Sen. Clinton blasts Bush on eavesdropping

WASHINGTON -- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton called President Bush's explanations for eavesdropping on domestic conversations without warrants ''strange" and ''far-fetched" yesterday, in blistering criticism before the president's State of the Union address.

''Obviously, I support tracking down terrorists. I think that's our obligation. But I think it can be done in a lawful way," the New York Democrat said.

Clinton, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, told reporters that she did not yet know whether the administration's warrantless eavesdropping had broken laws.

But she said she did not accept the White House's main justification for the tactic.

''Their argument that it's rooted in the authority to go after Al Qaeda is far-fetched," she said, apparently alluding to a congressional resolution passed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The Bush administration has argued that the resolution gave the president authority to order such electronic surveillance as part of efforts to protect the country from terrorists.

''Their argument that it's rooted in the Constitution inherently is kind of strange because we have FISA, and FISA operated very effectively and it wasn't that hard to get their permission," she said.

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, was established by Congress to approve eavesdropping warrants, even retroactively, but Bush has said the process often takes too long.

Clinton leveled her criticism at a meeting of mayors while Bush toured the National Security Agency, which conducts the eavesdropping. His tour was part of the White House's campaign to defend the practice of eavesdropping on calls and other communications made overseas from the United States.

The eavesdropping program has drawn criticism from many congressional Democrats as well as human rights and civil liberties groups.