone number associated with al-Qaida or an al-Qaida affiliate and they’re making phone calls, it makes sense to find out why.”

“They attacked us before, they’ll attack us again.”

Asked how he responds to Americans worried about violations of their privacy, he responded, “If somebody from al-Qaida is calling you, we’d like to know why.”

“This is a limited program designed to prevent attacks on the United States of America and, I repeat, limited.”

“The NSA program is one that listens to a few numbers called from the outside of the United States of known al-Qaida or affiliated people,” he said, adding that he believes that he is acting within the law.

“The fact that somebody leaked this program causes great harm to the United States,” he said. “There’s an enemy out there.”

The president was asked whether he misled the American people in 2004 when, during an event promoting the Patriot Act, he said that any wiretapping required a court order and that nothing had changed. He made the statement more than two years after he approved the NSA program.

“I was talking about roving wiretaps, I believe, involving the Patriot Act,” Bush said. “This is different from the NSA program.”

The President did a good job responding to the press and outlining this reasonable program.

Flap doubts that Senator Arlen Specter will continue with his call for hearings. The hearings would have to be closed to the public in any case due to the classified nature of the NSA program.

This is a necessary and reasonable LIMITED program to protect Americans from Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations in the Global War on Terror –

WHAT IS SO WRONG?

Previous:

NSA Leak Case Watch: New York Times’ Reporter James Risen


NSA Leak Case Watch: Justice Deptartment Probing Domestic Spying Leak

NSA Surveillance Watch: President Had Legal Authority to OK Taps

NSA Surveillance Watch: Carter and Clinton Executive Orders Authorizing Secret Searches Without a Warrant


NSA Surveillance Watch: Calls for Congressional Hearings

NSA Surveillance Watch: President Bush defends Spying as “A Necessary Part of My Job to Protect” Americans from Attack

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,