The House Strikes Back

And yet Powell suggested there might be.

Q: "[A]re you saying that there are carriers that have told you that they will no longer cooperate unless liability is included in the legislation?"

Powell: "Yeah."

But, once again, Powell wouldn't back up his assertion with verifiable examples. "I don't want to get that specific and verge on getting into classified material. But the answer is that beyond just this program, for two years, we've been saying that we are having problems getting cooperation from the private sector, not just on this program, because of this issue. . . .

"[P]rivate sector parties have said that unless we address this issue and the retroactive liability protection, it raises substantial questions about their cooperation with our operations, and have also said that there's an increasing reluctance, or an outright refusal, to willingly cooperate with us in some critical areas."

But on what grounds could the telecoms refuse lawful orders going forward? It sounds a bit like extortion to me. Unless they aren't really lawful orders. In which case it's in the public interest for them to refuse.

Q: "So what do you expect to happen, come February 16th, if AT&T or one of the other carriers does not have liability protection? Do you expect them to simply opt out and say, okay, come after me?"

Powell: "Okay. I'm not going to talk about any specific company or speculate about any specific company. . . ."

Q: "But can you give us an example of what you're not getting right now from the private sector because of the lack of retroactive immunity? . . . Are there examples of what -- of the cooperation you're not receiving now that's making your job much more difficult?"

Powell: "Yes, there are examples, and the director would not be happy with me, I think, if I alerted folks to what we are not getting."

Opinion Watch

Keith Olbermann on MSNBC last night: "You are a liar, Mr. Bush, and after showing some skill at it, you have ceased to even be a very good liar. . . .

"We will not fear any longer. We will not fear the international terrorists, and we will thwart them. We will not fear the recognition of the manipulation of our yearning for safety, and we will call it what it is: terrorism. We will not fear identifying the vulgar hypocrites in our government, and we will name them. And we will not fear George W. Bush. Nor will we fear because George W. Bush wants us to fear."