John-Nicholas Furst
Fact
Summary:
President Bush ordered some phones and e-
mails of US citizens to be tapped after
September 11th 2001.The public didn’t know
about this until December 2005. The Bush
administration tried to prove that this was legal
because “the Constitution gives the president
inherent powers to authorize warrantless
wiretaps to protect national security”(npr.org),
and “Congress gave the president that power
when, three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, it
authorized him to use "all necessary and
appropriate military force"’(npr.org).
Paraphrase:
President Bush authorized the wiretaps on
some domestic phone calls and e-mails shortly
after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (npr.org).
Quote:
“…it authorized him to use ‘all necessary and
appropriate military force’ against al Qaeda”
(npr.org).
Godoy, Maria. NSA Wiretapping: The Legal Debate. National Public Radio. January 15,
2006. May 26, 2006 <http://www.npr.org/news/specials/nsawiretap/legality.html>.
Opinion
The NPR article compares how the Bush
administration and the non-biased
Congressional Research Service interpret
various U.S. laws and regulations. In every
case the Bush administration interpretation was
that their actions of tapping U.S. citizens was
justified according to the stated laws and
regulations. The Congressional Research
Service took the opposite view of the Bush
administration in every case, and in their
interpretation found the Bush administration
acted outside of the laws and regulations. The
message of the NPR article was that the Bush
administration was trying to use the
constitution, which was meant to protect
people’s rights, in a way that actually impinged
on people’s rights.