Not only shouldn't companies that helped the government's warrantless spying on American citizens be given retroactive amnesty, the government should establish a national commission --- similar to the 9/11 Commission --to subpoena documents and testimony in order to find out -- and publish -- what exactly the nation's spies were up to during their five year warrantless, domestic surveillance program.
In other words, House Democrats aren't planning a compromise on telecom amnesty and are actually going on offense to find a way to learn more about President Bush's five-year secret "Total Information Awareness" program.
Sounds like Democrats are getting tough right? Well they can't even muster up enough support to over ride Bush's veto over the ban of waterboarding.
House Democrats on Tuesday failed to overturn President Bush's veto of a bill that would have prohibited the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects.
The vetoed legislation would have limited the CIA to using only the 19 interrogation methods approved in the Army field manual. That guidebook bans the use of waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. CIA Director Michael Hayden has confirmed that the spy agency used the technique on three terrorist suspects in 2002 and 2003.
The 225-188 House roll call was 51 votes short of the two-thirds majority required to overturn a veto. Bush has vetoed seven bills during his tenure, and only once has Congress mustered the votes to override his veto.
What I don't understand is why they want to publish what was going on. I mean it's all fine and dandy to give the public it's right to know, but there's a double edged sword to that; It'll let terrorists know EXACTLY what we're looking at. Thus, it will allow them to evade capture much easier.
How about a compromise on all this? How about publishing things, but not SPECIFIC things, and allowing those who were spied upon without a warrant to sue for damages. That way those who were wronged can be righted, and national security can still be kept secret? It's not a perfect compromise by any stretch of the imagination, but if you tell the bad guys what you're doing, it has a tendency to come back and bite you on the ass.
Now, I fully expect the hate mail to come through. "How can you support this fascist government!" and "9/11 was an inside job, so it doesn't matter if it's public knowledge!"
Travis
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