President George W Bush on Saturday pressed his attack against Democratic lawmakers, saying that political deadlock over a controversial wiretap law put the United States at greater risk of a terror attack.
“House leaders chose politics over protecting the country — and our country is at greater risk as a result,” Bush said in his weekly radio address, which he recorded before leaving on a five-nation trip to Africa on Friday.
At issue is the expiration at midnight Saturday of legislation that allows government spying on foreign telephone calls and electronic correspondence without first seeking a warrant. Bipartisan-backed legislation to make the post-September 11, 2001 measure permanent passed the Senate but the Democratic-controlled House did not bring it for a vote before heading on more than a week of recess, saying more time was needed to iron out their concerns.
“At midnight, the attorney general and the director of national intelligence will be stripped of their power to authorise new surveillance against terrorist threats abroad,” he said.
“This means that as terrorists change their tactics to avoid our surveillance, we may not have the tools we need to continue tracking them — and we may lose a vital lead that could prevent an attack on America.
“Because Congress failed to act, it will be harder for our government to keep you safe from terrorist attack.” The programme also offered immunity to telecommunications companies that participate in surveillance, but its expansive reach raised concerns among Democrats that it infringed on civil liberties and Us privacy laws.
Meanwhile, President George W Bush on Saturday launched a five-country Africa swing, highlighting US-backed victories against disease and poverty and calling for action to help trouble spots Darfur and Kenya.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, expected in the Kenyan capital on Monday, will deliver a clear message that Washington wants an agreement to end violence that has left an estimated 1,000 people dead, he said.
The key is that the leaders hear from her first hand US desires to see that there be no violence and that there be a power-sharing agreement that will help this nation resolve its difficulties, said the US president.
Bush also defended the trip’s focus away from regional conflicts and on the fruits of Washington’s cooperation with African partners to battle malaria and HIV/AIDS, as well as promote democratic and free-market reforms.
This a large place, with a lot of nations, and no question not everything is perfect. On the other hand, there’s a lot of great success stories and the United States is pleased to be involved with those success stories, he said.
My trip here is a way to remind future presidents and future congresses that it is in the national interest and in the moral interest of the United States of America to help people, he said during a joint public appearance with Benin’s President Boni Yayi.
The visit of the president is a symbol, Yayi said through an interpreter. He is here to support the countries which strive to be virtuous, the governments which accept to work on behalf of their people.
On Darfur, Bush said that once he had decided not to send US troops there, there’s not many other avenues, except for the United Nations and a peacekeeping force.
We’re sanctioning some, rallying others to provide aid, in the hopes that there be a robust UN force in Darfur that would help relieve the suffering, said Bush, who told reporters he had pressed China to help.
Bush and Yayi said they had discussed the fight against malaria in Benin-which launched a US-backed campaign against the disease in October-as well as a campaign to cut global poverty in half by 2015. Bush was last in Africa in 2003, when he visited Senegal, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, and Nigeria.