Caught this Dick Morris appearance on CPAN-2 that was taped on June 30. In it, the toe-sucking former Clinton administration advisor goes into graphic detail on how terrorists could bring down the Brooklyn Bridge and what the NYPD has done to stop it. To his credit, we can now understand what the big deal is about those little rooms under the bridge. Morris is on tour promoting his new book Fleeced
“Secret that they were wiretapping without warrants” is a nicer way to say “breaking the law.” The fact is, the NSA could have gotten a warrant 72 hours after making the intercept. The chances that the FISA court would have denied the warrant would have been slim to none, but the FISA court would have been fairly unhappy that the telecoms were directly breaking the law.
This isn’t the first time the telecoms have broken the law–read James Bamford’s books on the NSA. There is a reason why the FISA court and wiretapping laws were created in the first place–to reign in the abuses of previous administrations.
I don’t disagree that we would probably be safer if the government listened in on ever conversation made in the United States. But unfortunately for folks who think that is a good idea, we live in a democracy and not a police state.
I don’t know if I would trust a man who doesn’t know the abbreviation, NSA. NSA does not stand for, “National Security Administration;” it stands for “National Security Agency.”
Finally, unless he undergoes water-boarding, I don’t really care to hear his views about torture. For another view on water-boarding, read Christopher Hitchen’s piece in Vanity Fair this month. He is hardly a liberal or left wing, but he went through water-boarding and has a decidedly different view the Mr. Morris. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LPubUCJv58 and http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/08/hitchens200808
This is nuts. Morris is nuts.