Barack Obama has released anti-terror memos from the Bush govnernment made after September 11

Herald Sun ^ | 3 March 2009 | Melissa Taylor

[Aussie Dasher]

THE US military could have kicked in doors to raid a suspected terrorist cell in the United States without a warrant under a Bush-era legal memo the Justice Department made public.

The memo, from October23, 2001, also said constitutional free-speech protections and a prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure could take a back seat to military needs in fighting terrorism inside the country.

It was one of nine previously undisclosed memos and legal opinions which shed light on former U.S. President George W. Bush's legal guidance as he launched a war against terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

"The government's compelling interests in wartime justify restrictions on the scope of individual liberty," it said.

Other memos held that the president had broad power to detain U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism and to suspend treaty obligations on issues as seen fit.

The memos depict an administration apparently determined to assert sweeping powers for the president after the shock of September 11, and add fuel to critics' charges that fundamental constitutional protections were threatened in the process.

"The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically," Justice Department officials John Yoo and Robert Delahunty wrote White House counsel Alberto Gonzales in the October 23 memo.

"We do not think that a military commander carrying out a raid on a terrorist cell would be required to demonstrate probable cause or to obtain a (search) warrant," they said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ordinarily requires a probable cause and a warrant to execute a search. However, the memo said those requirements "are unsuited to the demands of wartime."

[TigersEye]

We don’t yet know who hired Craig Livingstone, what papers did Sandy Burglar steal or what was in the DiBella memo.

There are still a million documents on the Kennedy assassination that haven't been released and won't be for at least 15 more years. The Clinton impeachment documents are still secret. Not to mention info on China Gate.

[brytlea]

I thought that too, but as far as they are concerned, they don’t need no stinkin’ rules!