ADMINISTRATION -- FORMER BUSH LAWYER CALLS SPY PROGRAM A 'LEGAL MESS'

Center for American Progress:
Jack Goldsmith, a former Bush administration attorney, told Congress yesterday that President Bush's warrantless wiretapping program was "the biggest legal mess [he] had ever encountered" and after leading an internal review, he "could not find a legal basis for some aspects of the program." Contradicting testimony by former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who said there were no "serious disagreements about the program" within the administration, Goldsmith stated, "There were enormous disagreements," with the internal fight culminating "in a threat by Goldsmith, [former Deputy Attorney General James] Comey, and others to resign en masse if the program were allowed to continue without changes." Goldsmith added that Vice President Cheney's counsel David Addington had "told him that his position might mean failure to halt a new terrorist attack that would leave him with the blood of thousands on his hands." Goldsmith's testimony also emphasized the reluctance of the White House to allow any oversight of its wiretapping program.