I'd Rather Stick A Needle In My Eye Than Get A Warrant

Scotty McMessage McClellan twists and turns at the outset of the Q & A in his latest attempt to plug the gaping hole in the W, Rove and Co rationale for spying on us. Have a gander at this exchange below and you understand why many are legitimately pissed.

Not only that, but lets just say one of the terrorists (or worse yet, some one who has been detained as a terrorist with no due process, but legitimately had no connection with terrorism whatsoever) manages to wrangle a lawsuit (okay, right there you have me as I know the W, Rove and Co is not allowing any lawsuits by "detainees," but let's just for argument's sake pretend) suggesting that his/her rights were violated. Will the case be rejected or will damages be awarded at great taxpayer expense because of the actions of the W, Rove and Co?

My bet, we loose that suit, not unlike all the wrongful death suits that should mushroom out of the mire that Katrina left. And, again, we find that there is nothing fiscally conservative about the current administration and we leave our future generations in hock beyond our stars and stripes.

Q I have two questions that can be dismissed with a yes or no. One, is the President going to seek any legal -- more legal permission from Congress to spy on Americans without a warrant? And two, does he think, does he believe that his new designation of the spy program, terrorist surveillance, will tarnish people who are spied on and are guilty or not guilty?

MR. McCLELLAN: Let me take the first part of your question, and I think it's important to give a clearer picture of where things are with the American people, and so I want to make a few comments about it.

Q I want to know where you stand --

MR. McCLELLAN: And I'm going to do that. I've already previously answered this question with reporters and stated our view; the Attorney General stated it earlier today in some interviews. This is an important tool that helps to save lives by preventing attacks. It is a limited, targeted program aimed at al Qaeda communications, as the President pointed out yesterday. This program is focused only on communications in which one person is reasonably suspected of links to al Qaeda or affiliated terrorist organizations. And it involves international communications. I reject your characterization to suggest it's domestic spying. That's like saying someone making a phone call from inside the United States to another country is a domestic call. It is billed the international rate and it is labeled --

Q The law says he has to seek a court warrant.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- it is labeled an international call --

Q Why doesn't he seek a warrant? What's the big problem?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, actually, we've walked through this repeatedly over the last few days. It's important for the American people to understand what the facts are. There is a lot of misinformation about --

Q Why can't you seek a warrant?

MR. McCLELLAN: -- this program. And we do use the FISA tool, as well. That's an important tool, as well. But we have briefed members of Congress more than a dozen times on this. We continue to brief members of Congress in an appropriate manner. This is a highly classified program and it is a vital program to our nation's security. The 9/11 Commission criticized us for not connecting the dots --

Q Is it vital to go through legal steps?

MR. McCLELLAN: This is helping us to connect the dots in a very targeted and focused way. Q Why can't he seek a warrant?

MR. McCLELLAN: It is about detecting and preventing attacks. FISA was created for a different time period. General Hayden walked through that yesterday; the Attorney General talked about it more. This is about moving with speed and agility, not some long-term period of time. It's about detecting --

Q You can get one retroactively.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- it's about detecting and preventing attacks. And we are a nation at war, and the courts have upheld the President's authority to engage in surveillance. Surveillance is critical to prevailing in the war on terrorism.

Q He doesn't have a blank check.

MR. McCLELLAN: And we talked with members of Congress about whether or not there needed to be legislation that reflects what the President's authority already is, and the congressional leaders felt that by doing so it could compromise this program. This is a vital program and it's important that we don't show the enemy our play book. And talking about it --

Q Getting warrants doesn't show the enemy a play book.

MR. McCLELLAN: Okay. Next question.