Vote “No” on FISA Renewal

The following was sent to Sen. Obama earlier today:

The purpose of this e-mail is to ask you to vote “no” on the FISA renewal.

On the one hand, there are those who argue that the bill significantly expands the ability of the government to spy on Americans, which to me is problematic. On the other, there are those, including yourself, who have argued that the bill helps continue to protect America from terrorist threats and that it includes new provisions for both congressional and judicial oversight of how FISA is implemented. However, given George Bush’s track record, I would suggest that he will simply take full advantage of the former and ignore the latter. Which raises a serious question of exactly what has been accomplished?

However, that is not the particular reason I ask you to vote “no” on FISA renewal. I ask you to vote “no” because of the bill’s telecom immunity provision. Telecom immunity has absolutely nothing to do with national security, so it in no way can be justified on that basis.

First, at the very least, telecom immunity will be perceived as a huge, and as far as I am concerned completely unnecessary political victory for George Bush and the Republicans. The essence of political compromise is that each side gets something out of the deal. What do the Democrats get out of this capitulation? I have yet to hear a satisfactory answer to that question.

Second, and to me a much more compelling reason for voting no on telecom immunity is that for all intents and purposes it validates a specious legal precedent that was dismissed by the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials a half century ago. The Nazis sought to justify their war crimes with the argument that they were just following orders, an argument rejected by the Nuremberg Court. The telecoms claim to justify their possibly illegal participation in spying on Americans with the argument that the government had told them what they were doing was legal; a self-justification that should also be rejected.