"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Monday, December 19, 2005

A REVISED AND REPRISED POST: WHY THE PRESIDENT DIDN'T WANT A FISA COURT ORDER (AND KEPT THE FISA JUDGE INFORMED)

The recent NYTIMES leak revealed that the president decided NOT to get a FISA Judge to issue a court order, and instead used the presidential powers specified in the Constitution and in the FISA laws and in the 2001 Congressional authorization to wage war on al Qaeda and its affiliates in order to (for limited, 45-day time periods, against specified individuals, and only with informing both the DOJ and the Congressional leadership EACH AND EVERY TIME AN AUTHORIZATION WAS SIGNED) permit the NSA to intercept international communications between suspected jihadoterrorists here and abroad.

The Left is up in arms. They accuse the president of circumventing the law and subverting the constitution and "checks and balances."


I think he made an absolutely iron-clad case. (TEXT HERE.)

Still, one must wonder: What is it about the targets of THESE NSA intercepts that made the president and the DOJ and the Congressional leadership agree that they were properly NOT authorized by the FISA court?

I think the answer is that these targets, and any information gathered from them, were not ever intended to be brought into the jurisprudential system, but were intended for EXTRA-JUDICIAL use, for use by our armed forces - both uniformed and black op's. In other words, the information gathered would not be used for indictments, but for military and extra-military actions: covert and preemptive counter-attacks and targeted assassinations of terrorists or RENDITIONS.

At least, I hope so. I hope that the USA is capable of taking "executive action" to "neutralize" the enemy BEFORE they attack, before they destabilize us or our allies.

I DO NOT HAVE A PROBLEM WITH WHAT BUSH DID. I DO HAVE ONE SERIOUS PROBLEM WITH THE WAY BUSH DID WHAT HE DID: why in the heck did he tell the Democrats in Congress!? They're NOT the most trustworthy folks in the world when it comes to secrets; in fact, they CONSTANTLY LEAK THEM TO THEIR COMRADES IN THE MSM! The fact that he told CONGRESSMEN - and not FISA judges - ONLY FURTHER PROVES TO ME that the entire point of these intercepts was to get information for the military and not the courts. (Otherwise he wouldn't have risked the leaks.)

I'm VERY CONCERNED that the Left - from presidential candidate Senator Russ Feingold to the "Senator from France," Chuck Hagel, and the liberal Arlen Specter (who immediately and thoughtlessly exclaimed "... there is no doubt that this is inappropriate"), and the "Teddy Jo Kennedy/Babs Boxer" crowd, AND their more-than-willing comrades in the MSM - will try to exploit this info, and cause a fight which could further damage our national security by further exposing our methods and sources.

AND I PREDICT that the ACLU will sue to get the list, of those whose calls were intercepted, released.

The ACLU and the Left will do this IN FULL KNOWLEDGE that these efforts aid the enemy. They don't care: THEY HATE BUSH MORE THAN THEY FEAR THE ENEMY, OR LOVE AMERICA. That's why those on the Left are traitorous scum.

They are essentially "9/10" people who would rather we prosecuted jihadoterrorists in an international tribunal like those in The Hague (which DOESN'T have the death penalty), then retailiate militarily AND transform the Arab and Muslim world by transforming backward tyrannical regimes into vibrant democracies.

More HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't usually comment, cuz I can't think of much to say...but...I agree with you. I think we may be at a very important crossroads here in America. It is scary. I truly think the civil libertarians, the real ones, are fearful as well. We stand at a delicate area here, and it scares me that some are more concerned over getting a pat down at a football game, than they are about our security.

Excellent post.

Reliapundit said...

well said, jay.
however, i see something more nefarious than a PAT - scoring and scoring partisan points.

after all, when you add up JUST what the nytimes - and the left-wing MSM have done lately it really smacks much more of out-and-out TREASON:

1 - the rendtion/jet leaks - BUSH CIRCUMVENTS THE US LAWS MEME
2 - publishing the joe wilson op-ed/LIES - and the whole BUSH LIED ABOUT WMD MEME
3 - the abu ghraib photo leaks and gitmo allegation - and the BUSH TORTURES MEME
4 - the secret CIA prison leak

these leaks hurt our wart effort.
these leaks are more damaging than the plame leak.

the leakers and their comrades in the MSM should be prosecuted. if not for treason, then for LEAKINMG CLASSIFIED INFO.

BTW: love your blog! thanks for stopping by!

Pastorius said...

Hey Reliapundit,
I know you are a lone wolf type, but I want to invite you to join a new blogventure. It is called the Infidel Blog Alliance. Contributors thus far include Baron and Dymphna from Gates of Vienna, Jason Pappas from Liberty and Culture, Dag from No Dhimmitude, Thomas the Wraith, me, Justify This, and more.

All are good writers.

The goal of the blog is to create a hub for bloggers who do what we do; anti-Jihad, and defense of Western Civ.

If you join, you can cross-post, so it will only effect your traffic in positive ways.

Hopefully, eventually we will become a kind of Drudge Report for our cause.

Does that make sense? What do you think?

Pastorius said...

I agree. Jay's blog is very worthy.

Jay, I will say this here, because I didn't feel like starting a fight over at LGF. Those assholes who get on you for plugging your blog in the open thread section are, well, assholes.

More than most, you are simply trying to get info out. I don't see you as a traffic-glommer.

Keep up the good work.

Reliapundit said...

thanks for the incite, very flattering. lemme think on it.

izzit tough to cross post?

Pastorius said...

No, you just cut and paste, and you link back to this blog. You can even just link a little tease there, and a link to the rest of the article here. That would be ideal.

The purpose as I say is to serve as a hub, and to bring attention to the bloggers who are doing good work.

Anonymous said...

You should consider it Reliapundit!
I think you are spot on - on your posts.
I enjoy reading your point of view daily.

Go for it!
If you feel right about it.

Keep up the great work.

Anonymous said...

after all, when you add up JUST what the nytimes - and the left-wing MSM have done lately it really smacks much more of out-and-out TREASON:

1 - the rendtion/jet leaks - BUSH CIRCUMVENTS THE US LAWS MEME
2 - publishing the joe wilson op-ed/LIES - and the whole BUSH LIED ABOUT WMD MEME
3 - the abu ghraib photo leaks and gitmo allegation - and the BUSH TORTURES MEME
4 - the secret CIA prison leak

these leaks hurt our wart effort.these leaks are more damaging than the plame leak.
_____
Did the NYTimes also expose a CIA Airliner recently??
Or am I imagining something else?

Reliapundit said...

the cia airliner thing was about rendition. the airliner aspect was what gave it juice. and led to the EU bs.

for all intents and purposes the nytimes acts as if it was an arm of al Qaeda - more effectively than aljazeera, too.

"aljazeera on the hudson" puts it exactly backwards. aljazeera is the nytimes on the persian gulf.

they are like the copperheads during the us civil war: advocating surrender and appeassing slavery then; advocating surrender and dhimmitude now.