NSA spying on US Citizens

[August]

Originally Posted by Zachstar

To get these guys they should have issued warrants. Its in the bill of rights!

AS for these plots? What was it that made them where they had to have instant ability to spy? If they were suspected terrorists then it should have been a run to get the warrant then back to get the evidence.

Ya they may have gotten some terrorists. Hmmm im bored how about we go find some dirt on the anti-war people? Oh and lets spy on the Democrats! Hey because we prefer this oil company to this one lets gather info and secretly sell it to the one we like.

You cant guarantee me this will not happen without warants PERIOD These people can not be trusted with our country any longer.

Unless you get an amendment stiking down this amendment then the constitution is the final law.

This is Bush thinking he was above the law
Just as Nixon did

Must be nice to see things so black and white.

Seriously, if you dismiss the possibility they foiled some terrorist plots and saved some lives, then I reject your "hmm, i'm bored" possibilities as well. I'm talking about things that did happen, you're talking about things that might happen, but only if a whole lot of other things happen as well.

Please read this carefully: It. was. NOT. done. in. secret!

Congressional leaders from BOTH parties knew about it beforehand as did the controlling judiciary, as well as various other law enforcement and national security agencies who are required to obey the law and report violations of said laws.

Besides, your Nixon analogy doesn't work as Tricky Dick never would, or could, have signed a presidential order to bug the Watergate. Executive orders are written official documents that become a part of the permanent national record. It'd be like a bank robber mailing his plans to the cops beforehand. Because what he was doing was illegal, Nixon went unofficially through intermediaries, and being the amateurs they were, bungled the job and got caught.

Secondly, Nixon did what he did for pure personal gain. Bush did what he did without personal gain and apparently a fair amount of risk to his legacy, in order to protect the country against its enemies. Can't you see the difference between the two?

You do understand that we are in a war right? The people we're fighting will continue to use our own technology and laws against us to kill as many of our people as possible. I say that any president who wouldn't do whatever he could to keep another 9-11 from happening again would be the real criminal.