Spying on EVERYONE

So, that is Bush's 'terrorist surveillance program'. He has ordered the tracking of every one of the phone calls that everyone in the nation makes.

The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth

{snip}

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans, most of whom aren't suspected of any crime.

{snip}

For the customers of these companies, it means that the government has detailed records of calls they made "across town or across the country" to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others.

That sure sounds like a domestic spying program;

unless Bush thinks of it this way;

Every American is a terrorist.

In defending the previously disclosed program, Bush insisted that the NSA was focused exclusively on international calls. "In other words," Bush explained, "one end of the communication must be outside the United States."

As a result, domestic call records 'those of calls that originate and terminate within U.S. borders' were believed to be private.

Sources, however, say that is not the case. With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans.

And of course, as would be expected, Bush has been lying about this since his law breaking was first exposed.

He is the most corrupt, most dangerous President, this nation has even seen.


UPDATE, from Daily Kos

"Our intelligence activities strictly target al-Qaida and their known affiliates," Bush said. "We are not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans."

Um, Mr. President, you may want to check with your nominee, General Hayden:

I have met personally with prominent corporate executive officers. (One senior executive confided that the data management needs we outlined to him were larger than any he had previously seen). [...] And last week we cemented a deal with another corporate giant to jointly develop a system to mine data that helps us learn about our targets.

So, either the President is lying, or his nominee is a perjurer. Take your pick, Mr. President. We're waiting.


UPDATE 2
Even some of the rubber stamp Republicans in Congress seem very unhappy about this development.

touched off a bipartisan uproar against a politically weakened President Bush. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) vowed to haul telephone companies before his committee under oath to ferret out details the Bush administration refuses to supply, and more than 50 House Democrats signed a letter demanding a criminal investigation by a special counsel.

Tags
Domestic Spying George Bush