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Originally Posted by Drakonix
Gee, with all the fanfare it seems to me that the President IS being overseen and IS being held accountable for his actions.
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if there was oversight of warrantless eavesdropping on US citizens, it's news to former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time:
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ABC: You were Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee at the time the President signed this executive order. Vice President Cheney met with congressional leaders — I’m sure you were among them in 2002, is that correct?
GRAHAM: There was such a meeting. And the issue, then, was whether we could intercept foreign communications when they transited through U.S. communication sites. The assumption was that if we did that, we would do it pursuant to the law, the law that regulates the surveillance of national security issues. And there was no suggestion that we were going to begin eavesdropping on United States citizens without following the full law.
ABC: You’re saying you were not briefed as the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee at the point the President signed this?
GRAHAM: I was briefed. There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to use that as the subterfuge to begin unwarranted, illegal — and I think unconstitutional — eavesdropping on American citizens.
ABC: So if the administration says that you were informed about this action, they would not be telling the truth?
GRAHAM: We were not informed that this would be a pretense for using warrantless searchs to listen in to the private conversations of United States citizens.
ABC: Sounds like you were saying you were lied to.
GRAHAM: I think there has been a selective use of information to build a case that was already determined, rather than using intelligence for its intended purpose, which is to improve the decision-making process on a judgment that has not yet been determined. - ABC's Nightline, 12/16/05
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as for accountability, that moment is coming, hard and fast.