Illegal Wiretaping

Recently, an editorial appeared in the Wall Street Journal discussing the "dangers" of not granting amnesty to US telecom companies.

Glenn Greenwald responded to this editorial in his blog, in an entry entitled: "The WSJ editorial page lies about our surveillance laws"

Both articles were clearly conservativist and leftist, respectively, yet Greenwald legitamized his work with facts and . While the WSJ editorial crafted its argument with elaborate description of the attempts that the "leftist" members of Congress are making to undermine The War Against Terror and speculation seasoned with a pinch of fear to flavor.

Ironically, in this rat race for war powers, the WSJ suggests that if amnesty is not approved, that telecom companies will not cooperate and Bush's license to conduct war will be crippled.

The WSJ writer points to the future decisions of Congress concerning Foreign Intellegence Surveillance Act of 1978 as the equivalent of determining whether or not the US wins its war against terror. Greenwald cites this insinuation as an example of the scare tactics continually used by the promoters of extra-constitutional actions to battle terrorism.

Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer, aptly points out that telecom communities who "cooperated" broke the law and should be held accountable, especially since other companies refused to participate in the illegal wiretapping. Moreover, the WSJ manipulated and sometimes outright manufactured facts for the purposes of its story.