A political commentator criticizes as “window dressing” and “comic opera” the recent ruling by a US judge that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of telephone and Internet records was legal.
“This drama that’s unfolding, whether it’s in the Supreme Court or lower courts is just comic opera,” said Darnell Stephen Summers, a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, a national veterans’ organization that campaigns for peace and justice.
On Friday, US District Judge William Pauley ruled that the massive data collection of millions of Americans’ phone and Internet records by the NSA is legal. The judge said the spying activities were needed to combat terrorism and to protect American citizens.
“This court drama is just window dressing. Everyone knows that all of these intelligence agencies are involved in illegal activities, whether its rendition, torture [or] illegal surveillance,” Summers told Press TV on Saturday.
“The NSA operates above and beyond the law, they are actually a law unto themselves,” he said.
“They operate in the realm of illegality. They’re in the business of subterfuge, confusion and deception.”
Judge Pauley made the ruling in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against the NSA after former NSA analyst Edward Snowden leaked details of the secret programs that critics say violate privacy rights.
The recent ruling contrasts with a ruling earlier this month by US District Court Judge Richard Leon who ruled that NSA program likely violates the US Constitution’s ban on unreasonable search.
Snowden, who currently lives in Russia where he has been granted a temporary asylum, says the US government’s surveillance methods far surpass those of an “Orwellian” state.
AHT/HJ
With permission
Source: Press TV