US House reluctantly approves Bushs terrorist surveillance bill

The US House of Representatives has reluctantly approved changes in the Bush Administrations terrorist surveillance program, despite serious objections from some Democrats about the scope of the White Houses new eavesdropping power.

Washington, Aug.5 : The US House of Representatives has reluctantly approved changes in the Bush Administration's terrorist surveillance program, despite serious objections from some Democrats about the scope of the White House's new eavesdropping power.

The House voted 227 to 183 to endorse a measure, which the administration says is required to keep pace with communications technology to track down terrorists overseas.

The Democratic leadership in the House, according to major dailies like the New York Times and Washington Post, is said to have had strong reservations about the proposed legislation.

An overwhelming majority of Democrats opposed it. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi described the measure as doing "violence to the Constitution of the United States."

But with the Senate already in recess, Democrats were confronted by a choice of allowing the administration's bill to reach the floor, and have it approved mainly by Republicans. Had it been stalled, it would have left Democratic lawmakers spending the month of August fending off charges from Bush and Republicans that they left Americans exposed to terrorism threats.

Despite the political risks, many Democrats argued they should stand firm against the Bush's initiative, saying it granted the administration far too much latitude to initiate surveillance without judicial review.

They said the White House was using the specter of terrorism to weaken the privacy rights of Americans and empowering Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, whom they see as untrustworthy.

Democrats are reportedly worried about the political repercussions of being perceived as interfering with intelligence gathering. But the disputes were significant enough that they were likely to resurface before the end of the year.

On Saturday, Bush urged the House to act promptly after the Senate approved changes in the terrorist surveillance program sought by the administration late on Friday night. "Protecting America is our most solemn obligation," Bush said in a statement.

Senior House Democratic leaders said they were resigned to the passgae of the administration bill, which would come into force for six months, but said they would be trying to come up with a more acceptable and permanent change in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The surveillance measure up came for discussion late on Saturday, after the House had approved an energy efficiency measure and as it prepared to pass a major Pentagon spending bill and 255 million dollars for the rebuilding of the collapsed bridge in Minnesota.

Administration officials have been quietly pushing Congress to pass a "modernization" of the current law, arguing that technological changes - especially the expansion of telephone calls over the Internet - had made the current rules outdated.

One key issue, apparently raised in secret by judges overseeing the problem, is that many calls and e-mail messages between people outside the United States are routed over data networks that run through the United States.

In principle, the surveillance law does not restrict eavesdropping on foreign-to-foreign communications. But in practice, administration officials contend that the path of those calls through this country means the government cannot monitor them without a warrant. (ANI with inputs).

ANI