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Telecom Immunity is Bush Immunity
Senator Dodd:
For this Executive Branch, secrecy is power...we see a pattern of secrecy stretching back to the first months of this administration...It’s push for immunity is no different, secrecy is at its center. And tellingly the administration’s original immunity proposal protected not just the telecoms, but everyone involved in the wiretapping program...In their original proposal they wanted to immunize themselves. Think about that.
They speak to their fear and perhaps their guilt. Their guilt that they have broken the law. Their fear that in the years to come, they would be found liable or convicted. They knew better than anyone else what they had done and they must have good reason to be afraid.
Thankfully, executive immunity is not part of the current bill before us, and I’m grateful for that. But the origin of immunity tells us a great deal about what’s at stake here. That it is and has always been a self-preservation bill. Otherwise, why not have the trial and get over with it. ...If the president’s allies believe is what they say the corporations would win in a walk. After all look at the thing from their perspective. In their telling, when our biggest telecom corporations help the president spy without a warrant they were doing their patriotic duty. When the listend to the executive branch and turned over private information the were doing their patriotic duty. When one company gave NSA a secret eavesdropping room in its own corp. headquarters it was simply doing its patriotic duty. When the president asked, the telecoms answered, "Well shouldn’t that be easy to prove Mr. President? The corporations only need to show a judge the authority and the assurances they were given and they’ll be in and out of court in five minutes. But if the telecoms are as defensible as the President says why doesn’t the president let them defend themselves? If their case is so easy to make, why doesn’t he let them make it? Why is he standing in the way?
Our federal court system has dealt for decades with the most delicate national security matters, building up expertise in protecting classified information behind closed doors...We can expect no less in these cases I would add, and if we’re worried about national security being threatened as a result, we can simply get the principals a security clearance.
A federal judge has already ruled that these proceedings can take place without compromising national security.
Senator Clinton (202) 224-4451
Senator Obama (202) 224-2854