Originally published February 23 2006
Political commentator calls for Bush's impeachment
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
At Rense.com, Charley Reese argues that President Bush's spying program is an impeachable offense.
When The New York Times revealed that President George Bush had authorized warrantless surveillance of Americans, the Bush administration reacted in its usual manner: attack and then stage a public-relations campaign.
The attack was in the usual jingoistic mode, implying that both the Times and its source, a whistle-blower at the National Security Agency, were providing aid and comfort to the enemy and undermining the war on terror.
The reason it is important for the American people to know is because the president appears to have violated both the law and the Constitution.
Hence, the public-relations campaign, which consists of the president and his minions fanning out to make speeches asserting that what he did was both legal and necessary.
The American people have no way of verifying if, in fact, the surveillance is limited to people actually making contact with actual terrorists.
The act must be measured against both the law and the Constitution; Bush's act was illegal and unconstitutional.
It sets up a special court that can issue warrants authorizing surveillance of Americans.
This court has routinely issued the warrants and even gives the government 72 hours in which it can get a warrant after the fact.
When someone raised the issue of probable cause, the general petulantly denied that the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution requires probable cause.
Then he said that the standard is reasonable, and added that nobody was more familiar with the Fourth Amendment than the NSA.
Here's the text of the Fourth Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
By that standard, no police department in the U.S. would need to bother with search warrants.
Sorry, but the Constitution cannot be amended by arrogant public officials who don't wish to bother with it.
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