----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Volk" <joevolk@fcnl.org>
To: "Miriam Vieni" <miriamvieni@optonline.net>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2006 3:09 PM
Subject: Driven by Fear or Governed by Law?- FCNL
Subject: Driven by Fear or Governed by Law?-- FCNL
In his "global war on terror," President Bush has a strategy
for U.S. security which can be summed up in one word: "Boo!"
Once upon a time, in the era of the New Deal, a president led by
reminding citizens that their only fear should be fear itself. The
public responded with courage and resolve. Today, George W. Bush offers
different advice and a different deal. He scares the bejeezes out of
the public with made-up stories of false threats based on
dis-information. He says, be afraid. And then he pitches his deal: give
up your liberty and I'll make you safe. What will our response be to
this fear-deal? To save our liberty, we must respond with courage and
resolve. What was true in the 20th century remains true today in the
21st century: the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
George W. Bush launched a public campaign this week to defend the
administration's warrant-less domestic spying program and paint
congressional critics of the program from both parties as unwilling to
make the tough choices needed to protect the United States from attack.
We can't let this White House public relations campaign go unanswered.
We must support the Senate investigation of the legal foundation for
this program. Follow this link to write a letter to your senators:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8422726&type=CO
Is the President Above the Law?
Our country faces real threats. Presidents do have a responsibility to
protect the United States. But in our society the president is not
above the law. We believe the National Security Agency (NSA) domestic
spying program violates a specific provision of one law. Five senators
from the president's own party, John McCain, Arlen Specter, Chuck
Hagel, Lindsey Graham, and Sam Brownback, have also expressed doubts
about the legal basis for this program to spy on U.S. citizens. The
Senate has scheduled hearings for February 6 to examine this issue, but
the White House campaign could lead some senators to back away from a
full investigation on the rule of law and the responses to the
president's arguments.
The NSA spying program is but one example of a broader White House
effort expanding presidential powers and usurping laws passed by
Congress in a manner that threatens our constitutional democracy. The
president states flatly that the NSA spying program is legal. When
asked during a press conference on Thursday by a reporter about
assertions that his actions circumvent the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), a law that establishes procedures for
domestic wiretapping by the NSA, the president said:
"The FISA law was written in 1978. We're having this discussion in
2006. It's a different world. FISA is still an important tool. And we
still use that tool. But I said, look, is it possible to conduct this
program under the old law? And people said, it doesn't work in order to
be able to do the job we expect us to do. And so that's why I made the
decision I made. And you know, 'circumventing' is a loaded word, and I
refuse to accept it, because I believe what I'm doing is legally
right."
That is a breathtaking admission.
The president admitted that he didn't like the law so he just made up
his own rules. So where does the presidential authority come from to
authorize this program? The answer from the administration is that the
congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force to
respond to the attacks of September 11, 2001 grants the president power
to do what he needs to do. "Most presidents believe that during a
time of war that we can use our authorities under the Constitution to
make decisions necessary to protect us," the president said
Thursday. He believes that 2001 law, in effect, told the
administration: "Go ahead and conduct the war. We're not going to
tell you how to do it."
Different times, difficult issues, and new challenges do require
reconsideration. Some members of Congress from both parties have
suggested that Congress should consider amending the FISA law to grant
the president the authority he needs to engage in wiretapping without
approval even by the secret FISA court to track violent extremists
communicating with people in the United States. But the president
suggested this week that he will resist attempts to rewrite the laws
because even a public debate on his actions might endanger national
security.
This administration's response to legitimate questioning about the
expansion of presidential powers that could infringe on individual
rights is to charge that the people formulating the questions are
weakening the United States, exposing the country to the possibility of
further violent attacks, and imposing unreasonable restraints on the
president during wartime.
That argument cannot -- must not -- go unchallenged. The country can --
and we must -- promote conditions for our public to be safe and our
country secure by preserving individual liberties. This country had a
revolution when another George tried to be the law over here, and the
public kicked him out of the country in the name of freedom and
security.
From the beginning of our country, freedom and security have lived
hand-in-hand as partners under the Constitution, not antagonists. The
Senate hearings that begin on February 6 offer an opportunity to open
up a public debate on these issues. But the debate must be rooted in a
reaffirmation that Congress under the Constitution is charged as a
coequal branch of government with the responsibility to govern this
country. No president is above the law, especially not in wartime.
Presidents must respect Congress as a coequal partner and must abide by
the laws of this country. And Congress must not subordinate itself to
the president, not even in hard times.
TAKE ACTION NOW
Write your senators today. We must persuade Congress to investigate
carefully the NSA spying program and other attempts to usurp the
constitutionally protected powers of the Congress. Follow this link to
write a letter to your Senators:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=8422726&type=CO
Speak out, talk to friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others in your
community. Urge them to speak out as well.
In the next week, FCNL will be posting on our web site documents,
papers, and other resources that offer a more detailed analysis of this
debate on the fate of freedom and responses to the president's
arguments. We encourage you to check back often.
BACKGROUND
Read the President's statements about wiretapping:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060125-1.html
Read the questions that Senator Specter is asking Attorney General
Gonzalez about the program:
http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/civ_liberties/012406Gonzales.pdf
Find out why six senators are demanding an investigation of this
program: http://feinstein.senate.gov/05releases/r-i-spying.htm
Read the text from the Authorization for the Use of Force from the
107th Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:s.j.res.23.enr:
_______________________________________
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________________________________________
Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 Second St. NE, Washington, DC 20002-5795
fcnl@fcnl.org * http://www.fcnl.org
phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330
We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.
Read the text from the Authorization for the Use of Force from the
107th Congress
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:s.j.res.23.enr:
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