Pathetic that Jay Rockefeller and Nancy Pelosi lied and call Dick Cheney a liar.
As low as slime can get. On Dec 24, 9:40 am, "mike [ happy holidays ] 532" <[email protected]> wrote: > Cheney Lies on Fox: Congress Told Us We Didn't Need Approval for > Spyinghttp://www.alternet.org/blogs/rights/114607/ > Cheney’s startling claims run directly counter to accounts by House > Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Jay Rockefeller > In an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace yesterday morning, Vice > President Dick Cheney defended the Bush administration's warrantless > wiretapping program and claimed that the congressional leaders > briefed > on the program wholeheartedly approved. In fact, Cheney claimed, when > the White House asked if it needed congressional approval for the > program, they unanimously agreed it did not: > > CHENEY: We briefed them on the program and what we'd achieved and how > it worked and asked them should we continue the program. They were > unanimous, Republican and Democrat alike. All agreed: Absolutely > essential to continue the program. I then said, Do we need to come to > the Congress and get additional legislating authorization to continue > what we're doing? They said absolutely not. Don't do it. > > Watch it: > > Cheney's startling claims run directly counter to accounts by House > Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V. > Rather than asking for congressional input, Pelosi and Rockefeller > said in 2005 that Cheney simply informed them of what was going on -- > and ignored their objections: > > PELOSI: The Bush Administration considered these briefings to be > notification, not a request for approval. As is my practice whenever > I > am notified about such intelligence activities, I expressed my strong > concerns during these briefings. > > ROCKEFELLER: The record needs to be set clear that the administration > never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to > either > approve or disapprove the NSA program. > > Other congressional members who attended those briefings have said > that they were told only the barest outlines of the program. House > Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said > that the White House never disclosed that it was skirting the Foreign > Intelligence Surveillance Act to eavesdrop on Americans without > warrants. Former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Bob > Graham, D-Fla., said the same thing: > > The assumption was that if we did that, we would do it pursuant to > the > law, the law that regulates the surveillance of national security > issues. And there was no suggestion that we were going to begin > eavesdropping on United States citizens without following the full > law. ... There was no reference made to the fact that we were going > to > use that as the subterfuge to begin unwarranted, illegal -- and I > think unconstitutional -- eavesdropping on American citizens. > > What's more, Rockefeller, then vice chairman of the Intelligence > Committee, sent a handwritten letter to Cheney in 2003 to "reiterate > [his] concerns" about the wiretapping program. "I feel unable to > fully > evaluate, much less endorse these activities," he wrote. > > Cheney claims to have suggested seeking congressional approval right > away. However, the White House put up a stiff fight just a few years > later, when Congress finally sought to impose oversight of the > wiretapping program. The vice president has already presented > misleading information about the dates and frequency of these > supposed > briefings; now he appears to be offering misleading descriptions of > them. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
