Ron Fineman's OTR * Chris Kazarian

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - Part I

In the four months since my last column, a lot has gone on in the political arena both here in the U.S. and abroad. Some of it good, some not so good, some of it downright ugly.....

THE GOOD

Harriet Miers withdrew her name as a nominee for justice of SCOTUS.

Judge Samuel Alito was nominated for that vacancy, and barring a "Borking" should be confirmed in relatively short order.

We are winning the GWOT despite the efforts of the Blame America First (BAF) crowd on the looney left like Howard "We can't win this war" Dean; Nancy "Cut and Run" Pelosi; John "Our Troops are Terrorists" Kerry, and the best efforts of their minions in the MSM.... With each successive election in Iraq voter turnout has increased and the number of terrorist attacks have decreased. 70% of Iraqis came out to vote on December 15th and democracies are being formed in the region.

President Bush must read OTR. It took him long enough but he took my suggestion from late August and started talking to the American people about our successes in the GWOT. GWB finally realized you can't take the "high road" by trying to ignore the "gutter tactics" of the domestic insurgency.

Joe Lieberman is the only Democrat on The Hill that I am aware of with the guts to put the security interests of his country before the political interests of his party. While most Americans appreciate Senator Lieberman's patriotism, his own party is considering running someone against him in 2006. Parenthetically, the BAF crowd of the Democratic Party are "outraged" when they believe their partiotism is being called into question. It is. And for good reason.

NSA Wiretapping approved by President Bush is a good thing unless you're a terrorist, a BAF Democrat that despises the president and/or a "Stuck on Stupid" Republican who wants to be President in 2008 like Lindsey Graham.

Suggestion for all of the above....Read the Constitution. Article II. Amendment IV. Then read related case law especially as it applies to FISA i.e., U.S. v. Truong (2001) and In Re: Sealed Case (2002) the opinion by the special panel of appelate judges to hear FISA appeals.Their opinion held that a federal "court, as did all the other courts to have decided the issue, held that the President did have inherent authority to conduct warrantless searches to obtain foreign intelligence information." And stated further "we take for granted that the President does have authority and, assuming that is so, FISA could not encroach on the President's constitutional power."

Bottom line, the courts continually have ruled to uphold the assertion of the Deputy Attorney General who stated that "The Justice Department believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes." And then went on to say that "It is important to understand that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities."

That was President Clinton's Deputy AG, Jamie Gorelick, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July, 14, 1994. Ms. Gorelick later served in the 9-11 Commission.

The wiretapping of suspected terrorists most likely prevented the Brooklyn Bridge from being blown up in 2002, as well as leading to the apprehension of other suspected terrorist cells here and abroad. We don't know the specifics and we don't need to know them. All we need to know is that our president is doing everything within the constitutional powers given to him to keep the American people as safe as possible. from our enemy.

What's more, the President has kept key members of Congress apprised of the this program on at least 12 occasions. It's about time we hold hearings. It would be interesting to hear what Pelosi and other Democrats who are (were) part of that inner circle have to say.

Here's a question which might indicate how seriously you view the GWOT. Try not to allow your political prejudices to interfere with your answer.

Which makes you more upset:

A. The existence of the above mentioned domestic surveillance program authorized by President Bush after 9 -11

B. The fact that the domestic surveillance program was leaked and reported by the NYTimes which allowed everyone including the terrorists to become aware of its existence.

To be continued....