Dems pull their bad FISA bill--for now

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Republicans successfully maneuvered to derail a Democratic government eavesdropping bill Wednesday, delaying a House vote until next week at the earliest.

The bill, which seeks to expand court oversight of government surveillance in the United States, fell victim to a gambit by the chamber's Republican minority. Democrats were forced to pull the bill from the House floor with no certainty about how it might be revived.

A Democratic staff member said the bill will not be rewritten but substantive amendments may be allowed when it finally does come up for a vote, which is the Democrats' intention.

The earliest that could happen is next week, as Thursday the House will be busy with an attempt to override a presidential veto of a children's health care bill.

The Democratic eavesdropping bill would have allowed unfettered telephone and e-mail surveillance of foreign intelligence targets but would require special authorization if the foreign targets were likely to be in contact with people inside the United States, a provision designed to safeguard Americans' privacy.

Those so-called "blanket warrants" would let the government obtain a single order authorizing the surveillance of multiple targets.

Republican critics, however, said the blanket warrants would tie up intelligence agents in legal red tape, impeding them from conducting urgent surveillance of terrorist suspects. "Congress needs to move forward, not backward," President Bush said at a White House news conference as the debate in Congress began. Bush had vowed to veto the bill if it reached his desk.

The House's Democratic leaders pulled the bill after discovering that Republicans planned to offer a motion that politically vulnerable Democrats would have a hard time voting against.

The amendment would have said that nothing in the bill could limit surveillance of Osama bin Laden and terrorist organizations. While Democrats say their bill already provides that authority, voting against the amendment could make it seem as though a member of Congress were against spying on al-Qaida.

...

Because that is in fact what they are trying to do. What could be more important than listening in on calls from al Qaeda to its agents in the US? It is ludicrous to insist on privacy for al Qaeda operatives already in this country when they are being contacted from outside the country. The Democrat paranoia about eves droppings on US citizens is misplaced in a time of war. No one receiving are making a call to al Qaeda operatives should have any expectation of privacy. Only al Qaeda's useful idiots would extend a privacy right for such calls.