Bart, the following are excerpts of recent editorials:
Austin American Statesman: Americans can't
settle for Bush's trust me defense of spy program. Under our Constitution,
presidents must work with Congress and the courts
-- even when fighting a war against Islamic extremists?In short,
it's getting harder to shout "war" to squelch
political opposition to the executive branch's reach for more power.
Americans won't settle for "trust me" -- and
neither should Congress. (12/20/05)
The Asheville Citizen-Times (North Carolina):
Bush's domestic spying a flagrant abuse of power. Outrage. In the end,
that's really the only reaction applicable to
President Bush's acknowledgement Saturday that he has for years OK'd
secret spying on U.S. citizens inside these borders?Illegal
or not, it sure fits a pattern of secrecy, of big brother knows
best, and of reckless disregard toward the hard-earned
rights of the citizens of this nation. (12/20/05)
The Arizona Republic: Warrantless eavesdropping
a chilling specter. Short of imprisonment in the tower on order
of the king, it is difficult to imagine a phrase
that more chillingly raises the specter of imperial big-brotherism than
warrantless eavesdropping. (12/20/05)
The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.): Freedom threatened
by unbridled arrogance of our leaders. [F]reedom is best served
when no arm of government is above review by
a disinterested authority, such as a judge?The president acts as if his
authority cannot be challenged as long as he
invokes the war on terrorism mantra. Fortunately, more and more Americans
are coming to understand how freedom also can
threatened by the unbridled arrogance of their leaders. (12/21/05)
Contra Costa Times: Bush's defiance and
outrage. President Bush remains defiant in defense of his secret domestic
wiretaps, eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.
His outrage about the public disclosure of his surveillance program
is itself an outrage. So is his claim that his
constitutional power as Commander-in-Chief and the congressional
resolution that authorized the use of military
force against terrorists give him the authority to order surveillance
without court approval. (12/21/05)
USA Today: Bush puts himself above the
law. Not since the days when Richard Nixon was fighting the Cold War,
the Vietnam War and a rising tide of domestic
unrest has an administration felt so emboldened by circumstances to
put itself above the law and expand its powers
unilaterally. (12/19/05)
San Francisco Chronicle: Spy Program reckless
and arrogant. The White House is paying the price for its reckless and
arrogant intelligence gathering?No one denies
intelligence agencies need updated powers to track and arrest terrorists?
But this is an administration that repeatedly
evades constitutional safeguards and norms of fair treatment. (12/19/05)
Philadelphia Daily News: President Bush
cannot be trusted to protect our civil liberties. It's clear now that this
administration cannot be trusted to protect our
civil liberties?This is not an administration that would allow a few laws
- or even the Bill of Rights - to get in the
way of waging the war on terror its way. (12/19/05)
Miami Herald: Dismantle domestic spying
program. The program should be dismantled. Terrorists can be caught and
punished without sacrificing the privacy rights
of ordinary citizens. (12/19/05)
Deseret Morning News: Government should
not spy on its citizens without impunity. The United States must never
degenerate into a nation where a powerful central
government can spy on its citizens with impunity. Power must be
checked. In this case, investigators must prove
to a court that they need information before they obtain it. (12/19/05)
St. Petersburg Times: Government cannot
be above the law. There has never been nor could there ever be any greater
danger to the United States than a government
that considers itself above the law. President Bush was combative and
even arrogant during his news conference Monday?
In so saying, he raised a question with nightmare ramifications:
Is there any law that he feels bound to respect?
(12/20/05)
Philadelphia Inquirer: Bush decision to
sidestep the Constitution is morally repugnant. President sidestepped the
Constitution in late 2002 by ordering the National
Security Agency (NSA) to secretly eavesdrop on hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of U.S. residents without
first obtaining court approval?[T]hat's simply unacceptable. No president
unilaterally should be able to declare that a
part of the Bill of Rights is null and void. Bush appears to have done
it for
no good reason - other than that his rule-bending
legal advisors concocted a rationale to enable a shockingly expansive
view of presidential power?The President's thesis,
that as commander-in-chief he could sidestep the Fourth Amendment
protections, is as unfathomable as it is morally
repugnant. (12/20/05)
Lexington Herald-Leader: Hard to believe
Bush arguments on FISA courts. Bush defends years of spying on citizens
without court supervision as necessary to protect
Americans in a time of war. But federal agencies already had the right
to spy on a citizen suspected of having terrorism
ties for 72 hours. A warrant from a secretive, special court was needed
to continue spying. It's hard to believe that
a warrant would be denied for a legitimate case?Americans of all political
stripes value the little bit of privacy we have
left in this high-tech world. (12/20/05)
Chicago Tribune: Bush overreached badly
with spy program. [B]y launching a secret program that involves spying
on
Americans, [the Bush Administration] has overreached
badly, and unnecessarily. President Bush not only defends what
he's done but vows to keep doing it, never mind
the evidence that he is acting in violation of the law. If he persists
in
pressing beyond the bounds of presidential war-making
authority, it will be up to Congress to press back and restore
a sensible balance of powers. (12/20/05)
Boston Globe: President should not sacrifice
civil liberties. President Bush is wrong to sacrifice Americans' civil
liberties
needlessly by resorting to a secret presidential
order to authorize warrantless surveillance of phone calls and e-mails
within the United States?No president should
be allowed to create a law-free zone in which government agencies spy
on people in this country without legal authorization
from Congress and warrants from a court (12/20/05)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Extraordinary
grab at power is wrong. After September 11, We did not, for example,
change from a democracy to a dictatorship, from
a nation of laws to a nation in which one man endows himself with
the authority to act above the law, immune to
its dictates and limitations. We are not that country. We must never
become that country. However, to hear President
Bush, we are that country already. He proclaimed it so in secret
shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,
and he proclaims it so in public now that news of his extraordinary grab
at power has leaked to the citizens. (12/20/05)
New York Times: Administration uses terror
as an excuse to spy on Americans. Chillingly, this is not the only time
we've heard of this administration using terrorism
as an excuse to spy on Americans. NBC News recently discovered
a Pentagon database of 1,500 suspicious incidents
that included a Quaker meeting to plan an antiwar rally. And Eric
Lichtblau writes in today's Times that F.B.I.
counterterrorism squads have conducted numerous surveillance
operations since Sept. 11, 2001, on groups like
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Greenpeace and
the Catholic Workers group. (12/20/05)
Bob T (London, UK)
