Isn't this akin to locking someone up because they were 'thinking' about committing a crime? What gives us the right to insist on over-flying other soverign nations when we would not tolerate the same. According to our way of thinking, Sadam is a madman. According to the thinking in the middle east, we are the mad man and are bent on world conquest. There are two sides to every issue and I have yet to hear anything other than commentaries and editorials from talking heads to make me believe that Sadam is actually planning to attack the US. Yes, he attacked Kuwait and yes, the Saudis helped finance the mission that drove his troops back. That is not, however, proof that he is plotting to destroy anything on our shores. The middle east has been one of the most turbulent places on earth for as long as there has been history. What makes us so bent on empire building that we think it is up to us to decide who rules and what form of government other countries have when we would not tolerate the same from others?
Just in case you have forgotten, Saddam Hussain is a clear and present danger to us and the entire middle east. Saddam has publically said he supports all terrorist acts carried out against us as well as Israel. He even sends the $25,000 to the family of terrorist who carries out a suicide bombing. And you worry about his rights?
What the problem is with you 18th century patriots is you have trouble understanding that things have changed since the days of Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson. We face threats on a global scale now, and if you want to bury your head in the sand and ignore the fact that we are in a different world. You wont have to worry about our precious Constitution, because one of these dictators or religous finatics will get their hands on a nuke and use it against us. And if you think that Saddam, Osama, or Arafat wouldn't launch a nuke if they had the opportunity, you're living in a fantasy land.
The fact is we have to protect our freedoms by making sure the finatics in the world don't get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, No longer can we rely on the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans to protect from an attack from abroad. Terrorist and those who support them rely upon people like you to make it easy for them to survive, because you would rather wrap yourself in the Constitution and wait for an attack than go after them before they do.