Posted on 12/29/2005 8:57:12 AM PST by mosquitobite
NEW YORK – In a full-page advertisement in today's New York Times, the American Civil Liberties Union intensified its call for a special counsel to be appointed to determine whether President George W. Bush violated federal wiretapping laws by authorizing illegal surveillance.
The ACLU said President Bush's actions were a clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was passed by Congress in response to revelations that former President Nixon was using "national security" claims to spy on American citizens he considered his "enemies."
"President Nixon was not above the law and neither is President Bush," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "President Bush cannot use a claim of seeking to preserve our nation to undermine the rules that serve as our foundation. The Attorney General, who may have been involved with the formulation of this policy, must appoint a special counsel to let justice be served."
The advertisement, as well as a similar ACLU ad that ran last Thursday, was spurred by revelations earlier this month that Bush authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct electronic surveillance of people within the United States, including U.S. citizens, without a warrant.
The text of today's advertisement compares the words of President Nixon and President Bush, both of whom denied allegations of illegal spying. Next to the image of Nixon, the advertisement says: "He lied to the American people and broke the law." Below that is an image of President Bush, with the words, "So did he."
The FISA wiretapping law made it a crime to intentionally engage in electronic surveillance without court approval. The president clearly violated the law when he authorized, and then repeatedly reauthorized, the NSA to spy on Americans without first obtaining a warrant, the ACLU said.
In a formal request sent last week to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the ACLU called for the appointment of "an outside special counsel with the independence to investigate and prosecute any and all criminal acts committed by any member of the Executive Branch in the warrantless electronic surveillance of people in the United States over the past four years by the NSA," noting that "such crimes are serious felonies and they need to be fully and independently investigated."
we paid for this???
And for my first witness, I would like to call...JAMIE GORELICK.
The ACLU is nothing but an organization of partisan hate mongers.
Naw, the Slimes probably gave them the page for free.
Oh, there will be an investigation. But it won't be into W. It will be into the leaker(s). Plamegate was a fraud. This leak was not...
Funny, they left out Carter and Clintoon....must have been a "typo"
Makes it pretty clear the ACLU has a political agenda, doesn't it? They're just another arm of the dems, and just as determined to ruin this country if it would bring them back into power. Their website asks for "complaints" from people about "issues," so I wrote to them asking them to take on the important issue of repeal of the 22nd Amendment, so we can re-elect GWB to a third, fourth, or even fifth term. Never heard back from them.
There was never a question about it.
Yea this will help the Dems.
DNC Lap Dog
New York times is running this? Is it an editorial? Who else, besides their choir reads the NYT?
Roger Baldwin, the co-founder of the ACLU said: “I am for socialism, disarmament, and ultimately, for abolishing the state itself. … I seek social ownership of property, the abolition of the properties class, and sole control of those who produce wealth. Communism is the goal. I don’t regret being part of the communist tactic. I knew what I was doing. I was not an innocent liberal. I wanted what the communists wanted and I traveled the United Front road to get it.” In spite of Baldwin’s Communist leanings, President Jimmy Carter awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom on January 16, 1981.
Baldwin didn’t create the ACLU in a vacuum, he had plenty of help. A group of Communist Party officials, fellow travelers, anarchists and radicals joined Baldwin to found the ACLU in 1920.
They forgot Clinton! Maybe they'll remember and revise their ad to include Clinton, right?
In 1972 Nixon was re-elected in one of the most massive landslide elections in U.S. political history, defeating George McGovern and garnering over 60% of the popular vote. He carried 49 of the 50 states, trailing only in Massachusetts.
Richard Nixon
The coup that overthrew President Nixon was largely orchestrated by Senator Edward Kennedy to reverse the left-repudiating 1972 election and serve Kennedy's presidential ambitions. This coup led to Communist victory in Vietnam, toppling dominoes in Southeast Asia, and encouragement to left revolutionary movements worldwide. It also allowed Kennedy and his liberal media allies to identify the tragic Vietnam War not with President John F. Kennedy, who committed the first 17,000 armed troops there, but with Republican President Nixon.
A Guide to the Political Left
I'd much prefer an investigation OF the ACLU.
Yep! Just an arm of the Democratic Party.
Only Teddy Kennedy is above the law..
Please view me at An American Opinionist. It has insite to your ACLU post.
Stoooopid ACLU, this just further damages the NYT.....Bwahahaha(stop to sip coffee)hahahahaaaaaa!
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