Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Dems did NOT endorse spying on Americans!

Pelosi wants her letter to Bush, criticizing NSA program YEARS AGO, declassified and released publicly

The shit is hitting the fan. Bush said Democratic leaders endorsed his domestic spying program, and we're now finding out that those very same Dem leaders either weren't briefed at all on the program OR expressed their grave concern about it at the time. That hardly counts as "the Dems endorsed it."

Go Nancy! The following is Pelosi's press release:

Pelosi Requests Declassification of Her Letter on NSA ActivitiesWashington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on her request to the Director of National Intelligence to declassify a letter she wrote several years ago to the Bush Administration expressing concerns about the activities of the National Security Agency.

"When I learned several years ago that the National Security Agency had been authorized to conduct the activities that President Bush referred to in his December 17 radio address, I expressed my strong concerns in a classified letter to the Administration and later verbally.

"Today, in an effort to shed light on my concerns, I requested that the Director of National Intelligence quickly declassify my letter and the Administration's response to it and make them both available to the public.

"The President must have the best possible intelligence to protect the American people. That intelligence, however, must be produced in a manner consistent with our Constitution and our laws, and in a manner that reflects our values as a nation to protect the American people and our freedoms."


(Americablog)