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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (265286)	12/20/2005 11:03:55 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 1575047

Germany frees killer of U.S. diver By CNN Correspondent Chris Burns Tuesday, December 20, 2005 BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- A Hezbollah militant [TERRORIST] sentenced to life in Germany for murdering a U.S. Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a U.S. jetliner has been freed, officials said. The German government denied on Tuesday the release was related to the freeing of a German hostage in Iraq. Mohammed Ali Hamadi was released Thursday and allowed to return to his native Lebanon on the next day, after qualifying for parole after 19 years in prison, said Ulrich Hermanski, spokesman for the North Rhine Wesphalia state justice ministry. "There was no special treatment," Hermanski said in a telephone interview. The decision was a state, not federal one, said federal Justice Ministry spokeswoman Eva Schmierer told a news conference. "The federal government has nothing to do with it," she said. She denied reports the U.S. government had an extradition request for Hamadi. Hamadi was convicted in 1989 in Frankfurt, Hessen state, for the beating and shooting of Robert Dean Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver whose body was thrown on the tarmac at Beirut airport during the hijacking of TWA Flight 847. The U.S. Navy has named one of its ships after Stethem, who is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The German government also denied there was any link between Hamadi's release and the freeing of Suzanne Osthoff, a German archaeologist, in Iraq last week. "There is no relation between the release of Hamadi and the release of Osthoff," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger told the news conference. Asked about the timing of Hamadi's release just weeks before Chancellor Angela Merkel's first trip to Washington, and whether it would hurt relations with the United States, her spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm declined immediate comment. Hammadi was convicted in 1989.

To: steve harris who wrote (265286)	12/20/2005 11:16:24 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575047

People will remember the Hate-filled commie (democratic) party as the party that couldn't win an election----- even with its Hate-America "news" media working day and night.

To: steve harris who wrote (265286)	12/20/2005 11:27:24 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575047

DRUDGE FLASHBACK: DEM LEADER HARRY REID ALL SMILES AT PATRIOT ACT SIGNING The Drudge Report ^ \| December 20, 2005 superspychick.com Reid is third from the right drudgereport.com *I'm smiling now, and taking credit for this, but in 3 years, at the right moment politically, I'm going to use this Patriot Act as a grounds for attacking the President.* THE DRUDGE REPORT has uncovered a photograph of President Bush signing the Patriot Act in the East Room of the White House on October 26, 2001. And standing over the President’s shoulder with a smile on his face is Democratic Senate Minority Harry Reid (D-NV)! Reid is currently leading efforts in the Senate to block the renewal of the Patriot Act. After Reid successfully prevented the Patriot Act’s renewal late last week the Senator attended a Democrat political rally and proudly declared, “We killed the Patriot Act.” One Republican strategist familiar with the photo said, “Democrats think they can regain the majority? Not a chance if they continue to put politics above what’s best for the country. Harry Reid is making a colossal miscalculation, but it's not the first time and thankfully for us, probably not the last.” Developing... That will look great in a campagin ad.

To: steve harris who wrote (265286)	12/20/2005 11:41:10 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 1575047

Clinton Claimed Authority to Order No-Warrant Searches (Does anyone remember that?) National Review ^ \| Byron York nationalreview.com In a little-remembered debate from 1994, the Clinton administration argued that the president has "inherent authority" to order physical searches — including break-ins at the homes of U.S. citizens — for foreign intelligence purposes without any warrant or permission from any outside body. Even after the administration ultimately agreed with Congress's decision to place the authority to pre-approve such searches in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court, President Clinton still maintained that he had sufficient authority to order such searches on his own. "The Department of Justice believes, and the case law supports, that the president has inherent authority to conduct warrantless physical searches for foreign intelligence purposes," Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee on July 14, 1994, "and that the President may, as has been done, delegate this authority to the Attorney General." "It is important to understand," Gorelick continued, "that the rules and methodology for criminal searches are inconsistent with the collection of foreign intelligence and would unduly frustrate the president in carrying out his foreign intelligence responsibilities." Executive Order 12333, signed by Ronald Reagan in 1981, provides for such warrantless searches directed against "a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power." Reporting the day after Gorelick's testimony, the Washington Post's headline — on page A-19 — read, "Administration Backing No-Warrant Spy Searches." The story began, "The Clinton administration, in a little-noticed facet of the debate on intelligence reforms, is seeking congressional authorization for U.S. spies to continue conducting clandestine searches at foreign embassies in Washington and other cities without a federal court order. The administration's quiet lobbying effort is aimed at modifying draft legislation that would require U.S. counterintelligence officials to get a court order before secretly snooping inside the homes or workplaces of suspected foreign agents or foreign powers." In her testimony, Gorelick made clear that the president believed he had the power to order warrantless searches for the purpose of gathering intelligence, even if there was no reason to believe that the search might uncover evidence of a crime. "Intelligence is often long range, its exact targets are more difficult to identify, and its focus is less precise," Gorelick said. "Information gathering for policy making and prevention, rather than prosecution, are its primary focus." The debate over warrantless searches came up after the case of CIA spy Aldrich Ames. Authorities had searched Ames's house without a warrant, and the Justice Department feared that Ames's lawyers would challenge the search in court. Meanwhile, Congress began discussing a measure under which the authorization for break-ins would be handled like the authorization for wiretaps, that is, by the FISA court. In her testimony, Gorelick signaled that the administration would go along a congressional decision to place such searches under the court — if, as she testified, it "does not restrict the president's ability to collect foreign intelligence necessary for the national security." In the end, Congress placed the searches under the FISA court, but the Clinton administration did not back down from its contention that the president had the authority to act when necessary. ________________________________________ The hypocrisy is astounding. I don't remember hearing a peep about this...and from Ms. Gorelick no less.