The DNC tries to document once and for all: Did George W. Bush break the law?

I guess I'm not very high up on the message-forwarding chain, as I just got this mailing from Tom McMahon, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, which I see was sent out on Thursday. So it's probably too late to join in the Freedom of Information Act request. But the issues raised here are still important ones, and it's still worth checking the website.--Ken in NY


More of the story is emerging about George Bush's use of our foreign intelligence services to spy on Americans without the consent of any court. Yesterday, after Governor Dean wrote to you, it was revealed that Bush was untruthful on the campaign trail in 2004 -- here's what he said then:

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so." -- George Bush, April 20, 2004

That was false, and he knew it at the time. A few days ago Bush personally admitted to overseeing wiretaps without any court orders.

Administration apologists continue to offer vague assertions that Bush's domestic spying program was somehow legal. Americans aren't buying it. In the last 24 hours, over 100,000 Americans have demanded to see the legal memos written by Bush appointees supposedly justifying this unprecedented, dangerous act.

Join our Freedom of Information Act request for these crucial documents -- the people need to know what authority this administration thinks it has:

www.democrats.org/foia

Bizarre excuses keep emerging from the right-wing spin machine for Bush's failure to use the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to obtain warrants. That court provides speedy, secure judicial review for our intelligence agencies. It has rejected a total of five requests for warrants over the last thirty years -- and granted more than 19,000 requests. Our intelligence agencies can even request warrants retroactively days after they begin surveillance, ensuring maximum flexibility.

It is vitally important that we get to the bottom of this explosive scandal. The same political cronies at the Bush Justice Department who wrote the infamous torture memos also appear to have written the still-secret memos fabricating the supposed legal authority behind this illegal surveillance.

Please add your name to the formal Freedom of Information Act request now. We plan to deliver it tomorrow, and you can make a powerful statement by being a part of it:

www.democrats.org/foia

If those documents reveal the kind of flimsy justification and manipulation of the law that we saw in the torture memos, and which we are hearing this week from administration officials, we may be on the verge of unraveling a serious abuse of power not seen since the Richard Nixon era.

And we all remember how that ended.

Tom

Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee