Look what George Bush said in a
speech in New York in April 2004:
First, I am glad to be at the home of the mighty Buffalo Bills. (Applause.) I traveled today with Congressman Quinn and Congressman Reynolds, two fine members of the United States Congress from this area, who assured me this is the year. (Laughter.) I want to thank Jack and Tom for coming today. Thank you for your strong leadership. Thanks for caring a lot about the people of the Buffalo, New York area. Thanks for your steadfast concern about the security of our country. I appreciate your service.
...terra....9/11.....terra...9/11....terra.....terra....9/11....
Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps. Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires-a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.
But a roving wiretap means-it was primarily used for drug lords. A guy, a pretty intelligence drug lord would have a phone, and in old days they could just get a tap on that phone. So guess what he'd do? He'd get him another phone, particularly with the advent of the cell phones. And so he'd start changing cell phones, which made it hard for our DEA types to listen, to run down these guys polluting our streets. And that changed, the law changed on-roving wiretaps were available for chasing down drug lords. They weren't available for chasing down terrorists, see? And that didn't make any sense in the post-9/11 era. If we couldn't use a tool that we're using against mobsters on terrorists, something needed to happen.
The Patriot Act changed that. So with court order, law enforcement officials can now use what's called roving wiretaps, which will prevent a terrorist from switching cell phones in order to get a message out to one of his buddies.
Is this consistent with what Bush has said in the last few days? In 2004 he was
assuring the public that
court orders were required for wiretaps, while at this point he had actually ordered - and was continuing to order - dozens of wire taps
without a court order?
Perhaps he means a legal wiretap under the Patriot Act, which is completely different from the extra-legal wiretapping he ordered. And if he's not using the Patriot Act for his wiretaps, why does he need the Patriot Act in the first place?
[UPDATED 11:25 pm PDT to add this:]
And this in July 2004:
...
All right, let me answer some questions. I hope you got a sense that I want the job for four more years, and I've got a plan to make sure the country is safer, stronger, and better. That's really what I'm here to tell you, that I know where I want to lead this country. (Applause.)
Let me answer some questions, and then we're going to get back on the bus and take it up the highway. Who has got a question? Yes, sir. Yell it -- oh, there's a mike.
Q The Patriot Act --
THE PRESIDENT: Patriot Act.
Q The Patriot Act is due to expire --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q -- coming next year. And I find that an important tool for protecting America. And in Wisconsin here, we have Senator Russ Feingold, as you're aware, the only Senator to vote against the Patriot Act. Wondering if you can tell us all here the importance of the Patriot Act and what we can do to help get that renewed.
THE PRESIDENT: Let me -- that's a great question. A couple of things that are very important for you to understand about the Patriot Act. First of all, any action that takes place by law enforcement requires a court order. In other words, the government can't move on wiretaps or roving wiretaps without getting a court order.
Now, we've used things like roving wiretaps on drug dealers before. Roving wiretaps mean you change your cell phone. And yet, we weren't able to use roving wiretaps on terrorists. And so what the Patriot Act said is let's give our law enforcement the tools necessary, without abridging the Constitution of the United States, the tools necessary to defend America.