In The News - Jan. 25

Gonzales says surveillance entirely legal - 25 Jan 2006 at 7:50am - WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Alberto Gonzales offered additional defenses of President Bush's domestic spying program on Tuesday, as the administration tried to redefine the warrantless surveillance in a way that undermines critics. Speaking to students at Georgetown University law school, Gonzales said a 15-day grace period allowing warrantless eavesdropping under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act demonstrates that Congress knew such surveillance "would be essential in wartime."

Yes, so it would seem; and it also would seem to demonstrate that Congress knew that after the 15-day grace period, the warrantless eavesdropping would no longer be allowable.

Al Qaeda Sees Resurgence in Pakistani Tribal Areas - 25 Jan 2006 at 10:19am - Videotape Shows Terror Network Actively Recruiting, Plotting Attacks


ACLU: Patriot Act excludes Muslim scholar from U.S. - 25 Jan 2006 at 10:16am - Saying the government should not use anti-terrorism laws as "instruments of censorship," the American Civil Liberties Union sued the government Wednesday for excluding a leading Muslim scholar from entering the United States.


Army's 'thin green line' could snap, study says - 25 Jan 2006 at 10:23am - WASHINGTON (AP) -- Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a "thin green line" that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.

Senator seeks information on subpoena of Google (Reuters) - 25 Jan 2006 at 12:11pm - Reuters - The Senate Judiciary Committee's top Democrat asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales what steps are being taken to protect Americans' privacy rights as the Justice Department demands information about Internet searches.


Rumsfeld: U.S. military not overextended - 25 Jan 2006 at 1:53pm - WASHINGTON -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday disputed reports suggesting that the U.S. military is stretched thin and close to a snapping point from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, asserting "the force is not broken."


Sen. Clinton blasts Bush on eavesdropping - 25 Jan 2006 at 2:29pm - WASHINGTON -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday called President Bush's explanations for eavesdropping on domestic telephone calls "strange" and "far-fetched," launching a blistering attack on the White House ahead of the president's State of the Union address.


U.S. must submit papers to Moussaoui team - 25 Jan 2006 at 6:27pm - WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ordered the government to give admitted terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui's defense team documents describing what officials knew before Sept. 11, 2001, about al-Qaida threats and some of its hijackers.

It's nice to see that the White House has decided to add a touch of humour to its news webpage, with occasional posts entitled "Setting the Record Straight."

Bush, speaking today at the NSA in Fort Meade, Maryland (in front of a sign for something called "Threat Operations Center" -- all that warrantless wiretapping must be paying off: he appears to be closing in on the center of the threat operations): "I have the authority, both from the Constitution and the Congress, to undertake this vital program. The American people expect me to protect their lives and their civil liberties, and that's exactly what we're doing with this program."

Now, I can't prove this in a court of law or anything, but I'm sure there must be some significance to the fact that so far, none of the public defenders of this warrantless-domestic-surveillance program have explained how the American people would have been any less safe had the surveillance been limited to whatever it is the FISA court normally approves.