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Originally Posted by pigglet
stevo,
From what I have read, the paper that broke the story sat on it a year. My guess is that it may have been reported internally through the OIG / intelligence committees, or it was obvious that the information had made its way as far as it was going to. Even if it wasn't reported through the OIG, the people to whom it would have been reported were already in possession of the knowledge. If the NSA employees / journalists / whomever else felt they had participated in / uncovered illegal activities - what recourse would they have if the information was stalled in committee?
If you say the government is protected, I don't understand how that is consistent with a conservative position of limited government with limited federal powers. If you say it is not, then the issue involving the wiretapping story centers not around how the information was broken, but around whether or not the program is illegal. At least, it seems that way to me.
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To start with limited government and limited federal powers; sure I agree with that, but its not like you can just apply that to every sector of the government as a whole. When it comes to the security of this nation and the poeple in it the president should (and does) have the authority to do what is necessary to protect this country and her citizens.
And the way I see the leak as it pertains to the wiretapping story isn't some whistleblower concerned about wrongdoing. The intelligence committee is headed by republicans, but it is a bipartisan committee. There are 8 republicans and 7 democrats. They all received the same info from the administration. What I think this all comes down to is a democrat on the committee (imo Feinstein) seeing an opportunity to leak some classified info that she (or he) knows will cause an outcry against bush in just another attempt by powerless democrats to bring down the bush administration. And, as expected, people take the bait and run. But in the end nothing will come of it but the destruction of an intelligence gathering program.
Right after 9-11 there was a huge outcry. How could we not have the information. How could this have happened. Now when we have plans in place and are taking steps to keep it from happening again theres a huge outcry. To quote Joe Quimby, "You people are a bunch of pickled mush-heads." (followed by applause from the people).