My LTTE ragarding Repub support of wiretapping...

[rustydog]

A stain on the Constitution

To the editor — Dr. ******* ******** (Letters, March 14) is using talking-points arguments to try to downplay what could be a serious violation of the Constitution by the president of the United States of America.

I am compelled to respond.

Yes, the National Security Agency can spy on people and can "wiretap," but it still must follow the Constitution. To assert anything else is pure folly.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows for warrantless wiretaps, states clearly that President Bush can spy on
foreign-to-domestic calls and vice versa, without a warrant for three days (72 hours).

Three days subsequent to the wiretap taking place, the government must go to a FISA judge (conveniently located several feet down the hall from the Attorney General's Office) and pick up a warrant.

Let us get down to brass tacks.

The NSA "wiretapped" hundreds of thousands of domestic calls. Some news reports mention over 600,000!

The issue is: Did Bush violate the law by authorizing the warrantless wiretapping of domestic-to-domestic calls? Did Bush illegally wiretap the Democratic opposition in 2004? This is the question, plain and simple: Did Bush violate the Constitution?

This isn't a semen stain on a dress; it is a stain on the Constitution and we must seek the truth.


RICHARD BARTZ