Momentum Builds for Congressional Investigation of Bush's Warantless Surveillance

Interview with Matthew Rothschild, editor of the Progressive Magazine, conducted by Scott Harris

The mid-December revelation that President Bush had secretly ordered the National Security Agency to conduct surveillance of international communications involving U.S. residents, without obtaining court approval, has continued to generate condemnation throughout the holiday season. U.S. District Judge James Robertson, one of 11 members of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, resigned from his position on Dec. 19, confiding in colleagues that the warantless monitoring of email and phone calls was legally questionable and may have tainted the FISA court.

The New York Times which broke the wiretap story on Dec. 16, reported Dec. 23 that the scope of the monitoring operation is much larger than acknowledged by the White House. The Times reports that the NSA, in cooperation with the nation's largest telecommunications companies, had mined data directly from the main arteries of American communications networks.

Many Democrats, joined by some prominent Republicans such as Sens. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, have called for a congressional investigation of the covert electronic eavesdropping program. Michigan Democratic Rep. John Conyers has demanded the censure of President Bush and Vice President Cheney in addition to the creation of a Special Committee to investigate impeaching the president for his administration's widespread abuse of power. Between The Lines Scott Harris spoke with Matthew Rothschild, editor of the Progressive magazine, who explains why he views President Bush's illegal surveillance of Americans as a grave threat to U.S. democracy and an impeachable offense.

Read Rothschild's McCarthyism Watch commentaries online at www.progressive.org

Related links:

John Conyers' Letter Advising the President of Censure and Steps to Begin Special Committee Investigation American Civil Liberties Union:www.aclu.org

Bill of Rights Defense Committee: First Amendment Foundation: www.firstamend.org

Center for Constitutional Rights www.ccr-ny.org

"Did Bush Commit an Impeachable Offense?" letter by Senator Barbara Boxer, via www.truthout.org Dec. 19, 2005

"Rep. Lewis Calls for Bush Impeachment," The Associated Press, Dec. 20, 2005

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