I suspect readers are getting tired of seeing it — I know I’m tired of writing it — but as long as the president continues to misrepresent his warrantless-search program, I feel compelled to call him on it. And since his latest defense was featured in such a high-profile setting last night, it seems particularly noteworthy.
As expected, Bush used the SOTU to repeat his defense of the NSA controversy before a captive audience. He devoted 152 words to the issue, which in context, was a quite a lot.
“We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas. But we did not know about their plans until it was too late.
So to prevent another attack — based on authority given to me by the Constitution and by statute — I have authorized a terrorist surveillance program to aggressively pursue the international communications of suspected al Qaeda operatives and affiliates to and from America. Previous Presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have, and federal courts have approved the use of that authority. Appropriate members of Congress have been kept informed. The terrorist surveillance program has helped prevent terrorist attacks. It remains essential to the security of America. If there are people inside our country who are talking with al Qaeda, we want to know about it, because we will not sit back and wait to be hit again.”
There is almost nothing true to this; literally almost every sentence is misleading.
* “We now know that two of the hijackers in the United States placed telephone calls to al Qaeda operatives overseas. But we did not know about their plans until it was too late.” — The most misleading of the bunch. The administration didn’t need warrantless, legally-dubious searches to track the 9/11 terrorists down; intelligence officials already knew about the hijackers Bush referenced. A member of the 9/11 Commission said the president’s claim is “not true.”
* “[B]ased on authority given to me by the Constitution and by statute.” — No one outside the White House seems to agree.
* “Previous Presidents have used the same constitutional authority I have.” — No, they haven’t.
* “[F]ederal courts have approved the use of that authority.” — Name one.
* “Appropriate members of Congress have been kept informed.” — It depends on what you mean by “appropriate.” According to Congress’ lawyers, the administration was required by law to provide more information to more lawmakers, but Bush did not do so.
* “If there are people inside our country who are talking with al Qaeda, we want to know about it, because we will not sit back and wait to be hit again.” — Of course we want to know about it. Follow the law, allow for some oversight, and get all the intelligence needed to keep America safe.
This is the best the White House can do in coming up with a defense. It’s wrong.