The story that keeps unfolding

Marcy has another great post up discussing DOJ memos and their implications.

We didn't know it at the time, but in 2001, Bush asked for broad powers to use the military in the US. But the Bush Administration knew it. They knew that the legislative intent of the AUMF specifically stopped short of letting them use military power in the US. And that prevented them from doing some things they wanted to do.

Which is where some of the memos come in.

Warrantless wiretapping under NSA, of course, is part of DOD and as such military. And the memo to Kris--which ostensibly only authorized the sharing of intelligence with law enforcement and vice versa--had the effect of blurring the lines between law enforcement and intelligence. So with this memo--sent to Alberto Gonzales and Jim Haynes but probably compartmented from people in DOJ whose eyes would pop at this reasoning--takes the blurred lines created in the Kris memo and blurred them much, much further.

And who needs judges anyway?

In our view, however well suited the warrant and probable cause requirements may be as applied to criminal investigations or to other law enforcement activities, they are unsuited to the demands of wartime and the military necessity to successfully prosecute a war against an enemy. (John Yoo)

It just gets scarier and scarier.

I have long maintained that we were in the process of losing our constitutional democracy with Bush in the White House. What troubles me is how this does not seem to matter to most people. As more evidence emerges it is increasingly clear that those of us deemed "shrill" were not deluded nor - save emotional venting - were we exaggerating the danger.

Check out the whole post at emptywheel.
--the BB