Stonewalled, nothing but Stonewalled

So, the adminstration doesn't want to turn over internal legal opinions about the NSA domestic eavesdropping program.

The argument is that the administration's legal arguments have already been made in public, so it would be redundant and useless for memos to be released. According to an unnamed administration official, everything in the memos was also in the 42-page "white paper" that was issued last month.

To me this raises the question, if everything pertinent was included in the "white paper" then why is there resistance to releasing the memos? Refusing to release the memos only throws gas on the fire of suspicion surrounding the program and the legal thinking that allows it, or atleast portends to allow it.

Similarly to pre-war intelligence about WMD, it seems the administration wants to be the only judge of what information is noteworthy and important. But as we know, they have a track record for emphasizing the bits of info that supports their case while downplaying or ignoring bits that detract from it.

I think Chuck Schumer's got it right when he says:

"Without the Justice Department memos and without more witnesses, it's hard to se how anything other than a rehashing of the administration line is going to happen," Mr. Schumer said Wednesday. "I am worried that these hearings could end up telling us very little when the American people are thirsty to find out what happened here."

Unsurprisingly, one of the memos in question is thought to have been written by John Yoo, of torture memo fame. Yoo is one of the most influential lawyers guiding the administration's claims to increased executive power.

Another memo in question was apparently written by Jack Goldsmith, whom Newsweek highlights as being one of the stronger dissenting voices within the Justice Department, in terms of assertions of Presidential power.

If these two memos are in question, and if they were in fact written by these two men, then it seems to me that there is reason to believe that their could have been differing opinions within the Justice Department about the legality of the NSA program. And that is pertinent to the Congressional investigations.

Hopefully, Congress will be able to breakthrough the stonewall being put up by the administration, and we the people can get some answers about an issue we have every right to be up in arms about.

My own jumping to conclustions mind thinks the domestic spying scandal could be the one that sparks the political and legal flames that burn the White House from inside out. I wouldn't be surprised if the administration's final defense comes down to this.

- Glitter