Top Cheney Aide: "We're One Bomb Away From Getting Rid" Of FISA Court

Posted by Steve Benen at 2:00 PM on September 4, 2007.

This post, written by Steve Benen, originally appeared on The Carpetbagger Report

When it comes to the Bush administration's national security policies, former Assistant Attorney General Jack Goldsmith has always been an important figure, but with the publication of his new book, we're able to get some new insights into what he saw, and what the Bush gang was up to. In this case, that means more alarming revelations about out-of-control officials who treat the rule of law like a punch-line.

Goldsmith is as conservative as they come when it comes to political ideology, but he seems anxious to highlight the extent to which he disapproved of the White House's excessive tactics. Goldsmith also, apparently, considers David Addington, Dick Cheney's legal alter ego, a bit of a lunatic.

[Goldsmith] shared the White House's concern that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act might prevent wiretaps on international calls involving terrorists. But Goldsmith deplored the way the White House tried to fix the problem, which was highly contemptuous of Congress and the courts. "We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious [FISA] court," Goldsmith recalls Addington telling him in February 2004.

Their debate over the Geneva Conventions was even more striking.

When Goldsmith presented his analysis of the Geneva Conventions at the White House, Addington, according to Goldsmith, became livid. "The president has already decided that terrorists do not receive Geneva Convention protections," Addington replied angrily, according to Goldsmith. "You cannot question his decision." (Addington declined to comment on this and other details concerning him in this article.)

Goldsmith then explained that he agreed with the president's determination that detainees from Al Qaeda and the Taliban weren't protected under the Third Geneva Convention, which concerns the treatment of prisoners of war, but that different protections were at issue with the Fourth Geneva Convention, which concerns civilians. Addington, Goldsmith says, was not persuaded.

Months later, when Goldsmith tried to question another presidential decision, Addington expressed his views even more pointedly. "If you rule that way," Addington exclaimed in disgust, Goldsmith recalls, "the blood of the hundred thousand people who die in the next attack will be on your hands."

Tagged as: cheney, terrorism, bush administration, civil liberties, wiretapping, addington

Steve Benen is a freelance writer/researcher and creator of The Carpetbagger Report. In addition, he is the lead editor of Salon.com's Blog Report, and has been a contributor to Talking Points Memo, Washington Monthly, Crooks & Liars, The American Prospect, and the Guardian.