Obama’s FISA
Betrayal
By Matthew
Rothschild
26/06/08
"The
Progressive"
--- - Barack
Obama’s
rightward
sprint is
nowhere more
obvious than
in his
betrayal on
the FISA
bill.
This bill
allows the
President to
grab all
incoming and
outgoing
international
communications
without a
warrant.
The ACLU
says it
represents
“an
unprecedented
extension of
governmental
surveillance
over
Americans.”
Obama,
sounding on
Friday a lot
like Bush,
said: “Given
the
legitimate
threats we
face,
providing
effective
intelligence
collection
tools with
appropriate
safeguards
is too
important to
delay.”
Here’s what
Bush said
the same day
as Obama:
The bill
“allows our
intelligence
professionals
to quickly
and
effectively
monitor the
plans of
terrorists
abroad,
while
protecting
the
liberties of
Americans
here at
home.”
But it
doesn’t
protect our
liberties,
and Obama
ought to
know that.
Obama said
it “firmly
reestablishes
basic
judicial
oversight
over all
domestic
surveillance.”
But the ACLU
notes that
the bill
“permits
only minimal
court
oversight.
The FISA
Court only
reviews
general
procedures
for
targeting
and
minimizing
the use of
information
that is
collected.
The court
may not know
who, what,
or where
will
actually be
tapped,
thereby
undercutting
any
meaningful
for the
court and
violating
the Fourth
Amendment.”
What’s more,
in the
incredibly
rare
instances
where the
FISA Court
denies a
warrant to
the
President,
under the
new bill the
President
can go ahead
and do the
wiretapping
anyway while
the appeals
process
continues, a
process that
the ACLU
says can
take two
months.
Russ
Feingold
calls the
idea that
this is a
good
compromise
“a farce”
and
“political
cover.”
Says
Feingold:
“Anybody who
claims this
is an OK
bill, I
really
question if
they’ve even
read it.”
Has Obama?
If not,
that’s a
problem.
And if he
has, and
still
approves of
it, that’s
an even
bigger one.
Matthew
Rothschild
is the
editor of
The
Progressive
magazine.
Copyright
2008 The
Progressive
Magazine
