CAMP DAVID.

CAMP DAVID, Md -- President Bush said those who agree with a federal connoisseur that his warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional "simply do not understand the nature of the world in which we live."

"This fatherland of ours is at war," the president said Friday. "And we must give those whose responsibility it is to shield the United States the tools necessary to patronize this country in a time of war."

The day before, a federal referee in Michigan struck down the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program, ruling it was an unconstitutional infringement forward the right to privacy and delivered speech. Upon Bush's orders, the Justice Department appealed within hours.

"I violently disagree with this decision. earnestly disagree," he said of the ruling from U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in a case brought on the American Civil Liberties Union.

silent ON NORTH KOREA

Bush moveed he sees the issue as a politically puissant one in a year when principally of Congress is up for re-election, and GOP sway of the Capitol is in danger.

"I made my position clear," he said. "It'll be interesting to view . . . how other policymakers react."

The president refused to address reports that North Korea may be preparing for an subterranean test of a nuclear bomb

"It's a hypothetical question and you're asking me to divulge any intelligence information I have and I'm not going to do that, as you know. I'm not going to break tradition," he said.

at the same time Bush went on to say, "If North Korea were to direction a test, it's just a constant reminder for the public in the neighborhood in particular that North Korea embarrasss a threat and we await our friends, those sitting around the table with us, to act in in the same state [i]or[/i] condition a manner as to help rid the world of the threat."

He was referring to six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. The participants are Japan, China, Russia, the United States and North and southern Korea.

...