With the world economy continuing its nosedive and what with torture memos and pirates, Israel doesn’t seem to be in the news much these days. But it couldn’t last too long. CQ broke this story yesterday, and it even hit the New York Times today! What makes this story particularly interesting is the revelation that FISA is used to wiretap congress people! The happy irony here is that the congress person being wire tapped was a big fan and promoter of Bush & Co’s illegal wiretapping programs. Harmen’s reaction (watch the MSNBC video) is hilarious! “A gross abuse of power” says she!
Greenwald’s comment on her reaction is perfect:
So if I understand this correctly — and I’m pretty sure I do — when the U.S. Government eavesdropped for years on American citizens with no warrants and in violation of the law, that was “both legal and necessary” as well as “essential to U.S. national security,” and it was the “despicable” whistle-blowers (such as Thomas Tamm) who disclosed that crime and the newspapers which reported it who should have been criminally investigated, but not the lawbreaking government officials. But when the U.S. Government legally and with warrants eavesdrops on Jane Harman, that is an outrageous invasion of privacy and a violent assault on her rights as an American citizen, and full-scale investigations must be commenced immediately to get to the bottom of this abuse of power. Behold Jane Harman’s overnight transformation from Very Serious Champion of the Lawless Surveillance State to shrill civil liberties extremist.
As for the story itself, the fact that the Bush administration put political considerations above all else is not much of a surprise. Nor is it newsworthy that being a whore for lobbyists is unrelated to a member of Congress’ party, gender or race. Apparently, just being a member of Congress is enough. Amy Davidson over at the New Yorker and Glenn Greenwald at Salon (in a an earlier article) have some interesting comments on the story.
Tags: Hypocrisy, US Politics