"In 2005's waning days, Washington, D.C., Beltway developments pointed to 2006 as a pivotal year for American democracy.
The most far-reaching of these was George W. Bush's aggressive advocacy of his program of secret domestic spying by the National Security Agency (NSA). The only way the program can't be construed as a clear violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is if the president has the authority to override any law. And this is precisely Bush's claim.
Given that Bush and his cabal have predicted that their War on Terror may last up to 100 years, the president is actually claiming that the rule of law need not apply for several generations. Bush is proclaiming the right as "wartime president" to do anything he likes. Anything. Hey, why not disband Congress? (Hmmm.) Why not suspend the 2008 election?
This is deeply alarming.
A Dec. 23 Boston Globe story, essentially confirmed the next day in The New York Times, suggested that the NSA surveillance has operated by creating search terms and using computers to monitor not only suspected Al Qaeda operatives' but all Americans' international calls, e-mails, and faxes. If particular terms are a match, the communications are automatically culled and referred for follow-up.
This would certainly explain why Bush didn't use FISA courts to obtain warrants—no court would countenance surveillance upon countless millions of Americans. Even if the monitoring is automated, humans still must select search terms or target individuals. Done in secret, with accountability only to a highly politicized White House, there is absolutely nothing to prevent Bush and his cronies from using the NSA to illegally spy on anyone of their choosing."
http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0601/geov-crisis.php