LISTENING IN….Yesterday, President Bush insisted, again, that he has been “clear about the fact that we do not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval.”
That’s great to hear. But we’d all feel a lot better about this if both Michael Hayden and Alberto Gonzales hadn’t told us that this could change at any time:
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Hayden: Asked why domestic calls weren’t tapped, said simply, “that’s where we’ve decided to draw that balance between security and liberty.”
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Gonzales: Asked if the president might authorize domestic taps, said, “I’m not going to rule it out.”
Both men specifically suggested that the only reason domestic calls weren’t being tapped was because the president had decided not to ? and that this might change in the future. Which is what makes op-eds like this almost too fatuous to believe.
