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Of Wiretaps and Torture Email Print

By Drew Johnston
12/20/2005 04:52:58 PM EST

The FISA wiretap warrants had a 72-hour retroactive availability.

This has been mentioned on many other blogs and websites, but I feel it's much too important to ignore, especially since every conservative pundit and every right-wing blogger has neglected to mention this. I don't know if this is due to ignorance or dishonesty, but either way, it really needs to be corrected.

Here's why this is important. The government basically gets three full days to eavesdrop on a subject before they have to file for a warrant. And when they finally get around to filing said warrant, it has (if past history is to be believed) around a 99.99% chance of going through. Ponder that for a moment. How hard is it to work within these guidelines? 72 hours of free wiretap authority and a court that's practically a rubber stamp? You'd have to try to break the law under these circumstances.

And yet, people are defending this. Why? That's not a rhetorical question. I really wish someone would tell me.

I try to understand the other side. I really do. But they've done so many bizarre things this past year that I . . . I just can't do it anymore. How can one understand a group of people who seem to want to give dictatorial power to the President?

And while we're on the subject of unbelievable concepts, are we seriously debating the use of torture? Are we still using that hoary old "ticking bomb" line to justify the use of torture on people who may be innocent? This isn't a spy movie we're talking about, it's real life (though some people seem to get the two mixed up - highly recommended read). I'm sure that George Will (just to name someone who's used this canard recently) has a vision in his head of the grizzled detective breaking into an abandoned subway tunnel, seeing a warhead hooked up to a red LCD timer (all bombs are equipped with these for the benefit of anyone in the same room), and cutting the right wire just in time to save the city.

What are we dealing with here, fair-play terrorists? We're talking about people who've traditionally used themselves as the triggering devices, but for their most spectacular act of mass murder they're giving us an hour to stop them? You can't base public policy on action movies and you can't distribute extralegal powers based on a zero-sum system of liberty versus security that has no application in reality. Unfortunately, reality can't be manufactured; you have to use what you're given. Believe me, I don't like it any more than you do, but that's the way it is.

P.S. Remember to send in nominations for the Koufax Awards. Sure, this post wasn't real funny, but I've written some OK stuff in the past cough cough

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Of Wiretaps and Torture | 6 comments (6 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
You can do a lot in 3 days. (none / 1)
You can let a whole city die.

How much more damage could they do if they had longer?

Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle. FDR

by btyarbro on 12/20/2005 06:20:31 PM EST

L:arry Johnson links these two subjects (none / 1)
at his Blog "No Quarter"

So, President Bush is wrong. You don't have to break a law to get quick action. Not only can you catch terrorists using FISA, we have caught terrorists. The real story behind the unauthorized wiretaps authorized by President Bush probably concerns the source of the info. It appears the most likely explanation is that the Bush Administration did not want to have to tell a Federal judge that they were using information obtained from interrogations that violated the spirit and the letter of the Geneva Conventions. Instead of protecting the nation the President may be covering his derrier.

The "source of the info" he refers to is, of course, a "rendered source"... I still think this spying may have as much to do with politicians phonelines as anything else. But who really knows what they are hiding until we dig really deep.

Guaranteed to be plastered all over the Internet
Drinking Liberally in New Milford

by Connecticut Man1 on 12/20/2005 07:19:28 PM EST

Great stuff Drew! (none / 0)
And I share your bafflement. The only answer I can come up with is that the administration must feel that they need to spy at least 73 hours before bothering themselves with filing with FISA.

The answer to this question would certainly be a scoop -- as far as I know.

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 12/20/2005 10:00:24 PM EST

The possibilities (none / 1)
I still see only a limited set of possibilities:

  1. Bush wants to wiretap people so unrelated to terrorism that he can't get a court that ruled in the government's favor 2000 times to 4 against to go his way.

  2. Bush wants to carry out personal business using the NSA and doesn't want the FISA court to know what he's up to.

  3. The administration is so reflexively dedicated to  increasing presidential power, that they will make a power grab even with no excuse.

by Devilstower on 12/20/2005 11:35:00 PM EST

[ Parent ]
You, my friend (none / 0)
are a genius!!!!!!!!!!!1

Political Cortex -- Brain Food for the Body Politic

by Tom Ball on 12/21/2005 12:18:50 AM EST

[ Parent ]
It may be that they are data mining. (none / 0)
FISA requires a specific target for a warrant. If they a re sucking up huge volumes and sorting through it, this can not be made to fit within the statute at all. If you listen carefully to what Gonzales says regarding this, I thinh it's a reasonable conclusion.

What this means to me is the president was obligated to get the law changed to allow what he wants to do. I'm quite sure the authourity he claims to be able to do this by executive order is wrong.

Try http://volokh.com/ for an extensive analysis of the relevant law.

by roysol on 12/21/2005 09:56:34 AM EST

Of Wiretaps and Torture | 6 comments (6 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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