On Spying - Accusations, Misrepresentations And A Lot of Missing Pieces

J.J. Jackson* | December 29, 2005

ACLU Makes A Claim

The ACLU is making some pretty steep acusations as are many on the left. It is the latest round of “gotcha” they are trying to play with President Bush as revenge against relentless and truthful attacks against their own Teflon Don, Bill Clinton.

Every week there is some new “scandal” being thrown against the wall to see if it sticks. I often call this “cooking spaghetti” because one of the ways you can tell when the pasta is done is that it sticks to the wall. I firmly believe that each time the spaghetti doesn’t stick the left gets more and more shrill and outrageous with their next attack.

A lot of people have been putting messages in my email box concerning the “Bush spied” allegations now circulating. Those on the right are asking what I think. Those on the left are demanding that I condemn President Bush as if I never have done THAT before! And now the ACLU has this full page ad in the New York Times.

So I?ll tell you what I think. I think that right now there is a lot of yelling and spaghetti getting cooked while we are incredibly short on details and facts about what is actually going on. For example, the ACLU claims that President Bush ?lied? about what he was doing. Their claim is that because President Bush admitted they had been intercepting conversations without a warrant that he lied when he said the following on April 20, 2004:

?Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires — a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we’re talking about chasing down terrorists, we’re talking about getting a court order before we do so. It’s important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution.?

What they are leaving out (which always seems to be the case with left wing ideologues) is that there is more to this quote. The sentence

Secondly, there are such things as roving wiretaps.

preceeds this and is left off. Why? Because President Bush was talking about ?roving? wire taps specifically in this speech which can be read in full here.

A roving wire tap, for reference, is a wire tap that is focused on the person and all phones they might be using instead of a single phone. The speech was also about the Patriot Act which specifically ensures the rights of United States Citizens from abuse

But including that information would not paint as dire a picture. So it is instead left out.

The question here is really what was done by the NSA. And to be quite honest there seems to be a distinct void when it comes to such information. Lots of accusations and lots of spaghetti getting thrown on the wall however.

Should the United States and the President be spying on United States citizens? My answer is no in 99.9% of the cases. That small 0.1% I leave open is when that citizen renounces their citizenship by beginning to work with enemy agents with which the United States is at war with. Should the government have the right to intercept and listen in on phone conversations directed to or from enemy agents in foreign countries the United States is currently at war with? Yep even if one of those parties is a United States Citizen or someone under the jurisdiction of the United States. Those circumstances do not grant immunities to the party on the other end of the conversation.

Should the United States government prosecute law-abiding citizens? Never.

Should the United States government take into custody, hold and interrogate people that become enemy combatants or take up arms against the United States in a time of War? Absolutely.

Mistrust of government is high. And well it should be. How many times have I said that I carry a gun specifically for protection from the government as well as criminals? Too many to count. All government power will be abused. Note that I did not say ?might? or ?can? be. I said ?will? be abused.

It may not be abused by all that have their hands on the reins but eventually someone with the desire to abuse power will get a hold of it and do just that.

It is impossible to live in a bubble. Should all agents of the NSA and even the federal government be required to wear ear plugs when in public so that they cannot possibly overhear what is said by those around them? After all, anything they hear could be considered ?spying?. If you are that paranoid there is help available.

Eternal vigilance is the key combined with the right to keep and bear arms. Because as long as the population is armed AND wary AND willing to act on top of that cowards that would seek to usurp government power will be held in check.

It?s not the knowledge itself that is the problem. It is how the knowledge is used that can be.

Do I have a problem with a super secret computer system that is out there scanning the air waves for trigger words that may be cause for alarm or related to potential attacks against this nation and her people? No.

Do I have a problem when that program is used to punish political enemies of the ruling party? Yep.

Do I have a problem when that program is used to start spying on people and gathering information on them when they are not involved with enemies with whom we are at war? Yep.

Do I have a problem when that program is used to simply place people on a ?watch list? because they said something that might be unpopular? Yep.

But none of those things have been shown to have happened. In fact what I have seen is basically a program that is looking for those that we are at war with and figuring out what they are up to. Is there a possibility that someone within the program is using it for more? Maybe. And if they are, show me that evidence.

But all we have right now is a boatload of allegations about harmed civil liberties and spying on American citizens. I remind you that we are indeed at war. And there are people out there trying to kill us. I know that September 11th is a long time in the past to many, but please do try and remember it.

If our nation is not secure there is no liberty for you or me. And if you want your liberty you are going to have to let the government prosecute this war and kill and capture the enemy. But if they step over the line and start to methodically prosecute law abiding citizens that is when the shooting should and will start.

Maybe President Bush DID break the law. But it seems that it is only now a problem for the political left and when President Clinton did it (and we have the Executive Order to prove it) it was a-ok. So if you are a lefty gung-ho about taking on President Bush over this then you admit that President Clinton needed to be impeached as well.

Me, however, I will wait and see until all the facts are in. Then I?ll tell you what I think should be done on this particular issue.

Contributor's website: http://www.libertyreborn.com

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