[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 161 (Tuesday, October 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H11851]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  FISA

  (Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, in the early hours of May 11, seven U.S. 
soldiers were on lookout near a patrol base in Iraq. Some time before 
dawn, heavily armed al Qaeda gunmen made coordinated surprise attacks 
on the soldiers. Four of the soldiers were killed and three others 
taken hostage. What happened next is a travesty and a failure of our 
public policy in support of the troops in the field. A search to rescue 
the men began immediately but was brought to a halt because of our FISA 
law, by the need for military lawyers to jump through legal hoops in 
order to gain approval to conduct surveillance of terrorist 
communications. Ten hours passed before they were granted such 
permission. The search for a kidnapped U.S. soldier was halted so that 
lawyers could find grounds to have the Attorney General grant special 
permission to listen in on the communications between the individuals 
in Iraq. Our FISA law, as the President has requested, needs reform, 
not the flawed bill the Democrats are seeking to pass.

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