The ACLU argued its case against NSA warrantless electronic surveillance in a federal court in Michigan today.

A lawyer representing plaintiffs in the case said that the very statute the administration admits violating, the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act, provides the mechanism by which the president can properly order spying. The law even provides for warrantless wire tapping for 15 days after the start of a war or for 72 hours in specific cases, after which the government can seek a warrant, argued Ann Beeson, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The government has admitted the NSA is eavesdropping and not obtaining a warrant," Beeson said. "The Congress has expressly rejected language to broaden the president's authority."

Legal expert Andrew Cohen provides analysis in today's Washington Post.

The U.S. Military runs another delay ruse by us. Just this morning, the New York Times reported:

With rumors circulating in the Iraqi news media that Mr. Zarqawi had begun to run from the house as the first bomb struck, American officials said Saturday that two military pathologists had arrived in Iraq to perform an autopsy on his body to determine the precise cause of his death. The results from the autopsy, and Mr. Zarqawi's precise location at the time of the airstrike, will be disclosed soon, an American military official said.

The autopsy is now complete but the military is not releasing it yet.

"The autopsy is completed. However, we are not releasing results yet," Maj. William Willhoite told The Associated Press. Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said officials were awaiting the results of a DNA test.

Why do they need to wait for the DNA test, which will take 2 to 3 days, when Gen. Casey said on Fox News today they are 100% sure the dead man was al-Zarqawi.

We have a 100 percent match on the fingerprints, and we have a good match on scars and tattoos on the body.

The New York Times tracks the ever-changing details of al-Zarqawi's assassination.

Zarqawi, two men, two women and a young female child were killed.

At a briefing in Baghdad on Saturday, the American command's chief spokesman, Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell, reversed an earlier announcement he had made and confirmed that one of the dead was a small girl, age 5 or 6.

The general said three of the victims were men, including Mr. Zarqawi, and two were women. The general said he had no information to confirm or deny Iraqi news reports that had suggested that one of the women was Mr. Zarqawi's wife, and the girl his child. Hints of their presence, or perhaps of the presence of former tenants, were also scattered through the ruins: a rose-patterned dress, a pair of women's underwear, a leopard-print night gown, a child's shoe.

Why am I not surprised?

An Iraqi man raised fresh questions about the events surrounding the end of
Iraq's most-wanted militant. The man, who lived near the scene of the bombing, told AP Television News on Friday that he saw U.S. soldiers beating an injured man resembling al-Zarqawi until blood flowed from the victim's nose.

Does an anonymous report mean a beating happened? No, but the AP is not the National Enquirer and it doens't print bald accusations. Think about it. Pumped up soldiers on a fresh bombing scene realize they've captured the bronze alive (Osama being the gold and Saddam the silver) -- what do you think they did, read him his Miranda rights or give him a few little jubilant stomps?

The U.S. does not approve of torture, claims President Bush. Does anyone have any doubt that Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly, the Iraqi customs inspector who turned on Zaqarwi after being arrested and held for months by the Jordanian police, talked as a result of being subjected to torture? Connect the dots. More here.

An Iraqi customs agent secretly working with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror cell spilled the beans on the group after he was arrested, Jordanian officials tell ABC News. Ziad Khalaf Raja al-Karbouly was arrested by Jordanian intelligence forces last spring.

Officials say Karbouly confessed to his role in the terror cell and provided crucial information on the names of Zarqawi commanders and locations of their safe houses. Karbouly also admitted to his role in the kidnappings of two Moroccan embassy employees, four Iraqi National Guards and an Iraqi finance ministry official.

In a videotaped confession, Karbouly said he acted on direct orders from Zarqawi.

So now we use information gained from torture to murder our target. What makes us different from them?

Musab al-Zarqawi did not die instantly. He died on a stretcher awaiting medical help.

President Bush said he was "thrilled that Zarqawi was brought to justice."

