Text 13732, 55 rader
Skriven 2005-06-26 01:48:57 av Gary Braswell (1:123/789.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Alan Hess
Ärende: KEEP THE PATRIOT ACT
============================
Alan Hess -> John Massey wrote:

 AH> Whilst masticating on <Jun 19 05>, John Massey (1:123/789)
 AH> wrote to Ed Hulett:

 EH>>> The average user has nothing to worry about. The average user
 EH>>> isn't likely to be a terrorist.

 JM>> While it may not be feasible now, how long before it is?
 JM>> The fact that someone in the government thinks it would be a good
 JM>> idea to keep tabs on virtually every thing you do, every banking
 JM>> transaction, every URL you look at, all on the outside chance that
 JM>> it might be helpful to some LEA, should scare the hell out of
 JM>> anyone that values their  privacy and freedom.

 AH> But infringing on the civil rights of all Americans might help catch a
 AH> terrorist or two!  It's a small price to pay.

 AH> <sarcasm off>

I became interested in Terrorism back during the Iran Hostage situation in
1979. I read a lot of books on the topic as I am both fascinated and disturbed
by it. Read a lot about CTU units around the world, how the various countries
dealt with terror, etc.

I had the luck to correspond with a few of leading people dealing with terror
in both the military, academia and government. I read their papers, books
and/or speeches and attempted to contact them via email or snailmail.

We all knew it was a matter of time for the US got hit hard. We pretty much
ignored terrorism after the unrest of the 60s and 70s. We treated terrorists as
simple lawbreakers, punished under laws dealing with what they did, murder,
bomb making, etc.

We are new to the war on terror. Europe and the rest of the world have been
dealing with it for what, 30 plus years?

And I worried how much we would become like those countries after we got hit
big. Many of those countries suspend all their laws when they think they have a
terrorist or someone who knows something. And there have been many mistakes
made as a result.

As it goes our "Patriot Act" is not the worst by far. But it opens the door
wide and as time goes on, we get II and III and we will have to see how bad it
gets. Even the very name of the act suggests if you are against it, you are not
a patriot.

I took heart initially when Bush was against it, but even that changed. It will
probably be many years before we know the damage, if any, this act and its
descendants do.

I had hoped we were different.

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