Within the past week, it has been revealed that President Bush authorized the National Security Agency (NSA) to spy on US citizens in communication with foreigners abroad. The left is obviously “outraged” not so much because they object to the practice, however. Can anyone truly believe that the socialists in this country wouldn’t gladly authorize domestic spying should they one day come to power? The left is outraged because it is politically expedient and represents another opportunity to castigate the president, given the fact that their tired strategy of downplaying success in Iraq is starting to wane. Frankly we at the Phalanx, while not pleased with the idea of domestic spying without due process, were certain that this practice was under way by the NSA for years. So we did some checking and you know what…we were right. Not only has the NSA been spying on our communications since the Clinton era but even the revelation that the NSA under Bush has continued the practice comes as no surprise to the leftist leadership. Both Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid, have admitted having known about the program and received frequent briefings on the subject.

In spite of this reality, leftists expressions of shock and outrage abound as they now call for investigations, hearings and so forth. The reality is the left cares nothing for civil liberties, only politics as they again try to undermine the president for their own political purposes. An NSA program known as Echelon has been in operation for years, long before Bush came to power. This set-up allows the NSA to eavesdrop on telephone conversations, emails, etc…Under President Clinton, the program, which also involves Britain, Canada and Australia reached its zenith, long before the war in Iraq, Sept 11 or the invasion of Afghanistan, yet where was the outrage then?

Echelon has been an open secret in Washington for years, yet the left was mysteriously silent, indeed, they were complicit in its operation. Now the left will do as they did with Iraq, and once again the media will work in tandem with the left so as not to allow the left’s word’s to betray them. It is important to remember that in Washington, memories are short and alliances are paper-thin. It should be noted however, that regardless of who is to blame, the idea that we are spying on our own citizens is reprehensible. We are a nation of laws and such extra-legal steps to secure our borders represents a degrading of our way of life. This is not the position of the left, irrespective of their “outrage” and sadly its not the position of the right either.
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58353
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-12-18-nsa-70s_x.htm
http://www.endtimeprophecy.org/Content/Articles/Articles-Echl/echln-12.html
http://fly.hiwaay.net/~pspoole/echelon.html