Accidental Blogger

The story about Bush-Cheney-Rove, Inc. illegally snooping on Americans has exploded in the mainstream media and the blogging world. We are learning the minute details of the legal, political and psychological ramifications of this sordid affair.  What I have gathered so far is that Bush didn’t really have to do all this secret snooping. He didn’t have to go behind the FISA court’s back to set up wiretaps or electronic surveillance of suspicious characters. The FISA court has been termed a "rubber stamp" for the executive branch, having approved more than 19,000 requests for snooping and turned down just 4 since its inception.( And now a FISA court judge has resigned because Bush may have rendered even this "rubber stamp court" totally irrelevant !) Also, it allows retroactive authorization within 72 hours (fifteen days during war time) of the start of an eavesdropping operation. So, it is very easy for a US president to spy on American citizens whenever issues of national security are raised – which for this administration since 9/11, is all the time.  So why did Bush-Cheney not go through this easy and speedy authorization process? Many legal theories are floating around. Among them is that they were engaged in data mining — looking for needles in haystacks. I am not sure what that means but I would guess it is like reaching a conclusion first and working backwards. You suspect someone because he/she fits a certain profile but have no evidence against him/her on hand. You eavesdrop on that person and try to look for clues to connect him/her to the suspicion.  The FISA court suspects that the administration may have done this and then come back for authorization later, with evidence based on the illegally mined data to proceed with further eavesdropping – which would now be legal.  Whew! Sounds like money laundering to me.

Some or all of the above may be true. But having seen this administration at work since 2001, my low tech, non legal and suspicious mind tells me that it may be something much simpler, more befitting this vindictive, in-your-face and conspiratorial White House. Remember this is the same bunch who smeared McCain during the 2000 primaries, swiftboated Kerry in 2004, outed Valerie Plame and took us to a war with manufactured evidence.  I fear that some of the illegal wiretaps may not have had anything to do with terrorism or national security. Bush &Co.(especially Cheney) may have used the 9/11 security concerns as cover for plain old Texas style hardball politics. They may have simply abused executive power to  spy on political enemies – people like Joe Wilson, Richard Clark, John Kerry, John Edwards, liberals, Iraq war critics and perhaps even the Dixie Chicks! They couldn’t have gone to FISA for authorization in these cases.  So they just did it ! Sounds just like Bush and Uncle Cheney to me.  I don’t know how the inept Dems are going to handle this one (impeachment anyone?) and if the Republican majority in congress will allow them to do anything. It is worthwhile to repeat something here that I had included in one of my earlier posts:

"… this administration now has the smell of Vietnam and the odor of Watergate."

Robert Dallek : Presidential Historian /Author

Note: I am publishing this post as an answer to reader Marco’s comment on Republican 3R’s.