11 August 2006

The ACLU vs. The Air Marshall

I know which one I'd rather be seated with:

The plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or the New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs.

Democrats and their media allies screamed bloody murder last year when it was leaked that the government was monitoring some communications outside the context of a law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA wasn't designed for, nor does it forbid, the timely exploitation of what are often anonymous phone numbers, and the calls monitored had at least one overseas connection. But Mr. Reid labeled such surveillance "illegal" and an "NSA domestic spying program." Other Democrats are still saying they will censure, or even impeach, Mr. Bush over the FISA program if they win control of Congress.

In short, Democrats who claim to want "focus" on the war on terror have wanted it fought without the intelligence, interrogation and detention tools necessary to win it. And if they cite "cooperation" with our allies as some kind of magical answer, they should be reminded that the British and other European legal systems generally permit far more intrusive surveillance and detention policies than the Bush Administration has ever contemplated.

Does anyone think that when the British interrogate those 20 or so suspects this week that they will recoil at harsh or stressful questioning?

If only 1% of Muslims in this world are willing to die in order to kill those they deem Not Muslim Enough, that's 10 million people. That and the above are some things to think about the next time you hear the sad pleas to understand and negotiate with people willing to kill and die for their religious fanaticism.

2 comments:

Jodin said...

The Brits worked within the law and didn't use a country wide drag-net of spying.

Impeach Bush.

Anonymous said...

There's nothing about FISA that prevents this sort of thing. In fact there are "retroactive" provisions for time-sensitive suveilling that cannot wait for a court order.