RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
For what it's worth... Neither the Justice Department, nor Bush, are the final arbiters of whether or not the wire tap program "broke the law or violated the Constitution." That is solely for the courts to decide.
I also find it interesting that you delete paragraphs from the story which reflect that Bush ordered the program reinstated, but with modifications so as to comply with the law. I wonder why you'd leave that out...
RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
You're spinning Ifferd. You deleted all the pertinent facts which show that Bush ordered NSA to take the steps necessary to bring the program into compliance withJustice Department recommendations.
Quote:
At Mr. Comey"s urging, Mr. Bush also met with Mr. Mueller, who emerged to inform Mr. Comey that the president had authorized the changes in the program sought by the Justice Department.
"We had the president"s direction to do what we believed, what the Justice Department believed, was necessary to put this on a footing where we could certify to its legality," Mr. Comey said. "And so we set out to do that and we did that."
Intentionally failing to disclose relevant exculpatory facts is misleading. Just ask the prosecuting attorney in the Duke LaCrosse case...
RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
Quote:
ORIGINAL: Ifferd
He ordered it to continue in the mean time even though his own team in the Justice dept. found it didn't comply with the law, knowingly breaking the law - an impeachable offense for the CIC.
Quote:
presidential order reauthorizing the program, which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and e-mail of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He said he made his decision after the department"s Office of Legal Counsel, based on an extensive review, concluded that the program did not comply with the law.
He did this after being informed the program as it was was illegal, his top guys even threated to resign - very telling. But I see you'll excuse the violations as usual.
Robbing a bank and then passing a law making it legal to rob banks doesn't quite cut it. But I expect you know that.
Par for the course. You either aren't reading the article, or you are intentionally twisting the words. You left out the first part of the paragraph above, and then twist it to suggest that the President signed the order in that form. He did not. If you read the whole article, with the facts that you have deleted, you'll find that the President signed the reauthorization but with the proviso that changes be made to the program to bring it into compliance.
RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
Where are you getting this "knowingly violating the law" nonsense?
The eventsyou have cited took place in 2004. At that time, and for some time thereafter, there were debates, with eminent authorities on both sides of the argument, about whether the program did or did not comply with the law. Again, neither the Justice Department nor the President is the final arbiter of whether the program complied with the law. As best I can tell, there were no court decisions regarding the original program until late in 2006, and even so, it is not until the Supreme Court rules that you actually have a final determination as to whether the original program was valid or invalid. And, by that time, the program had been modified, by Presidential order, to comply with the Justice Department's concerns.
Also, there is no indication in the story you cited that Bush ordered Card and Gonzalez to try to get Ashcroft to sign off on the reauthorization. It's my understanding that, before Bush signs a bill or other matters such as this reauthorization, he requires various relevant authorities to sign off on it first. Bush certainly doesn't hand carry it himself to the various people to get their signatures. It was certainly within Card's and Gonzalez' purview to make that decision on their own. I don't know one way or the other, but, I think it's inappropriate to assume Bush ordered it until such time as Card or Gonzalez says "Bush told us to go."
RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
Quote:
ORIGINAL: ipscshooter
For what it's worth... Neither the Justice Department, nor Bush, are the final arbiters of whether or not the wire tap program "broke the law or violated the Constitution." That is solely for the courts to decide.
I also find it interesting that you delete paragraphs from the story which reflect that Bush ordered the program reinstated, but with modifications so as to comply with the law. I wonder why you'd leave that out...
Maybe we should ask the pres for some clarification?
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RE: Justice Dept. found wire-taps illegal, Ashcroft threatened to resign!
George will be the last one standing but all of his accomplices will be gone before his term expires. It appears that someone lower taking the fall is a common occurrence. Gonzales is next. Talk about a house of cards. [:@]
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