VERSIONS: روسيا اليوم NOTICIAS FREEVIDEO ИНОТВ RTД FIND US ON: YouTube Twitter
breakingnews
Go to main page   USA   News   Obama defends Bush’s wire-taps  
MORE ON THE STORY
13.07.2009, 11:01 8 comments

“Obama has the right to lock any US citizen up forever without trial”

Barack Obama’s indefinite detention claim, coupled with the enemy combatant right he inherited, enables him to lock up any US citizen forever without a trial, author and political consultant Naomi Wolf told RT.

Pakistan, Karachi: Pakistani protesters carry photographs of Aafia Siddiqui as they march during an anti-US protest rally in Karachi on September 23, 2010. (AFP Photo / Asif Hassan) 24.09.2010, 21:56 3 comments

Siddiqui: Political prisoner or human rights victim

The US government works to promote peace abroad while being accused of ignoring its own troubles at home.

AFP Photo / Michael V. May-Ho 21.04.2009, 03:39

“Obama tries to pre-empt new damaging revelations”

Investigative journalist and author Wayne Madsen joined RT to comment on Barack Obama's move to release top secret CIA memos on interrogation.

10.06.2010, 23:50 39 comments

The silencing of Helen Thomas and the First Amendment

From the time of Eisenhower to Barack Obama, Helen Thomas enjoyed a 57-year stint working as a Washington correspondent, until an ill-advised comment on Israel sent her into early retirement.

Russian Prime Minister talks to road workers at Kamdorstroy Amur base (RIA Novosti / Alexsey Druginyn) 02.09.2010, 10:00 15 comments

Putin on banned protests: no permission – get hit on the head

Russian Premier Vladimir Putin has slammed opposition rallies as “provocation” and said protesters would “get hit on the head” for taking part in banned gatherings.

It’s estimated, during World War I up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed; two thirds of the Armenian population (1,75 millions) were deported to Syria and Palestine; 600 000 were either killed or died of starvation during the journey. 05.03.2010, 17:40 14 comments

Turkey warns US over Armenian “genocide” resolution

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has approved a resolution that recognizes the World War I-era deaths of Armenians in Ottoman-era Turkey as an act of “genocide”.

22.02.2010, 10:21 11 comments

“Obama’s promises of change have atrophied”

RT has interviewed Kristine Huskey, a lawyer for Gitmo detainees, on what makes a beautiful woman quit her modeling career, go to law school and eventually represent the interests of so-called “terrorists”.

Mistakes acknowledged: US soldiers question a man in Iraq (AFP: Oliver Laban-Mattei, file photo) 24.10.2010, 21:54 4 comments

“Increased secrecy breeds corruption” – WikiLeaks spokesperson

Governments should work on decreasing secrecy around its activities, believes WiliLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson.

Rail workers hold flares on October 21, 2010 in Paris (AFP Photo / Fred Dufour) 28.10.2010, 09:01 8 comments

French trade unions remain defiant in face of defeat

French trade unions are still taking people out onto the streets, despite the pension reform they are protesting against being given the green light.

10.06.2010, 23:00 49 comments

Hungary equates Communism to Nazism

Hungarian lawmakers have passed a bill equating Communist era crimes to the Holocaust and banned denying it under threat of imprisonment.

Obama defends Bush’s wire-taps

Published: 08 April, 2009, 14:07

Illustration by Alberto Ruggieri

(9.4Mb) embed video

TAGS: Obama, Human rights, Law, USA


U.S. President Barack Obama wants a lawsuit that alleges the Bush administration was involved in the illegal surveillance of Americans’ telephone and e-mail communications to be dismissed.

Wire tapping without a warrant was just one of his predecessor’s controversial policies. But it looks like the new President’s Department of Justice is keen to defend it.

The law suit is filed against the National Security Agency (NSA), which was given permission to wiretap people’s conversations within the U.S. after 9/11.

The so-called USA Patriot Act, among other anti-terrorist measures, increased the ability of law enforcement agencies to search telephone, e-mail communications, medical, financial, and other records.

Despite all it's toughness, the Act didn’t prove its efficiency, as a recent report issued by the Congressional Government Accounting Office showed how easily one can get a genuine American passport using falsified documents at a passport office.

The Obama Justice Department claims in its motion that litigation over the wiretapping program would require the government to disclose privileged "state secrets."

Obama, who criticized Bush for overusing the State Secrets Privilege Act during the election, seems to be following his example, which troubles a lot of those who voted for him.

The State Secrets Privilege Act is an evidentiary rule created by U.S. legal precedent back in 1953. It allows the exclusion of evidence from a legal case based solely on an affidavit submitted by the government stating court proceedings might disclose sensitive information which might endanger national security and military secrets.

This is not the first case regarding the wiretapping issue. There was a law suit against a major U.S. telecom company, AT&T, for handing the information about their customers to the NSA in 2006. At that time, the government dismissed it.

+3 (4 votes)
 
Back to top
next MORE NEWS
 Barack Obama greets US troops in Iraq on April 7, 2009 (AFP Photo / Mandel Ngan) 08.04.2009, 01:07

"US domestic matters reflect on foreign policy"

Considering the US President’s visit to Baghdad, one should remember the American domestic challenges and the deadlines coming quickly for Barack Obama, says Walid Phares of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

08.04.2009, 21:04 4 comments

Americans wondering: Is this Socialism yet?

Following a decadent decade of market deregulation, fat executive paychecks (golden parachutes included) and blatant corruption, capitalism is now forced to go begging for handouts. Is this socialism?