These will hopefully be my final words on the NSA program (until Congress realizes that they can still stop our slide down the proverbial slippery slope). I’m currently deep into working on a screenplay (unrelated to this mess) and need to focus on that so I offer only these short thoughts.
First and foremost, a simple question which, unanswered as it is, should have every patriotic American up in arms decrying the Terrorist Surveillance Program as unconstitutional: If, as General Hayden said during the morning session of his confirmation hearing, the executive branch has probable cause to believe the people it’s eavesdropping on are linked to al Qaeda, then why could they not take that probable cause before a FISA court to obtain a warrant?
Secondly, revealing the program does not provide aid and comfort to the enemy. For the administration to say that it does is to admit to dangerously underestimating that enemy. I would bet my life (as the government certainly is) that before the program was revealed al Qaeda knew they were being listened in on. Why would I think that? Well, in reading a story about Iranian Jews the other day I came across this illuminating passage:
Some Iranian Jews in Israel call over regular telephone lines but use code words as a precaution.
“When I speak with my family in Iran we never mention the word Israel,” said Shaharzad Amin-Zadeh, 45, who moved to Israel from the Kurdish Iranian city of Sanandaj. “People over there are worried.”
I bet al Qaeda members are probably just as paranoid (if not more so).
In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that keeping the program secret gave aid and comfort to the enemy, that it should have been revealed long ago. I want that scum to know we’re listening to every word they say. I want them to know that we’re hiding behind every corner. I want them to know that every third member of their organization has been turned and is now working for us or is one of us working undercover. I want them so paranoid they can’t trust each other. I want them paralyzed with fear that any minute a Blackhawk is going swoop in and drop a squad of Delta Force members on their heads. I want them to know that they continue to live only because we let them, because we are using them as a tool to root out every other insane radical Muslim out there.
Of course, we’ve seen the competency of the Bush Administration. And according to this article from the Baltimore Sun, the NSA’s computer systems are not working correctly. It’s this sort of bumbling that bolsters our enemies, not confirmation that we are onto them.
[...] Each day I bite back on my tongue when I read the news. Having written this reaction to the NSA wiretapping program, I don’t think I have many more civil words to add to the public forum. I would like to extend my thoughts from that post to say the following though. While I want the terrorist scum to know that we know every word they whisper in their sleep, where every cent is spent, and when they’re going to pick their noses even before they do, I also want them to know that we live in the most confusing and amazing country around. By that I mean that they should also see that while we can thwart them at nearly every turn, we can also maintain our freedom. We can shut them down faster than a dictator shutting down a secret printing press and yet still enjoy all the benefits (and drawbacks) of an unchecked media. I want them to know that we are still the land of the free. Just not for them. [...]