No Sympathy for Bush's Misery
Revelations that President Bush approved surveillance that may have breached the constitutional rights of Americans also shows that he 'lied to the public.' According to this op-ed article from Germany's Braunschweiger Zeitung, the Bush Administration 'has only itself to blame' for the mess it finds itself in.
By Friedemann Diederichs
Translated By Marianne Casson
December 27, 2005
Original Article
(German) 
President Bush most certainly did not have a Merry Christmas. If most of the media reports coming out of the U.S. are true, then it's also quite possible that during his clarification of the ongoing anti-terrorism measures, Mr. Bush also became guilty of lying to the public last week. It is also true that few people are surprised that in politics, truthfulness is not always strictly followed. However, now we are dealing with the revelation that countless law-abiding citizens have been place under surveillance, either via telephone calls or e-mail, without prior court-approval. How the opposition [Democrats] will react to these highly damaging disclosures remains to be seen.
As soon as the first reports of the Administration's zealous and controversial data-gathering operation surfaced, so did the word: "impeach." Under orders of the Democrats, several experts in constitutional law are in the process of investigating this option.
The public latitude for George W. Bush's mistakes is vanishing fast, as it looks increasingly like the President's conduct can be construed as infringing on constitutionally protected rights. This despite the fact that some of his actions after September 11. 2001 may have been justified and have contributed to making the U.S. safer. For example, the very recent disclosure that mosques and other Islamic institutions are being monitored for possible radiation.
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