This piece was originally posted at The Huffington Post. Coleen Rowley is a Democratic Candidate for Minnesota's Second Congressional District. You can visit her here: www.coleenrowley.com.

Iran announced that it has successfully enriched uranium, putting the world on notice that it’s serious about joining the nuclear club. Critics of the Bush administration are quick to point out that it didn’t have to be this way: if Bush had been more interested in trying to solve problems than flexing American muscle, he might have engaged in a more serious effort to find a diplomatic solution to the threat of a nuclear Iran. If he had better understood how an American show of force would be received in the Middle East, he might have thought twice before invading Iraq (recent revelations cast doubt on the possibility that he even thought once before charging toward “regime change”). If he hadn’t been so busy promoting factually suspect evidence of a threat from Iraq, he might have paid more attention to the real threat growing in Iran.

elevated from the diaries ~ Rowley is a candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2^nd District
Bullying and Threats Cannot Smokescreen the Truth

This blog originally was posted at Huffingtonpost

Two days ago, President Bush continued his strategy of smokescreening the truth by criticizing what he called "irresponsible debate" over the war in Iraq. He would love to have us forget how we got into that quagmire in the first place and now he pleads with us to stay the course of his grave mistake.

Mr. Bush's comments apparently were targeted at Democrats like myself who are campaigning for Congress. As an "honest critic," I'm happy to respectfully respond.

elevated from the diaries ~Rowley is a Congressional Candidate
Further Intelligence Exploration

So why did Bush believe it necessary to abrogate the need to seek FISA approval for monitoring American citizens?  Why couldn't he have used the extremely permissive 72-hour emergency exception under existing FISA law?  I have only a couple of good guesses...

elevated from the diaries ~Rowley is a Congressional Candidate
Contrary to some analysts, Moussaoui no justification for Bush's program

In the past week, many Republicans have used the Moussaoui case as justification for President Bush's attack on our civil liberties. I subsequently wrote a letter to the editor setting the record straight to the WaPo which published an abbreviated version. The following is the complete letter.

As legal counsel to the Minneapolis FBI Division and witness to the entire Moussaoui case, I can tell you that these assertions are not just factually wrong, they miss the real problems that existed within our intelligence gathering superstructure.  I wrote a 13 page memo and testified before Congress on these very failures. Yet, some individuals continue to misapply and misrepresent what I said.

more after the jump

Rowley is a former FBI Agent and candidate for Congress
Oversight and the Abuse of Power

Last week, the NY Times reported that in 2002 President Bush secretly authorized the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on Americans inside the United States. His executive order empowered the NSA to monitor e-mails and phone calls of perhaps thousands of Americans without obtaining a warrant to do so. Later, Bush acknowledged the order and added he would continue the domestic spying program indefinitely.

Meanwhile, Senator Feingold successfully blocked an up-and-down vote on a problematic Patriot Act reauthorization bill that entailed systemic threats to our civil liberties.