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January 25, 2006
Prof's warning rings true
What's particularly troubling about President Bush's unwarranted wiretaps is that so many Americans apparently approve of them. An article by Howard Fischer of Capitol Media Services notes the results of a poll showing that only a slim 51% of respondents in Arizona felt that the President should be required to get court approval before tapping the phones of suspected terrorists. (And keep in mind that under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, wiretaps can be hooked up first, authorized later -- so it's not as though the warrants required by the Constitution prevent quick action to gather intelligence on terror suspects.)
Fischer's article quotes Congressman Rick Renzi, who represents Flagstaff, as saying "It's not domestic surveillance," instead dubbing it surveillance for terrorist cells within the U.S., whatever that's supposed to mean. Renzi (never the sharpest knife in the drawer, although I did vote for him) is quoted as saying, "If we had done this prior to Sept. 11 (2001), we certainly would've been able to make some connections."
That's hogwash. The intelligence services had plenty of information on what was going on -- they just failed to do anything about it.
But back to Americans' acceptance of the Bush Administration's treating the Constitution as "just a piece of paper." This is exactly what an old history professor of mine, George Billias, told us would happen if the country were ever under serious threat from an external or internal enemy. He recounted an incident that had occurred in Germany, where his daughter had been traveling. There was a bank robbery, and in response, the local police and other law enforcement authorities sealed off streets, arrested all kinds of people, and took heavy-handed enforcement actions that would never have been allowed in this country. Germans, being accustomed to strong governmental authorities -- and not inclined to stand up for their rights -- routinely accepted such actions. Billias told us the same thing was likely to happen in this country, if we faced a threat. "You think you're all about Constitutional Rights, and that you're not going to stand for the government intruding on your lives, arresting people without charge, and putting them in jail without due process," he said. "But watch what happens when there's a threat to 'national security' from the Communists or some other bogeyman -- you'll give up your rights just as eagerly as the Germans did."
Pretty tough to argue with his assessment, isn't it?
Posted by Urbie at January 25, 2006 03:16 PM