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In defense of U.S. wiretaps

Bush again insists he has legal right to surveillance in war on terror, and polls show many back him

BY CRAIG GORDON | WASHINGTON BUREAU

January 27, 2006

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush offered a feisty defense of warrantless wiretapping yesterday, and it was the unabashed stance of a man seemingly confident the law - and the politics - are on his side.

"There's no doubt in my mind it is legal," Bush said of the domestic surveillance program designed to listen in without a warrant on phone calls that might involve al-Qaida.

That's a position not only key Democrats but also some conservative legal scholars reject. Some Republicans in Congress also say they're not convinced Bush is legally justified in carrying out the program and have called a Feb. 6 hearing.

At the same time, a new poll released today showed that many Americans back Bush's wiretapping effort - and that nearly half wouldn't mind if their own phones were monitored as part of the anti-terror fight.

During a White House news conference, Bush rejected criticism that he has overstepped his authority as president by ordering secret eavesdropping at a time of war.

He also showed little interest in calls by some in Congress to rewrite existing surveillance laws to include the program. "If the attempt to write law ... is likely to expose the nature of the program, I'll resist it," Bush said. "And I think the American people understand that."

For a program that has engendered so much controversy, Bush's full-throated defense illustrates how the White House believes it could turn out to be a plus for Bush - a way to vividly illustrate how far Bush is willing to go to defend the nation from terrorism, while questioning why Democrats aren't willing to do the same.

In many ways, the program draws together two of the prevailing themes of Bush's presidency - a dramatic expansion of his claims to presidential powers on the policy side, and his tough-on-terror persona that has been his greatest asset on the political side.

Now, a Los Angeles Times/ Bloomberg Poll suggests that the White House's political positioning on the eavesdropping program may be on the mark, with many Americans still supportive of Bush's terror-fighting efforts, even the wiretapping.

The poll shows that Bush continues to suffer from weak approval ratings, with just 43 percent of Americans satisfied with his performance.

At the same time, most Americans believe Bush's policies have made the nation safer. And a slim plurality of 49 percent to 45 percent supports Bush's decision to allow the National Security Agency wiretaps, designed to intercept calls going to or from overseas involving suspected al-Qaida operatives.

In addition, 46 percent of Americans said they wouldn't mind the government monitoring their calls. The poll questioned 1,555 adults between Saturday and Wednesday. The margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

To be sure, there are grave risks to Bush's approach, especially if a congressional investigation found that Bush broke the law or turned up damaging details about a program that up until now has been the subject of a largely abstract legal debate.

One critic of the program, lawyer Tim Lynch of the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington, said he believes a large portion of the public has gone along so far because they want to believe the president - but that could change as more information comes to light.

"They do want this to be the president's top priority, to protect the country, and it also makes sense they want him to do everything within the law," Lynch said. "For the time being, a lot of people want to give him the benefit of the doubt."