IN THE NEWS
Poliblogger's post on the vast NSA database of everyone's phone calls is really good...But it's not enough. The argument has to be made that these policies are not just morally and Constitutionally indefensible. To land the rhetorical punch, you have to also make the argument that they are not effective.
I wish Americans had enough faith in their own institutions that the burden of proof didn't include explaining why the Framers created the system of government we have. I also wish that 9/11 had prompted enough people to review the history of counterterrorism, in the United States and elsewhere, to the point where the general public already knew that a big pile of information doesn't make you safer. But, we're here now, where it's not enough to say that the NSA wiretaps and archive of phone records are just illegal and unconstitutional. It's also important for the reading public to know, they're also practically useless--at least for catching terrorists. What other purposes they might serve is a separate question.
A wholly fair point. Part of the problem is, of course, that we continue to not know exactly what is being done, making complete critiques rather difficult.
Still, based on what I think I know, I don't see any of this stuff as especially efficacious.
Posted by: Steven Taylor | 05/13/2006 at 12:03