I thought the president's defense of wiretapping terrorists on FTN today was very good. Very forceful. He echoed a lot of the points made here in FR.
SCHIEFFER: Let's talk a little bit about this whole idea of eavesdropping without court orders. You said very strongly, in the strongest language I've heard you use, yesterday that you believe it is not only legal, you believe it is absolutely necessary in the war on terrorism. The question I have, Mr. President, is do you believe that there is anything that a president cannot do if he considers it necessary in an emergency like this?Pres. BUSH: That's a--that's a great question. You know, one of the--yeah, I don't think a president can tor--get--order torture, for example. I don't think a president can order the assassination of a leader of another country with which we're not at war. Yes, there are clear red lines, and it--you just asked a very interesting constitutional question: the extent to which a president during war can exercise authorities in order to protect the American people, and that's really what the debate is about. I made the decision to listen to phone calls of al-Qaeda, or suspected al-Qaeda, from outside the country coming in, or inside the country going out, because the people, our operators, told me that this is--one of the best ways to protect the American people.
It is important that this program go on. I understand the debate, and I understand the need to make sure people discuss and debate whether or not I have got the authority to do it. But as I told the American people--and I can't tell you how strongly I feel about this--if somebody is talking to al-Qaeda inside the United States, we need to know why, and that's what this program is aimed to do.
SCHIEFFER: Let me ask you this, Mr. President, because I just have never quite understood this, and maybe you could clear this up. As I understand the law, you have the right to wiretap or eavesdrop on anyone and then have three days to tell the court about it. How does that slow you down?
Pres. BUSH: I asked that very same question to the people designing the program. I said, `How come we can't use the procedures which you just described?' And they said, `It won't work. It doesn't fit in with what Mike Hayden described as "hot pursuit."' I have looked at this program from all angles, and my dilemma and my problem is I can't explain to you how it works in order to justify your question without telling the enemy what we are doing. And this debate is an interesting debate. I'm troubled by it only because the enemy listens, and they see what we are doing--and these are smart people, and they will adjust. And one of the interesting questions, Bob, about this whole debate is whether or not people think we are at war or people think this is kind of an isolated group of people that may or may not hit us, and I am--perhaps because I was a sitting president when 9/11 occurred. Perhaps because I remember my words going to Congress, just saying, `I'm not going to ever forget what took place,' and I will use all the power and my authority within the Constitution to protect the American people, but I view this situation we're in as war, and therefore I must protect the American people with the tools available to me.