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Old 12-21-2005, 06:34 PM
Chris Alger Chris Alger is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,160
Default Re: President had legal authority to OK taps

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My understanding is that the NYT bruhaha is about eavesdropping on communications between U.S. citizens and foreign contacts. More info on what you are stating would be appreciated.

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That's right -- there have been some purely domestic intercepts, but NSA claims they were few and accidental. They weren't authorized by Bush's order. The issue is whether the U.S. can spy on U.S. citizens, presumably protected against domestic spying by the 4th amendment, when they communicate with people outside of this country, or perhaps with non-citizens within this country.

Since there is no reason to believe that "terrorism" can ever be eliminated or defeated, the "war on terror" is a euphemism for "permanent war" and permanent plenary power to the President. In other words, the President's power is not constrained by law but by his sense of what he can get away with. Rank-and-file Republicans and appear to believe that he should be allowed to get away with anything and everything.
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