Quote:
Originally posted by Nathans_Dad
Jon you are waaaay off base here! Of course suspected terrorists should be told if we plan on wiretapping them. In fact, they should have 48 hours notice that we plan on listening to any conversation they might have and that they are being investigated as a possible terrorist.
What are you, a fascist or something?
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I guess that part of your comment was intended to be humorous, but knocking down silly, specious arguments that nobody is making in order to defend warrantless, unchecked, uninhibited spying on Americans by Americans just irks me.
Why is it that the Bush/Cheney defenders never address the real issues? Why do they have to misrepresent the opposition viewpoint in order to defend their own?
This does not involve informing a suspect, domestic or foreign, that they will be surveiled. That is of course absurd. It's a pure question of whether the president respects separation of powers, whether he or she respects the privacy rights of citizens enough to obtain a constitutional warrant in order to listen in on the private conversations of Americans.
I have yet to hear a single justification for what James Risen says is the administration's listening in on 500 private conversations at a time, for the past four years, with no oversight. No accountability. None.
And please don't say, "it's only the terrorists."
Neither you nor I nor anyone else outside a secret and select group knows whom the NSA is listening to.