Senator Kennedy On FISA and Telecom Immunity!!
The debate we're having now about telecom amnesty is not likely to be the last round in the Administration's attempt to immunize its private partners. It's only an opening round. In America, we should be striving to make more entities subject to the rule of law, not fewer. Giving in to the Administration now will start us down a path to a very dark place.Think about what we've been hearing from the White House in this debate. The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies. The President's insistence on immunity as a precondition for any FISA reform is yet another example of his disrespect for honest dialogue and for the rule of law.
It's painfully clear what the President's request for retroactive immunity is really about. It's a
