"Extraordinary and Inappropriate"

The Bush administration's post-Sept. 11 surveillance efforts went beyond the widely publicized warrantless wiretapping program, a government report disclosed Friday, encompassing additional secretive activities that created "unprecedented" spying powers.
The report also raised new questions about how the Bush White House kept key Justice Department officials in the dark as it launched the surveillance program.
In a move that it described as "extraordinary and inappropriate," the report said the White House relied on a single, lower-level attorney in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel for assessments about the programs' legality.
The questionable attorney, John Yoo, a young George W. Bush appointee/crony with close ties to the president's inner circle, wrote a series of memos usurping truth and legally blessing the program even though his superiors and most top officials were uninformed about it; in essence, practically proclaiming the executive branch of government above the law.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy is calling for a nonpartisan inquiry into the government's information-gathering programs.
Los Angeles Times report HERE