NSA Arm Twisting

The LA Times has some harsh, and warranted, words for Senator Pat "I'm a Bush tool" Roberts and the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Advise and assent
THAT THE UNITED STATES Senate has a body called the Intelligence Committee is an irony George Orwell would have truly appreciated. In a world without Doublespeak, the panel, chaired by GOP Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, would be known by a more appropriate name -- the Senate Coverup Committee.

Although the committee is officially charged with overseeing the nation's intelligence-gathering operations, its real function in recent years has been to prevent the public from getting hold of any meaningful information about the Bush administration. Hence its never-ending delays of the probe into the bogus weapons intelligence used to justify the invasion of Iraq. And its squelching, on Thursday, of an expected investigation into the administration's warrantless spying program. [Read More]

The Bush team has been working overtime to insure that there will be no investigation into the illegal NSA domestic spying program. This begs the question: Why are they working so hard to stymie an investigation when they insist that they have the legal authority to conduct such a program? I see two possible answers here; first, that they do not have the legal authority they so righteously claim. And second, that there is more illegal domestic spying going on here then they wish to admit to. Stay tuned, this saga is far from over.

Update: For more wiretapping stuff the great Glenn Greenwald breaks it down like no one else. Go read Glenn now, you'll be glad you did.