Re-do "Where is the outrage?"

This run around has been going on for years. Specter has loudly complained about Gonzales, but has never followed through.

The April 28, 2006 Washington Post article "Specter Wants More Debate on Spying—Senator to Try to Block Program's Funding" at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/27/AR2006042700977_pf.html
outlines the rationale behind Specter's disgust and how he hopes to block its funding as it states "New expressions of frustration over how little information the administration has shared about the National Security Agency's warrantless eavesdropping on Americans flared yesterday in the Senate, one day after House Republicans barred amendments that would have expanded oversight of the controversial program.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said yesterday that he will file an amendment to block the NSA program's funding—but said he will not seek a vote on it at this time—in hope of stirring greater debate on the warrantless surveillance, part of the agency's monitoring of alleged terrorists.

"Where is the outrage?" asked Specter, who has chaired hearings that questioned the NSA program's constitutionality."

Ironically W's greatest ally, FOXNews.com's article of June 16, 2006 at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,199751,00.html
stated "Specter Threatens to Subpoena Information on Warrantless Surveilance Program' notes that "Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter cranked up his dispute with the Bush administration over executive power on Thursday, threatening to subpoena documents on the White House's warrantless surveillance program.

Specter said he had not received a response to his request that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales appear before the panel this month to answer questions about the surveillance program and other touchy subjects — such as the FBI raid on a lawmaker's office last month.

"I will ask for authorization for a subpoena if we do not get an adequate response," Specter told the committee.

That was last May—just 15 or so months ago and now Specter gets nothing from Gonzales again and big bro 43's is trying to ram through expanded NSA illegal wiretapping of US citizens, which will have Gonzales, not the constitutionally correct FISA court, rule on the wiretaps.

The current article "Gonzales admits testimony 'confusing'" at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070802/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/surveillance_congress
states "His letter to Senate Judiciary Committee leaders stopped short of an apology as the Bush administration pushed to expand eavesdropping on suspected terrorists.

But in response, the committee's top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, joined Democrats who said Gonzales should not have sole authority to approve the warrantless interception of messages between foreign terrorists overseas.

The exchange marked the latest twist in a standoff between Congress and the administration over the beleaguered attorney general and his Justice Department.

Even as the administration sought to compromise with lawmakers over updating a 1978 surveillance law, the White House stood its ground against Congress on a separate matter. The White House invoked executive privilege in refusing to let two political aides testify in an inquiry about the Justice Department's firing of federal prosecutors…. In his two-page letter to the committee chairman, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Gonzales sought to clear up the confusion.

"I am deeply concerned with suggestions that my testimony was misleading, and am determined to address any such impression," Gonzales wrote. A copy also went to Specter.

"I recognize that the use of the term 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' and my shorthand reference to the 'program' publicly 'described by the president' may have created confusion," Gonzales wrote.

Leahy was not swayed.
"The attorney general's legalistic explanation of his misleading testimony under oath before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week is not what one should expect from the top law enforcement officer of the United States," Leahy said in a statement after receiving Gonzales' letter."

Specter, too, said Gonzales misled the committee. But Specter said the attorney general's testimony did not amount to perjury; it was a crucial if reluctant vote of support.

"I don't think he did try to provide frank answers," Specter said. "It was more than confusion, it was misleading."

Specter sided with Democrats who said they would not let their disdain for Gonzales factor into decisions about whether to update the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the attorney general would oversee. But Specter said Gonzales should not have any say in the intelligence-gathering at issue. "This is a temporary bill at most," he said. "I think we can do without an attorney general for six months; we've done without one for a long time."

If you go to Specter's site in the Senate at http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Search.Results&Keywords=Gonzales&x=22&y=23
and search for Gonzales you get pages full of communications from the lying lout Attorney General such as the January 17, 2007 "Specter Reacts to Letter From Attorney General Gonzales on the Terrorist Surveillance Program" at http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=E93AB9E2-04B1-40E8-B327-5C98D69AF3D2
which states "The administration had refused to disclose the details of the program to the Judiciary Committee. They maintained that attitude consistently up until today. They finally did submit it, after a lot of pressure, to the Intelligence Committees—first a subcommittee of the Senate Intelligence Committee, then when the House resisted only a subcommittee, it was finally submitted to the full committees—really it was only submitted when the time came for the confirmation of General Hayden for Director of the CIA.

"I have not been privy to what was disclosed to the Intelligence Committee, but based on my chairmanship of that committee during the 104th Congress, I have some doubts as to the adequacy of the disclosure. I know when I was chairman, the chairman was supposed to be informed about those classified and secret programs, but that was in fact not the case."

The other day I heard Orrin Hatch say that the Democrats were on a fishing expedition regarding Gonzales and that they should allow the matter to be investigated by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility. He said that because he knew it would lead nowhere. The article "Gonzales: Bush Blocked Eavesdropping Probe" at http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0718-08.htm
states "Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said Tuesday that President Bush personally blocked Justice Department lawyers from pursuing an internal probe of the warrantless eavesdropping program that monitors Americans' international calls and e-mails when terrorism is suspected.

The department's Office of Professional Responsibility announced earlier this year it could not pursue an investigation into the role of Justice lawyers in crafting the program, under which the National Security Agency intercepts some telephone calls and e-mail without court approval.

At the time, the office said it could not obtain security clearance to examine the classified program."

The GOP knows that W is breaking the law. We've learned that 325,000 US citizens were "illegally eavesdropped" upon. Isn't this a land in which the laws must be obeyed by all, including the president? Of course it is. The truth has not changed because Cheney twisted a few GOP arms. This NSA "illegal eavesdropping" program on US citizens must be addressed. If not what civil right will big brother take away tomorrow?

Back To Top

	Gonzales Admits Testimony 'Confusing'	Associated Press	Wed Aug 1	6
	Senators Planning Ways to Oust Gonzales	Associated Press	Thu Aug 2	6
	Gonzales admits testimony 'confusing'	Yahoo! News	Thu Aug 2	5
	Bush Authorized Multiple Spying Programs	t r u t h o u t	Wed Aug 1	0
	Bush, Gonzales, FISA and the Loyalty Myth	Artful Dodger	Fri Aug 3	10