President Bush Seeks to Reassure Americans on Spying, page 1

In the midst of the uproar about domestic spying, President George Bush told Americans not to worry in a speech Thursday. Explaining the government's activities regarding the gain of intelligence, the United States leader elaborated that the privacy of citizens will still stay in tact. However, he did not acknowledge the recent story of domestic wiretapping revealed in USA Today.

news.yahoo.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President George W. Bush denied on Thursday the government was "trolling through" Americans' personal lives, despite a report that a domestic spy agency was collecting phone records of tens of millions of citizens. Defending his administration's espionage program, Bush said intelligence activities he had authorized were lawful and the government was not eavesdropping on domestic calls without court approval.

But Democrats and Republicans alike demanded an explanation after USA Today reported the National Security Agency was secretly amassing phone records from phone companies to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist plots.

"The privacy of ordinary Americans is fiercely protected in all our activities," Bush told reporters at a hastily called session aimed at damage control. "We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans."

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

With his poll numbers at 29 per-cent, Mr. Bush had to say something to make American citizens feel better about the NSA-sponsored program. However, is his reassurances too little, too late? He gave little reasons why to support the efforts of intelligence gathering. It is fascinating that in his talk, he didn't mention how the Fourth Amendment would not be harmed by such activities. Furthermore, it is also interesting in his speech that he had nothing to say about the sacredness of civil liberties.

Does anyone believe Mr. Bush?

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
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[edit on 13-5-2006 by ceci2006]