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Originally Posted by stevo
how is "anything necessary" vague? Its pretty clear to me. A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G necessary. What congress gave the president following 9/11 was tantamount to a declaration of war. He was given the powers to do whatever he needed to catch people involved in 9/11 and al-qaeda and to prevent any future terrorist attacts. Since they gave him this power "he" can spy on people suspected of having terrorist ties. Not just ordinary americans, but people with suspected ties. You have a problem with our government listening in on calls between suspected al-qaeda in the US and agents outside the US?
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it is vague in application. if this statement is to be streched as far as possible, you can indeed apply it to anything. in that case, why enumerate various powers through legislation? this phrase holds more weight than much more specific laws on the books (FISA) or any law anywhere...! there has been a lot of debate over the mechanics of the patriot act in the last month. yet this short phrase renders volumes of material superfluous? the president actually possesses unbounded power and priviledge to do whatever he wants, even something blatantly unconstitutional or illegal (even torture, assassination, etc.), provided it can be said to prevent terrorism?
that is ridiculous. this statement can not give the president power to do anything under the sun. there must be limits. in my opinion, these limits can be found in better established laws.
i don't "have a problem" with the gov't protecting us from terrorists. surely if they are doing this, the FISA court will grant them permission...just as it has thousands of times before. i don't understand why they wish to bypass this simple procedure.