The Department of Justice is beginning an investigation into the release of information about the Bush Administration's illegal domestic spying operation. Only in Bush world could DOJ investigate the alleged leak while ignoring the underlying crime. Every time they talk leak, we have to talk about the real crime committed by the President. Fortunately, that drumbeat has started:
Privacy advocates said today that the leak investigation should be set aside, at least for now, in favor of an investigation of the warrantless eavesdropping itself.The Democrats can't drop the ball on this one. Bush committed a crime. And, he has to take the punishment. The President is not above the law which, you will recall, was the GOP mantra during the Clinton impeachment saga.
"President Bush broke the law and lied to the American people when he unilaterally authorized secret wiretaps of U.S. citizens," said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union. "But rather than focus on this constitutional crisis, Attorney General Gonzales is cracking down on critics of his friend and boss. Our nation is strengthened, not weakened, by those whistle-blowers who are courageous enough to speak out on violations of the law."
Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, said his group believes "the priority at this point for the Department of Justice should be the appointment of an independent prosecutor to determine whether federal wiretap laws were violated" by the National Security Agency program.
