Let the Eagle Soar…

<—— Remember that anti-gay, anti-choice, naked statue boobie-covering douchebag? Did you ever think you’d see the day when he seemed like a voice of reason? Neither did I, but compared to the fuckhead with a stranglehold on the Justice Department these days, Ashcroft comes away smelling like a level-headed rose. As does his second-in-command, James Comey, who was acting as Attorney General in Ashcroft’s absence in March 2004 while Ashcroft recovered from surgery—and during that time refused to certify central aspects of the NSA’s eavesdropping program.

A top Justice Department official objected in 2004 to aspects of the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program and refused to sign on to its continued use amid concerns about its legality and oversight, according to officials with knowledge of the tense internal debate. The concerns appear to have played a part in the temporary suspension of the secret program.

[…]

With Mr. Comey unwilling to sign off on the program, [two of President Bush's most senior aides - Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general] went to Mr. Ashcroft - who had been in the intensive care unit at George Washington University Hospital with pancreatitis and was housed under unusually tight security - because "they needed him for certification," according to an official briefed on the episode. The official, like others who discussed the issue, spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the classified nature of the program.

Mr. Comey declined to comment, and Mr. Gonzales could not be reached.

Accounts differed as to exactly what was said at the hospital meeting between Mr. Ashcroft and the White House advisers. But some officials said that Mr. Ashcroft, like his deputy, appeared reluctant to give Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales his authorization to continue with aspects of the program in light of concerns among some senior government officials about whether the proper oversight was in place at the security agency and whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to conduct such an operation.

It is unclear whether the White House ultimately persuaded Mr. Ashcroft to give his approval to the program after the meeting or moved ahead without it.

The Senate Intelligence Committee, five of whom (Republican Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Democratic Senators Carl Levin of Michigan, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Dianne Feinstein of California) have called for a joint investigation with the Senate Judiciary Committee into the domestic-surveillance program, need to call Comey in (and probably Ashcroft) to find out what the hell was going on—hold Arlen Specter to his promise to launch investigations in the new year and get Comey’s testimony into the Congressional record.

(Aside: If Comey’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he was overseeing Fitzy’s investigation into the Plame leak, after Ashcroft recused himself, until Comey left for a job at Lockheed Martin in August. Something tells me this guy knows a lot about a lot of shit.)