US: Brushing aside criticism of their aggressive tactics in the war on terrorism, president George W Bush and senior officials accused senate Democrats yesterday of putting the US at risk by blocking the reauthorisation of key anti-terrorism legislation.
Democrats countered that Mr Bush and the Republican leadership in the senate were to blame for refusing to temporarily extend the Patriot Act provisions in order to give lawmakers more time to negotiate a compromise to better protect civil liberties.
Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said: "What is wrong is for the White House to manipulate this into a partisan fight for its partisan political advantage."
With the legislation in limbo and Patriot Act provisions set to expire on December 31st, Mr Bush accused senators of endangering the US by blocking a law vital to the fight "against brutal killers".
Mr Bush, however, did not mention the four Republican senators - Chuck Hagel, Larry Craig, John Sununu and Lisa Murkowski - who joined most Democrats last week in blocking the bill.
"This obstruction is inexcusable," Mr Bush said, adding that senate Democrats were using a filibuster to block renewal of provisions of the Patriot Act, a centrepiece of his response to the September 11th attacks.
Mr Bush singled out senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada for attack, saying he recently "boasted about killing the Patriot Act". Attorney general Alberto Gonzales and homeland security secretary Michael Chertoff also issued warnings.
"If the impasse continues, when Americans wake up on January 1st, we will not be as safe," Mr Gonzales told reporters at the justice department.
Mr Chertoff agreed: "We're going to wake up on January 1st and we will have left some of the most important weapons against terror in the cupboard, unavailable to be used by our frontline defenders."
The battle comes as Democrats and Republicans seek congressional hearings into Mr Bush's decision to order spying without warrants on Americans suspected of having ties to terrorists.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that federal judge James Robertson resigned from the court that oversees government surveillance in intelligence cases in protest of Mr Bush's authorisation of the domestic spying programme.
Mr Gonzales said he did not know why Mr Robertson resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court (Fisa).
"I don't know the reason. I'm not going to speculate why a judge would step down from the Fisa court," he said.
Despite Mr Bush's call for ending the Patriot Act filibuster, his Republican allies in the senate appeared to be ready to let key provisions of the law expire on December 31st, as scheduled.
Meanwhile, environment campaigners were last night celebrating an improbable victory after the US senate narrowly blocked a Republican plan to allow oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. - (Reuters)