NSA Wiretapping-Honest Assessment is the Enemy

While the trckle of information regarding this program continues what becomes more readily apparent as time goes on is that the administration wants no part of a true assessment over the value of the information garnered by the program vis a vis the amount ofor breath of the intrusions. While VP "Big Swinging" Dick Cheney claimed on CNN in December of '05 that the program "has saved thousands of lives." Admiral Hayden, who leads the program was a tad more reserved when he "cannot personnally estimate" that figure. Hhm, the VP wouldn't be engaging in a bit of overstatement would he?

While poll numbers show a small but solid of respondents approve the president's program (althoug if its illegal, it frankly doesn't make any difference what they think), I think that the numbers are reflective of the administration's strong effort to defend and in fact advocate for the necessisity of the program. In now appears clear that the notion that the program overreaches is widely-held not only by card carrying members of the ACLU, but by (most now former) high-level administration lawyers. For the near term the debate is almost entirely political. How, when and if the matter will be resolved in the courts is a more intringung queston. The argument put forward by the administration and proferred by AG Alberto Gonzalez in his prepared remarks for Monday's Senate hearings simply doesn't suffice. Stating that heeding the 1978 law would be too cumbersome strikes me as lending support to critics. Moreover, that it's too cumbersome to follow the law ain't a defense to law breaking, just ask any current resident of a penal institution.

That all said I think the president and the administration do (or at least did) have a colorable argumenis in support of the program. I just believe that their argument is undermined by the express admission that they considered complying with FISA, but found it too cumbersome
and the fact that they continued to operate in this arguably grey area for over four years.