"Constantly Reviewed" Is Not The Same As "Constantly Briefed"

The debate rages. Are the illegal warrantless wiretaps really on a solid legal platform? The President, of course, refuses to talk about the testimony of his former Dept. AG, and in the process falls back to trumpeting the Al Qaeda message to drive the fear factor into his argument and avoid legitimate questions.

Have a look at this statement from Thursday's joint press availability and see what you think. Remember, there is a big difference between reviewing a program before and during its implementation and being briefed on it. If you were seeking to ensure that your government is doing the right and legal thing, don't you think review should have been a better measure rather than resting on simple briefings?

Without dredging up the old reports about the outbreak of this scandal, as I remember it, it sounds like the President is misremembering his facts. Fudging the line between review and briefing is a nice way to not answer the questions isn't it? "Constantly!" Hmmm...was it?

Q Thank you, sir. There's been some very dramatic testimony before the Senate this week from one of your former top Justice Department officials, who describes a scene that some senators called "stunning," about a time when the wireless -- when the warrantless wiretap program was being reviewed. Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff and White House Counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program? And do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Kelly, there's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen; I'm not going to talk about it. It's a very sensitive program. I will tell you that, one, the program is necessary to protect the American people, and it's still necessary because there's still an enemy that wants to do us harm.

And therefore, I have an obligation to put in place programs that honor the civil liberties of the American people; a program that was, in this case, constantly reviewed and briefed to the United States Congress. And the program, as I say, is an essential part of protecting this country.

And so there will be all kinds of talk about it. As I say, I'm not going to move the issue forward by talking about something as highly sensitive -- highly classified subject. I will tell you, however, that the program is necessary.

Q Was it on your order, sir?

PRESIDENT BUSH: As I said, this program is a necessary program that was constantly reviewed and constantly briefed to the Congress. It's an important part of protecting the United States. And it's still an important part of our protection because there's still an enemy that would like to attack us. No matter how calm it may seem here in America, an enemy lurks. And they would like to strike. They would like to do harm to the American people because they have an agenda. They want to impose an ideology; they want us to retreat from the world; they want to find safe haven. And these just aren't empty words, these are the words of al Qaeda themselves.

And so we will put in place programs to protect the American people that honor the civil liberties of our people, and programs that we constantly brief to Congress.