Presidential Power
We did a brief interview with colonel Oliver North and a few of you went ballistic because of the Iran- Contra affair. Rather than re-hashing that event, Let's discuss a current issue that is relevant to the powers of a President. Further, can we revise history and assume that 9/11 happened in the last years of the Clinton administration( just to diffuse partisanship).
If the head of the N.S.A. came to President Clinton and said,"We have a war on terror. There are things we can do with technology to help find terrorists, ie. Wiretapping offshore conversations, and logging domestic phone calls to look for patterns. These are not clearly legal because war powers law is always behind advancing technology". What should we do Mr. President?
I think ( and hope) President Clinton would have said that the security of the country and its citizens is more important than the legal or political consequences of obtaining this intelligence. Don't we want a President that is willing to maybe skirt the law to protect us... during war? You say, " well , why not go to congress or the F.I.S.A. court and make it legal"? Think about that. Millions of calls are made, going to the court ahead of time would be a waste of time 99.9% of the time. In the other .01%, hurry , you are trying to catch a terrorist.
If President Truman had gone public with the Atom Bomb, wouldn't the mere disclosure have created enough national and international up- roar to ever prevent its use there-by prolonging WW-II. Haven't we now seen that taping conversations is futile, the terrorists have been alerted and some advantage has been lost.
Aren't we use to business monitoring our phone calls to assure good service. Wouldn't we want the bad guys to get caught by opening our own (boring) lives a little to scrutiny? I know this isn't comfortable and I am a huge privacy rights advocate. However this is War and the risk today of me being prosecuted in error is remote in America. Why? Because the same technology and speed of information would help me exonerate myself. Let's say I get picked up by the F.B.I. because the N.S.A. heard me talking on the phone or read my blog. My first call would be to an attorney and my second would be to C.N.N. or Fox News. Our society is so open that even a small town citizen can use the power and hunger of the media to tell their true story.
posted by Bob Kober @ 4:06 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I wouldn't care if it were Bill Clinton, John Conyers, or Anyone on the left.
The rule of law must be followed. We are a nation of laws, not men. If that were the case, if wiretapping 100 million Americans was really that important, then why doesn't Bush, the one who is REALLY the one doing this, why doesnt he just declare martial law and do whatever he wants?
Also, Wasn't the RULE OF LAW the argument the Right-wingaloids screamed about Clinton? Seems like the sins of this president affect far more of us than the sins of that prersident.
"Wouldn't we want the bad guys to get caught by opening our own (boring) lives a little to scrutiny?"
No, Bob. I don't want my life our yours "scrutinized" without probable cause. What the hell are we defending if we give it all away to fend of the boogieman?
Bob, where would you draw the line? Can you give me an example of when you will have considered the government to have gone too far in its surveillance of citizens? When would you say, that's too much?
Alright the juices are starting to flow. What I am hearing under the words is: We don't trust! We don't trust Government, we don't trust the other party, Nor a duly elected president. But here is the bigger problem. There is a group out there that would just rather kill you than deal with you. They are smart, they have technology, they aren't just mad at the other party, They want to subject you to their will. They have ploted for months and years to fly planes into tall buildings. By the time you change your laws to keep knives off air planes they have moved on to the next great terror. So how does a President sworn to protect you and me stay ahead. And this may be the most important question. How does he try to stay ahead when most of the press and half of the citizens mistrust him? I like the dialog. Excerpts will get into the magazine. Advise if you don't want to be published.
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