DOMESTIC SPYING PROMPTS TALK OF IMPEACHMENT


By HAZEL TRICE EDNEY, The Wilmington Journal

WASHINGTON (NNPA) – President Bush's authorization of a secret domestic spying program – and his fierce defense of his action – is leading to talk of possible impeachment.

"In my opinion, the President has violated the law, and the House and Senate must pursue their inquiries into this illegal program….George W. Bush is the president. He is not a king. He is not above the law," states U. S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) in a release last week. "I look forward to further inquiry in the House and Senate on these matters. The American people deserve the truth. We must gather the facts and determine once and for all whether the law was violated. There is no question that the U. S. Congress has impeached presidents for lesser offenses."

Lewis continues, "This executive order takes us back to the dark past when our government spied on civil rights leaders and Vietnam War protestors.

Without obtaining the judicial authorization required to wiretap American citizens, the American people have no protection against the misuse of this program for illegal or vindictive means."

Bush adamantly defended the program, first disclosed two weeks ago by the New York Times. He said at a White House news conference, "I've authorized this program more than 30 times since the September the 11th attacks and I intend to do so for so long as the nation faces the continuing threat of an enemy that wants to kill our American citizens."

The revelation of the secret domestic spying program has angered both Democrats and Republicans.

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would conduct hearings on the warrantless monitoring of international phone calls, faxes and e-mails of U.S. citizens or residents since 2002.

''There are limits to what the president can do under the Constitution,'' Specter said on CNN's ''Late Edition.'' ''Whether it was legal is a matter that ought to be examined.''

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has asked why Bush failed to get the warrants from the court under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, which set up an 11-member court to issue warrants to investigate U. S. suspects in national security cases. In recent years, the secret court has issued more than 4,000 warrants and denied less than a dozen requests by the administration.

''Why did the president choose not to use FISA?'' McCain asked on "This Week," an ABC news show.

''That's a legitimate question."

Meanwhile, a member of that court, U.S. District Judge James Robertson, resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, apparently to protest Bush's decision to bypass special court. ...