Domestic Policy

Cheney Wants NSA Eavesdropping Critics To Quiet Down

January 5, 2006 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

The President backs up his NSA surveillance policy with one statement, “If somebody from Al Qaeda is calling you, we’d like to know why.” For some this is enough, for others this joke is an offense to their intelligence. Many civil liberties groups are still rallying against this policy. Vice President Cheney is speaking out in support of the policy, if he had his way the policy may be even more aggressive.

Vice President Dick Cheney reiterated his belief in the wiretap system employed by the Bush administration; he adamantly defended the president’s current use of electronic surveillance to listen in on potential terrorists.

Cheney stated, “”There are no communications more important to the safety of the United States than those related to Al Qaeda that have one end in the United States,” as he tried to remind the United States today that despite the passage of more than four years since Sept. 11, 2001, the threat of terrorism occurring inside the domestic United States still remains a very serious reality.

The fiery Vice President backed up his belief that the strong measures taken by the Bush administration are a main reasons to subsequent successful terrorist attacks have not occurred in the United States.

The revelation by the media that the NSA has been utilizing unauthorized wiretaps has many individuals concerned about their civil liberties. However, the vice president argued that if the United States had the ability to track communications then as they do now, the events of September 11th may have been avoided, or at least marginalized.

Many staunch supporters of the President, and this policy, state that it is the reason we are more secure now. They also believe that as we grow further away from the events of 9-11 we feel less and less threatened and therefore we are less guarded. Vice President Cheney stated, “as time passes and Sept. 11 becomes more distant a memory, it’s a natural impulse to play down the threats faced from terrorism…Obviously, no one can guarantee that we won’t be hit again. But neither should anyone say that the relative safety of the last four years was an accident. America has been protected not by luck but by sensible policy decisions.”

Many American citizens feel the President is turning policy making into his own personal O.K. Corral. They feel that the President is making up policies and power as he pleases, and with the Republicans in power in Congress, and the Senate, there is no check and balance system holding him back.

Senator Russ Feingold, a Democrat from Wisconsin is very outspoken about this policy, he has told the media numerous times that he feels the president does not have the power to allow the kind of domestic surveillance he has authorized. Senator Arlen Specter is calling for Senate hearings on the matter. Senator Feingold has stated that the administration does not consider Americans’ civil liberties on many policy making issues, he wants this to change. The Senator stated, “They are just saying it has to be exactly their way and showing essentially no sensitivity to the freedom and civil liberties.”

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