Bush Urges Congress to Pass Wiretap Bill
February 28, 2008 | 11:49 am | by t-blender |Rate It:
laTimes.com: WASHINGTON — President Bush today urged Congress to pass legislation that would give telecom companies immunity from class-action lawsuits for cooperating with U.S. intelligence services in monitoring terrorist communications.
“Allowing these lawsuits to proceed would be unfair,” Bush said at a White House news conference. “If any of these companies helped us, they did so after being told by our country their assistance was legal.”
Noting that the litigation process could lead to disclosure of surveillance techniques and make other countries less likely to cooperate with U.S. intelligence services, Bush said, “You cannot expect phone companies to participate if they feel like they’re going to be sued. It’s patently unfair.” Without impugning the motives of those seeking to sue, Bush said he suspected “they see a gravy train” and urged House leaders to act so calls to the United States from overseas can be monitored.
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