Are You Ready for Some Hearings?

Screw Super Bowl Sunday. Yes I said it. I'm un-American. But my Giants aren't in the game, so forget about the whole over-hyped spectacle and keep the nachos warm for Super Spying Monday.

In case you've had your head in a cave for the past few months here are the basics for tomorrow's hearing. The president, under the guise of fighting terrorism, took it upon himself to circumvent the law and ILLEGALLY spied on the American people. The president broke the law and tomorrow he sends his consigliere, Alberto Gonzales, before the Senate judiciary committee to justify his illegal actions. Sure the Bushes claim they have the legal authority. Whether it be derived from the Constitution as commander-in-chief (we are at "war," you know) or under the congressional resolution which authorized military force against those responsible for 9/11. Either way the president is on thin legal ground.

TIME magazine has the exclusive lowdown on how Gonzales plans to defend the illegal eavesdropping program. Get ready for the same old, same old from Gonzales. The spin is already making me queasy.

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales plans to use a Congressional hearing on Monday to lash out at "misinformed, confused" news accounts about President George W. Bush's warrantless eavesdropping program, and to declare it "is not a dragnet," according to administration documents provided to TIME. "I cannot and will not address operational aspects of the program or other purported activities described in press reports," he plans to say in testimony prepared for the Senate Judiciary Committee. "These press accounts are in almost every case, in one way or another, misinformed, confused, or wrong."

According to the documents, Gonzales plans to assert in his opening statement that seeking approval for the wiretaps from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court could result in delays that "may make the difference between success and failure in preventing the next attack." He will compare the program to telegraph wiretapping during the Civil War. [Read More]

See here's the thing, leaving aside the whole Civil War argument, which is a doozy in and of itself, and even putting aside the legality of the program, the program doesn't even work. Today's Washington Post has the details.

Intelligence officers who eavesdropped on thousands of Americans in overseas calls under authority from President Bush have dismissed nearly all of them as potential suspects after hearing nothing pertinent to a terrorist threat, according to accounts from current and former government officials and private-sector sources with knowledge of the technologies in use. [Read More]

Jill, who is always Brilliant at Breakfast, sums it up like this:

But when it's this clear that the plan is both unconstitutional AND ineffective, it becomes impossible to justify on national security grounds.

All right, there you have it. On all grounds the president's so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program" is unjustifiable. Read TIME and get a bit Gonzales queasy. Then read the Washington Post and get a bit Gonzales angry. Then put on your favorite Bill of Rights t-shirt on and get ready for some hearings.