Conservative and Republican Voices Against President Bush�s NSA Spying Program

The url below gives a list of conservative and Republican voices against President Bush's NSA Spying Program. The names and their comments are impressive and show that many people are opposed to the President's crimes.

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/nsaspying/24106leg20060208.htm

Representative Heather Wilson (R-NM) Chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence ("Republican
Who Oversees N.S.A. Calls for Wiretap Inquiry," New York Times, 2/08/06)
The lawmaker said she had "serious concerns" about the surveillance program.

By withholding information about its operations from lawmakers, she said, the administration has deepened her apprehension about whom the agency is monitoring and why. Ms. Wilson said& that she considered the limited Congressional briefings to be "increasingly untenable" because they left most lawmakers knowing little about the program. She said the House Intelligence Committee needed to conduct a "painstaking" review, including not only classified briefings but also access to internal documents and staff interviews with N.S.A. aides and intelligence officials.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), member of the Judiciary Committee and the Armed Services Committee ("Privacy Concerns, Terror Fight at Odds," Washington Post, 2/07/05) "This statutory force resolution argument that you are making is very dangerous in terms of its application for the future," Graham told Gonzales. "When I voted for it, I never envisioned that I was giving to this president or any other president the ability to go around FISA carte blanche."

"The overriding issue that's at stake in these hearings is the stance of the administration that they're going to decide in secrecy which laws theyre going to follow and which laws they can bypass."
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Com mittee ("Privacy Concerns, Terror Fight at Odds," Washington! Post, 2/07/06)
"The whole history of America is a history of balance, Specter said, referring to security and civil liberties. "I think there's a chance the administration might take up the idea of putting this whole issue before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court& I think they are seeing concerns in a lot of directions from all segments: Democrats and
Republicans in all shades of the political spectrum."
(Senate hearing on NSA and Domestic Spying, 2/06/06)
"The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was passed in 1978, and has a forceful and blanket prohibition against any electronic surveillance without a court order. That law was signed by President Carter with a signing statement that that was the exclusive way for electronic surveillance. There is beyond, a constitutional issue as to whether
the president has inherent powers under Article 2 of the Constitution to undertake a program of this sort. If the president has constitutional authority, that trumps
and supersedes the statute. The Constitution is the fundamental law
of the county, and a statute cannot be inconsistent with a constitutional
provision."

Bob Barr, former Republican member of Congress and Chairman
of Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances (U.S. Newswire, 1/17/06)
"When the Patriot Act was passed shortly after 9-11, the
federal government was granted expanded access to Americans' private
information. However, federal law still clearly states that intelligence agents must have a court order to conduct electronic surveillance of Americans on these shores. Yet the federal government overstepped the protections of the Constitution and the plain language of FISA to eavesdrop on Americans private communication without any judicial checks and without proof that they are involved in terrorism."
David Keene, Chairman of th (U.S. Newswire, 1/17/06)
"The need to reform surveillance laws and practices adopted since 9/11 is more apparent now than ever. No one would ! deny the government the power it needs to protect us all, but when that power poses a threat to the basic rights that make our nation unique, its exercise must be carefully monitored by Congress and the
courts. This is not a partisan issue, it is an issue of safeguarding the fundamental freedoms of all Americans so that future administrations do not interpret our laws in ways that post constitutional concerns."

Paul Craig Roberts, former Assistant Secretary of the
Treasury in the Reagan Administration ("Against Truth-Tellers," ) "Compared to Spygate, Watergate was a kindergarten picnic. The Bush administration's lies, felonies, and illegalities have revealed it to be a criminal administration with a police state mentality and police state methods. Now Bush and his attorney general have gone with the final step and declared Bush to be above the law. Bush aggressively mimics Hitler ' s clai m that defense of the realm entitles him to ignore the rule! of the law. These possible reasons for bypassing the law and the court need to be fully investigated and debated.
No administration in my lifetime has given so many strong reasons to oppose and condemn it as has the Bush administration. Nixon was driven from office because of
a minor burglary of no consequence in itself. Clinton was impeached because he did not
want the embarrassment of publicly acknowledging that he engaged in adulterous
sex acts in the Oval Office.
In contrast, Bush has deceived the public and Congress in order to invade Iraq,
illegally detained Americans, illegally tortured detainees, and illegally spied on Americans. Bush has upheld neither the Constitution nor the law of the land."

Robert Levy, Constitutional Scholar and Federalist Society
Board Member (http://www.fed-soc.org/pdf/domesticsurveillance.pdf)
"The text of FISA & is unambiguous: A person is guilty of an offense if he intentionally engages in electronic surveillance & except as authorized by statue. I know of no court case that has denied there is a reasonable expectation of privacy by U.S. citizens and permanent resident aliens in the types of wire communications that are reportedly monitored by the NSA's electronic surveillance program."

This just a small sampling. There is very many more voices and comments. Access the url to read them all -- if you have the time and stamina.