The Road to Hell…

...Is paved with good intentions.

No one can deny that tracking terrorists is a good idea. And any Court that would not issue a warrant to track communications of a suspected terrorist should come under close scrutiny or review. We have already witnessed bureaucratic and legal incompetence that allowed the 9/11 highjackers to slip through, despite information that should have lead to the prevention of the attack.

And now we are hearing many justifications for new executive powers. Mainly, the acute needs of war…but what war? Where is the enemy army? What country do they represent? Where is the frontline? Where can we counter-attack? The United States is in control of Iraq, which makes the situation there a post-war police action.

No, this is not a traditional war, but a war on “terrorism”. And when does this abstract concept of “war” end? Probably at the same time as the “war on drugs”, the “war on crime”, the “war on poverty”, “the war on insanity” or the “war on global warming”. It’s a war on an idea, with no defined boundaries and no end. Any powers granted due to this “emergency” are permanent. Comparisons to real wars of the past are not valid.

And would uncontrolled executive power solve our problems, and defeat this abstract idea? Hardly. Intelligence gathered prior to 9/11 did not prevent the attacks, and there is no reason or evidence to believe that a universe of eavesdropped information would result in any better results. This type of intelligence gathering is always desired by the powerful, but it ends up being used for political and personal gain. Richard Nixon is turning over in his grave to think that he could have listened to any and all conversations, under the guise of wartime Commander in Chief. He could have simply granted himself the powers. No need for old-fashioned burglaries and bumbling at the Watergate Hotel. Just grab the power, and wage a public relations campaign to keep it. Let us not forget, the Vietnam conflict was a thousand times more a real war than the current Iraq situation, which is a post-war police action. If Bush can wield these new powers, then Nixon was even more deserving.

Republican partisans seem very happy to give unlimited power to George Bush, Commander in Chief. But what happens when the Commander in Chief is a Democrat? Or a Socialist? Or a Fascist? Will unlimited Executive Power be such a good idea then?

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Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.