George W. Bush authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on people in hte US with known times to al Queda and its front organizations. Bill Clinton used IRS records to intimidate women who wanted to speak out against him.
George Bush was concerned about American Security. Bill Clinton was/is concerned with protecting his rep and "legacy."
TMLutas asks what is the difference between this program and Bill Clinton and the ECHELON program?
Over at JustOneMinute, one of the commentators discusses Clinton's "secret" and "unchecked by the judiciary" searches and seizures:
It's interesting and revealing that if former Clinton Administration national security officials were involved in this story that the Times piece doesn't mention an important fact: The Clinton Administration argued in 2000 that warrants were not required for monitoring al-Qaeda agents.
In other words, the same thing, inter alia, that the Bush Administration is positing.
Summary: When the Clinton Administration prosecuted two Kenyans for their involvement in the African embassy bombings (US v. Usama Bin Laden), the Kenyans tried to get evidence excluded because their 4th Amendment rights had been violated (no warrants were issued when officials searched their homes in Kenya).
The Clinton Administration argued that:
"The searches were primarily conducted for the purpose of foreign intelligence collection and are, therefore, not subject to the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment."
Additionally, the Clinton Justice Department argued that:
"Searches conducted for the purposes of foreign intelligence collection which target persons who are agents of a foreign power do not require a warrant.
We'll hear more about this very soon.
Why Mr. Risen didn't include this tidbit remains to be determined.
SMG
The reason Risen didn't include this "tidbit" is because the MSM is out to destroy Bush and frame Clinton as a positive legacy, far different from "McChimperorShrubbinBusHitler."
