Bush Defends Secret Spying in the U.S. - Yahoo! News
"'I didn't hear him specify any legal right, except his right as president, which in a democracy doesn't make much sense,' Bamford said in an interview. 'Today, what Bush said is he went around the law, which is a violation of the law — which is illegal.'
Retired Adm. Bobby Inman, who led the NSA from 1977 to 1981, said Bush's authorization of the eavesdropping would have been justified in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks 'because at that point you couldn't get a court warrant unless you could show probable cause.'
'Once the Patriot Act was in place, I am puzzled what was the need to continue outside the court,' Inman added. But he said, 'If the fact is valid that Congress was notified, there will be no consequences.'"
- posted by geoff @ #