Since when is assassination bringing one to justice? I thought bringing someone to justice meant bringing him or her before a court of law to judge their guilt and imposing sentence after the suspect has an opportunity to present a defense.

This is like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland: "No, No" said the Queen. "First the punishment, then the verdict."

And who will get the $25 million reward? The al Qaeda member who turned on Zarqawi? The U.S. is going let al Qaeda have access to $25 million? Some defeat for al Qaeda.

Update: Larisa at Raw Story has more details. David Corn weighs in on Bush and Zarqawi.

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Original Post:

The U.S. military has confirmed that it killed Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi in a military air strike.

Gen. George Casey, the US top commander in Iraq, said the hunt for the leader of Iraq's insurgents began two weeks ago and his body was identified through ....fingerprints, facial recognition as well as scars and tattoos.

US military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell showed a picture of al-Zarqawi's face after the air strike with his eyes closed and blood spots under him. He said a DNA test had been carried out on his body the results of which would be released in 48 hours.

The U.S. says al-Zarqawi's "spiritual advisor" led them to him. Here is video of the air strike and video of the Iraqi Prime Minister's announcement with comments by Rumsfeld and Tony Blair.

Steve Silberman at Wired: Don't Try This at Home:

Garage chemistry used to be a rite of passage for geeky kids. But in their search for terrorist cells and meth labs, authorities are making a federal case out of DIY science.

What's the problem with stifling home-grown chemists?

The lure of do-it-yourself chemistry has always been the most potent recruiting tool science has to offer. Many kids attracted by the promise of filling the garage with clouds of ammonium sulfide - the proverbial stink bomb - went on to brilliant careers in mathematics, biology, programming, and medicine.

The Wall St. Journal reports (free link) that the Government may help the phone companies defend the lawsuits brought over contracts to turn over customer records by asserting a states secret privilege:

The plaintiffs, who accuse Bell phone companies of privacy violations and are seeking billions of dollars in damages, would need to delve into the depths of the NSA's surveillance program to make their cases. But the government considers such information top secret, and legal experts expect the Bush administration to assert the "state secrets" privilege in the 20 or more lawsuits filed by privacy advocates in recent weeks. If judges accept the claim, as has been the case in nearly every instance in which it has been asserted since the early 1950s, the suits will dissolve.

According to one phone company lawyer:

From Congressman Maurice Hinchy's office:

In an effort to find out who blocked an internal U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation of the agency's role in the National Security Agency (NSA) warrantless surveillance program and the reasons for doing so, Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today introduced a resolution of inquiry (pdf) in the House that would force top members of the Bush administration to turn over all materials related to the termination of the probe.

Joining him are Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA), and Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). A resolution of inquiry is a bill seeking factual information from the Executive Branch.

Murray Waas and Shane Harris have an article in the National Journal explaining the background to the controversey.

As Attorney General Alberto Gonzales defends the NSA warrantless surveillance using a 1979 case on pen registers, the ACLU has filed complaints in 20 states today to stop Bush's warrantless surveillance of our phone records.

In nationally-coordinated filings the ACLU and its supporters are demanding action at the FCC in Washington and in the following states: Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

The group also has taken out ads in major newspapers today.

Wired Magazine today published the documents of whistleblower Mark Klein, the chief witness for EFF in its suit against AT&T for furnishing customer records to the NSA.

AT&T claims information in the file is proprietary and that it would suffer severe harm if it were released. Based on what we've seen, Wired News disagrees. In addition, we believe the public's right to know the full facts in this case outweighs AT&T's claims to secrecy.

As a result, we are publishing the complete text of a set of documents from the EFF's primary witness in the case, former AT&T employee and whistle-blower Mark Klein -- information obtained by investigative reporter Ryan Singel through an anonymous source close to the litigation. The documents, available on Wired News as of Monday, consist of 30 pages, with an affidavit attributed to Klein, eight pages of AT&T documents marked "proprietary," and several pages of news clippings and other public information related to government-surveillance issues.