and Still Our Borders Are Open - While The Government Spies On Americans!

Washington - When the largest US newspaper Thursday detailed a secret, massive government database of Americans' phone records, President George W. Bush was quick to argue that such leaks hurt national security.

But, as Bush's quick response to the USA Today story showed, the White House is just as concerned that the latest leak would heap additional trouble on the beleaguered president.

The newspaper reported that the National Security Agency (NSA), with the help of three large telephone companies, compiled a database of the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans who are not suspected of committing any crime.

Bush did not confirm or deny the programme's existence. But the latest controversial twist to his war on terror is likely to not sit well with Americans, who are protective of their privacy and their civil rights.

Bush, in a hastily arranged television appearance, assured Americans that all of the NSA's actions are within the law and that citizens privacy is 'fiercely protected.'

But he offered no explanation for why the US government would have needed to collect phone records of its citizens, a question that will be raised over and over in the weeks ahead.

The programme will certainly be raised later this month during the Senate confirmation hearings for Air Force General Michael Hayden, whom Bush nominated to become Central Intelligence Agency director. Hayden headed the NSA when the programme was put in place after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Hayden was already facing questions over another controversial part of the NSA surveillance programme - the monitoring, without court approval, of calls that either originate or end in the US. Bush has defended that project as vital to tracking terrorist suspects.

A sure sign that the USA Today story will be trouble for Bush is that several members of the president's Republican Party immediately voiced concern about Thursday's revelation.

Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and a frequent critic of White House secrecy on surveillance matters, said he plans to call telephone company executives to testify on the programme.

Other Republicans also expressed concern over the programme, such as John Boehner, the Republican majority leader in the House of Representatives.

'I'm not sure why it would be necessary for us to keep and have that kind of information,' he said, vowing to find out more about the programme.

The uproar comes as Bush's approval rating is at all-time lows and less than half of Americans agree with how he is handling the war on terror, according to a recent New York Times and CBS television poll.

Opposition Democrats, who are trying to win control of Congress in November mid-term elections, seized the opportunity to not only criticize Bush, but also their Republican colleagues for failing to keep the administration in check.

Patrick Leahy, the senior Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, angrily waved a copy of USA Today at a hearing Thursday.

'Shame on us for being so far behind and being so willing to rubber-stamp anything this administration does,' Leahy said.

M & C News