Qui Tacet Consentit
That defensive braying sound you hear is the Republicans getting ready to defend yet another illegal act of this administration. The NSA phone intercept program -- revealed in a USA Today article -- is an astonishingly broad and clearly illegal effort to capture the phone records of every American.
President Bush said Thursday the government is "not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans" with a reported program to create a massive database of U.S. phone calls.
"Our efforts are focused on links to al Qaeda and their known affiliates," Bush said. "The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities."
By whom?
Bush's comments came after USA Today reported Thursday that three telecommunication firms provided the National Security Agency with domestic telephone call records from millions of Americans beginning shortly after the attacks on September 11, 2001.Bush did not specifically mention the newspaper's report.
In response to the USA Today article, NSA spokesman Don Weber issued a statement saying, "Given the nature of the work we do, it would be irresponsible to comment on actual or alleged operational issues; therefore, we have no information to provide.
"However, it is important to note that NSA takes its legal responsibilities seriously and operates within the law."
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes, hmmmm?
The administration's defenders -- there are still a few knocking around out there -- are repeating the arguments they have used before with some success: we're doing this to protect you, America. Talking about it only helps our enemies. If you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about. The siren song of the fascist.
But I wonder how successful those arguments will be now. Day by day, lie by lie, the American people are learning not to trust the party in power. Previously, Bush's defenders declared that only communications between Americans and foreign nationals were being eavesdropped upon. The American people accepted it -- because they were afraid, and because, when the Republicans got defensive and demanded whose side are you on?, the Democrats gulped -- and went silent.
This afternoon, according to CNN, Bill Frist declared that he is "strongly" behind the NSA program, and then said, "We'll see if hearings are necessary."
Perhaps he needs to consult with The Decider first.
The Republicans will no doubt try again to silence the Democrats by challenging their patriotism. It's time for the Democrats to push back -- hard.
Starting now.
