http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070 <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aAenqJzHWaaA&refer=poli tics> &sid=aAenqJzHWaaA&refer=politics
By James Rowley and Robert Schmidt Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush created a ``legal mess'' by authorizing his terrorist surveillance program without consulting Congress or the courts, a former U.S. Justice Department legal adviser told Congress. Jack Goldsmith, who headed the agency's Office of Legal Counsel for nine months until mid-2004, told the Senate Judiciary Committee he couldn't find legal support for ``certain aspects'' of the terrorist surveillance program. While defending Bush's efforts to protect the country after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Goldsmith said ``extreme secrecy'' and a go-it-alone approach hurt the legal justification. ``It was the biggest legal mess I had ever encountered,'' Goldsmith said, referring to the surveillance program. The committee has clashed with the Bush administration over getting access to documents describing the legal basis for the eavesdropping. Goldsmith told lawmakers today he couldn't specify his complaints about the spying program because the White House had forbidden him from discussing his analysis. The showdown is likely to continue, as Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy has sought documents about the spying's legal basis to prepare for questioning attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey. Questions over the truthfulness of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's testimony about the program helped lead to his resignation in August. Terrorist Attacks After the terrorist attacks, Bush authorized the National Security Agency to wiretap international long-distance telephone calls of suspected terrorists in this country. Following criticism by lawmakers that he bypassed judicial review, Bush this year put the program under the review of a secret court that oversees domestic intelligence gathering. Today, Goldsmith told Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, that Bush could have avoided the legal and political controversy by asking Congress to rewrite the law and consult the secret court. ``Did you believe that it would have been possible to accomplish what the administration wanted to do legally had they been willing to work'' with Congress and the secret court, Leahy asked. ``Yes,'' said Goldsmith, whose recently published book, ``The Terror Presidency,'' describes his clashes with other administration officials over wiretapping and other anti-terror policies. Bush administration officials were so secretive that at first they wouldn't let the general counsel of the National Security Agency and many other officials read the legal memo justifying the surveillance because ``they just didn't want the opinion scrutinized,'' Goldsmith said. `Extreme Secrecy' ``There is no doubt that the extreme secrecy, not getting feedback from experts, not showing it to experts, not getting a variety of views'' in the administration ``led to a lot of mistakes,'' Goldsmith said. Still, Goldsmith said he backed many of Bush's efforts to protect the country in the face of ``fearful threat reports.'' The fear of another terrorist attack was based on ``a good- faith belief'' and led the administration ``to push to the edges of the law,'' he said. Goldsmith disagreed with suggestions by Democrats that Bush used the threat of terrorist attacks to wrest new powers from Congress, such as the enactment of emergency legislation in August to restore the legality of surveillance of terrorists overseas. ``When I was inside the government, I did not think the government was exaggerating the threat,'' Goldsmith said. ``The government was more concerned and anxious and fearful about the threat'' of another attack ``than it was conveying publicly.'' `Seriously Flawed' Goldsmith, who resigned following disagreements with the White House, said he rescinded as ``seriously flawed'' an August 2002 Justice Department legal memo that defined what constituted torture during the interrogation of suspected terrorists. The memo narrowly defined torture as inflicting pain equivalent to that ``accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death.'' Goldsmith said he withdrew the memo because ``I didn't know what would be done in the name of the opinion'' in the belief that techniques were ``OK by the Justice Department.'' Goldsmith also called on Congress to ``step up to the plate'' and create a ``fair system of long-term detention'' for terrorist suspects held at Guantanamo Bay. Without creating new procedures for terrorist suspects, Congress would only ``shift responsibility for making the hard choices'' to the courts, he said. Threat to Resign Goldsmith, now a Harvard University law professor, said he threatened to resign in March 2004 over the Bush administration's attempt to extend its terrorist surveillance program without Justice Department approval. Former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey told Congress earlier this year that he and other top Justice Department officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, also threatened to quit. Bush averted the resignations by making changes in the program. Goldsmith confirmed Comey's account of then-White House Counsel Gonzales's attempt to get Attorney General John Ashcroft to sign off on the program while in the hospital recovering from surgery. Still, Goldsmith said Gonzales didn't give false testimony in minimizing the controversy. ``There is a technical interpretation of what he said that is true, but it's very difficult to talk about'' in public, Goldsmith said. Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse didn't respond to a request for comment on Goldsmith's testimony. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. 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