WASHINGTON - U.S. Representative Pete Stark (D-CA, 13th) today condemned reports that the Bush Administration has been illegally spying on US citizens since 2002.
As reported by the New York Times last night, “Months after the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans and others inside the United States to search for evidence of terrorist activity without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying.”
“Secretly and illegally circumventing what little legal process exists to spy on Americans is reprehensible - even for this administration,” Stark said. “At least when the Administration shreds our civil-liberties in the Patriot Act, it is done publicly on the floor of Congress. Lies to the United Nations and the American people about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were made for the world to see. When the President said, “Mission Accomplished” he did it during prime time. But just when I think the Bush Administration can't stoop any lower, they prove me wrong.
“In the name of spreading “freedom,” the President is systematically destroying every fundamental right that makes such freedom possible. The people who were illegally spied upon deserve to know they have been victimized and should be given their day in court - as afforded them by what's left of the Constitution.”
