Friday, May 12, 2006

New phone-tap row threatens President's nominee for CIA

As I reported here, the NSA has been conducting what can only be described as fishing trips through the phone records of millions of ordinary Americans in one of the most stunning acts of illegality ever carried out by an American president whilst in office.

The revelations have caused uproar on Capitol Hill and now threaten Bush's ability to push through his extraordinary choice of General Michael Hayden to head the CIA.

Hayden, who was at the time director of the NSA, led the programme to monitor the calls of millions of ordinary Americans.

So rattled was the White House that President George Bush took the unusual step of responding in person, denying that the government was "mining or trawling the lives of millions of innocent Americans".

In an unscheduled appearance before his latest trip to the Gulf Coast, Mr Bush insisted that his government was not breaking the law, and did not eavesdrop on domestic phone calls without approval. "Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qa'ida and its known affiliates ... if [they] are making calls into and out of the US, we want to know what they are saying."

But the President conspicuously failed to deny what the USA Today newspaper actually reported - that three leading US phone companies - AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth - were handing over private phone records to the NSA for the spy agency to build a colossal database.

Bush has been caught with his hand in the till. His rattled response is merely more of an indication that the reports are true.

The report goes on to say:

Some analysts suggested the White House was in fact spoiling for a fight on the phone issue, confident that most Americans support such data-gathering by the government as part of the "war on terror".

It's this chronic inabilty to know what "most Americans support" that has led to Bush enjoying a popularity rating that today has sunk to an abysmal 29% - his lowest ever rating.

If he wants a fight on this issue, then to quote his own words back at him, "Bring 'em on!"

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