Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the ranking Democrat on the House Education and the Workforce Committee,
has called for the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Bush's violations of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act's (FISA) prohibitions against domestic spying without a warrant.
"I am deeply troubled that the President of the United States may have secretly ordered his intelligence agents to spy on Americans without obtaining court orders," said Miller, Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee. "Congress had already broadened the powers of the Administration to fight terrorism through the gathering of intelligence, but now it is alleged that the President went even further and secretly ordered the NSA to conduct domestic spying in a manner that may be both unconstitutional and illegal.
It is vital that we support this call for an investigation. More after the fold...
Rep. Miller has also called for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to recuse himself from the appointment because he was counsel for the White House at the time the policy was created.
"Because the United States Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, would have been intimately involved with drafting this covert policy in his former role as White House Counsel, I do not believe he can be truly impartial in investigating this matter. The Attorney General should recuse himself from the case and immediately appoint a special counsel to fully determine the truth," Miller said. "Congress and the American people need to know whether laws were broken, and if so who was responsible for it.
Rep. Miller also bluntly lays out for what is at stake in this case, linking use of torture abroad and spying on our own citizens here at home:
"Fighting terrorists is essential," Miller added. "No one disagrees with that. But allowing anyone to eviscerate America's freedoms and liberties undermines our security and greatness as a nation. In the battle against international terrorism, America has faced a terrifying and deadly enemy, but it has also suffered a great loss in its stature as a result of the use of torture and degrading treatment against foreign prisoners and the use of unapproved espionage. We must not lose ourselves as a nation as we fight to protect ourselves."
My one nit-pick: Besides being repetitious and bad form to use "ourselves" twice in the same sentence, that's "lose our soul as a nation," Rep. Miller. That's what's at stake here. Glad to see someone else thinks so.
So, it is very important that we support Rep. Miller in his call for an investigation. This story is developing quickly, and the sh!tstorm around this issue is starting to gather steam. Lets add some fuel to the fire: Let's make sure that the Justice Department comes back to work on Monday morning to be greeted with inboxes and mailboxes full of support for Miller's call. Let the Justice Department know what you think:
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
AskDOJ@usdoj.gov
Department of Justice Main Switchboard - 202-514-2000
Office of the Attorney General - 202-353-1555
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Bush Keeping Quiet
Press Reports that Bush is keeping quiet about the emerging scandal:
Bush Won't Discuss Report of NSA Spying
WASHINGTON - President Bush refused to say whether the National Security Agency eavesdropped without warrants on people inside the United States but leaders of Congress condemned the practice on Friday and promised to look into what the administration has done.
Specter to Investigate
Even more important, Congress may actually do some oversight for once on this tyrannical administration. Sen. Specter is apparently on the case:
"There is no doubt that this is inappropriate," said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. He said there would be hearings early next year and that they would have "a very, very high priority." He wasn't alone in reacting harshly to the report. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the story, first reported in Friday's New York Times, was troubling.
Troubling? I'm way past "troubling", Sen. Specter, but as long as you investigate, you can call it what you want to.
Speaking of what to call things, what shall we call this emerging scandal? Better if we name it than let them do so, of course! So, Let the Name Game begin!
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UPDATE: Since I started writing this diary, the yahoo story posted above has been changed and updated. As I said, the pace on this story is starting to move quickly. I highly suspect this will be Topic A on all the Sunday Morning shows. The top paragraph posted above is now third paragraph, and the story has been given a stronger title, emphasizing the movement for an investigation rather than Bush's silence:
Shocked Lawmakers Demand Spy Program Probe
WASHINGTON - Dismayed lawmakers demanded on Friday that Congress look into whether the highly secretive National Security Agency was granted new powers to eavesdrop without warrants on people inside the United States.
Atrios has a post on this, too.