Please read today's bLog rant on this at:
http://www.aiipowmia.com/blog/aiiblog.html
Soldiers case shows law needs fixing
Staff and agencies
By KATHERINE SHRADER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - When three soldiers were abducted in Iraq in mid-May, U.S. government lawyers began drafting emergency warrants to try to monitor communications that could lead to the suspected captors.
It isnÔt known whether faster warrants might have helped rescue the soldiers. One official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitive nature of intelligence collection, said the situation is comparable to issuing an Amber Alert hours after a child is reported missing. Delays may hinder the search because the best information often comes early in an investigation.
The administration wants to amend the law to allow such monitoring without delay. Many Democrats agree that adjustments are needed, but skeptics say the soldiersÔ story is being misused.
Democratic lawmakers are treading carefully as they contemplate new surveillance powers for the Bush White House, given their conviction that it has abused its authority and violated long-held protections for civil liberties.
Other officials dispute suggestions that the surveillance law would have hampered the search for the soldiers.
Tierney thinks the problem is with the bureaucracy, not the law. He said the surveillance act makes clear that a warrant is not required to eavesdrop on foreign targets who are overseas, even if their communications cross into a U.S. network. But he and other Democrats are open to clarifying the confusion.
Asked to comment on the soldiersÔ case, a spokesman for National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell declined.
Complicating the question of what constitutes domestic surveillance is a fact of modern communications: Millions of calls placed in other countries by one foreigner to another are routed through the United States because some of the worldÔs most efficient communications networks reside here.
In a Fox News interview this week, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, went further than most officials in saying there is a need for change. He said a court ruling earlier this year prohibits U.S. intelligence services "from listening to two terrorists in other parts of the world, where the communication could come through the United States."
Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said the administration isnÔt seeking anything nefarious. "We just want to make sure that when we target foreign intelligence from a foreign terrorist in another country, we can do it immediately," he said.
Said Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., chairwoman of the House Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence: "The tweaks that are necessary should be agreeable on a bipartisan basis Ñ and not be used as a political witch to game the system."
About 20 miles outside of Baghdad, insurgents in Iraq ambushed an Army unit from Fort Drum, N.Y., on May 12. Three soldiers disappeared, and five were killed, including an Iraqi.
The body of one missing solider Ñ Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. Ñ was found in the Euphrates River on May 23.
Thousands of U.S. and Iraqi forces combed through fields, neighborhoods and even sewage-polluted irrigation ditches in an effort to rescue Pvt. Byron W. Fouty and Spec. Alex R. Jimenez. Two soldiers died during the search.
But the bodies of Fouty and Jimenez have yet to be found.
Calls to the families seeking reaction were not immediately returned.
AND
Senate expands Bush's surveillance authority
House could vote today on a similar measure regarding foreign terror suspects
Lara Jakes jordan / Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- In a high-stakes showdown over national security, the Senate voted late Friday to temporarily give President Bush expanded authority to eavesdrop on foreign terrorist suspects without court warrants.
The House, meanwhile, rejected a Democratic version of the bill.
Democratic leaders there were working on a plan to bring up the Senate-passed measure and vote on it today in response to Bush's demand that Congress give him the expanded surveillance authority before leaving for vacation this weekend.
The White House applauded the Senate vote and urged the House to quickly follow suit.
Senate Democrats reluctantly voted for a plan crafted by the White House after Bush promised to veto a Democratic alternative that would have required a court review within 15 days.
The Senate bill gives Bush the expanded eavesdropping authority for only six months. The Democratic version rejected by both the Senate and House would have allowed that authority for only four months.
When three soldiers were abducted in Iraq in mid-May, U.S. government lawyers began drafting warrants to try to monitor communications that could lead to the suspected captors.
The Bush administration and its allies, the Associated Press has learned, have argued that the legal work ate up precious hours because of an odd twist to a U.S. surveillance law. One of the soldiers was later found dead in the Euphrates River, and an al-Qaida offshoot has said the others are dead as well.
It isn't known whether faster warrants might have helped rescue the soldiers.
Delays may hinder the search because the best information often comes early in an investigation.
Pvt. Byron Fouty, 19, of Waterford was captured May 12 along with Spc. Alex R. Jimenez during a raid on their 10th Mountain Division near Youssifiyah. On June 9, soldiers discovered an al-Qaida safe house north of Baghdad where they found identification cards for the men.
Many Democrats agree that adjustments are needed, but skeptics say the soldiers' story is being misused.
© 2007 The Detroit News