Powell

The headlines say "Powell Supports Government Eavesdropping." But, like most things coming out of the American Pravda, the headline is spin.

What Powell said was:

1) The Government is allowed to eavesdrop, but is supposed to get a warrant when they do so, and he knows no reason why Bush didn't. And needless to say, it is the failure to go through the courts that is the reason for the scandal. THAT'S the problem.

2) Bush didn't tell him a damned thing about it, and he was the Secretary of State.

3) Congress needs to investigate it. That investigation, whether Powell uses the word or not, would have to be an investigation into whether or not Bush broke the law. Is it possible for Congress to discuss whether or not the President broke the law WITHOUT impeachment coming up. I don't think so.

WASHINGTON - Former Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday supported government eavesdropping to prevent terrorism but said a major controversy over presidential powers could have been avoided by obtaining court warrants.

Powell said that when he was in the Cabinet, he was not told that
President Bush authorized a warrantless National Security Agency surveillance operation after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks....

But he added, "My own judgment is that it didn't seem to me, anyway, that it would have been that hard to go get the warrants. And even in the case of an emergency, you go and do it."...

Powell said Congress will need to judge whether Bush is correct in his assertion that he could approve eavesdropping without first obtaining court orders.

"And that's going to be a great debate," Powell said.