"How many lawyers does it take to rescue an American soldier?"

Answer: Don't be silly. Lawyers don't rescue soldiers.

Starting at 10 a.m. on May 15, according to a timeline provided to Congress by the director of national intelligence, lawyers for the National Security Agency met and determined that special approval from the attorney general would be required first.

For an excruciating nine hours and 38 minutes, searchers in Iraq waited as U.S. lawyers discussed legal issues and hammered out the "probable cause" necessary for the attorney general to grant such "emergency" permission. -- New York Post

This astonishing story will be fodder for arguments on all sides of the wiretap issue. But it makes one thing clear: Nobody is taking this war seriously.

Faced with a soldier in enemy custody, the commanders, the Pentagon, the NSA lawyers, and the rest of the "intelligence community" all played cover-your-ass. No one said, "Run the damn tap. I'll take responsibility." After all, it might have been a "career limiting move."

Of course, getting killed by your al-Quada kidnappers is a career limiting move, too. Nice to know that if you get captured, the whole force of the United States government will be right behind you-- provided the lawyers say it's OK.


Via: IP

Posted by: Old Grouch in Rants at 22:45:45 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
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