In Which Pres. Bush Ignores the Law

James Comey, formerly No. 2 at the Justice Dept., is now on record as saying that Pres. Bush personally circumvented the Justice Dept. in ordering illegal wiretapping operations to continue. this was over the protests of Atty General Ashcroft, Deputy Atty General Comey, FBI chief Mueller, and other senior Justice Dept. officials. they all knew the wiretapping program was against the law. they all said it was against the law. they all refused to approve the plan. but other people, including the Pres.'s then-chief of staff - Andrew Card - and Alberto Gonzalez and Dick Cheney - did not care about the rule of law. their opinion was that the president was not subject to the law, and they were willing to take advantage of a morbidly ill man to codify that belief. in protest, Comey, Ashcroft, Mueller, and other Justice Dept. officials were prepared to resign en masse in protest.

but then Pres. Bush intervened. he instructed the Justice Dept. to keep their mouths shut and erect a "legal" framework for continuing the program (which has since been declared illegal by the Supreme Court). meanwhile, Madrid was attacked by terrorists. Comey, Ashcroft, and Mueller agreed to postpone their resignations while waiting for a legal review. in the end, Comey signed off on the program. in testimony, he didn't say why he changed his mind.

why did Nixon resign? oh, right; he to be impeached for participating in illegal surveillance activities. so why have we let Bush stick around? regardless of one's personal political views, the grounds for impeachment were obvious long ago. Mr. Comey's belated testimony only reinforces the point.