White House Clears Itself in Eavesdropping Case

by jordan | March 6, 2007 at 03:44 pm | 604 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

Funnily enough, the White House is declaring itself innocent of any wrongdoing... by a White House-appointed board head by one of Bush's friends.

No transparency in this board's operations, just a rubber stamp. If I ever get in any kind of legal trouble, I certainly hope that my friends are in charge of assessing my guilt.

A White House privacy board is giving its stamp of approval to two of the Bush administration's controversial surveillance programs _ electronic eavesdropping and financial tracking _ and says they do not violate citizens' civil liberties.

Democrats newly in charge of Congress quickly criticized the findings, which they said were questionable given some of the board members' close ties with the Bush administration.

"Their current findings and any additional conclusions they reach will be taken with a grain of salt until they become fully independent," said Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee.