If Al Qaeda Phones Tell Them We Can't Take the Call

Wall Street Journal on Line ^ | February 10, 2006 | DANIEL HENNINGER

[MNJohnnie]

Ok, you have your position on this matter. I have mine? We fundamentally disagree How do we resolve it?

[Cboldt]

I thought that the CIA and NSA leaders thought they knew what they were saying when they said leaking secret information is a bad thing and could endanger our safety.

What do you expect them to say? I'm just saying that I don't see how disclosing THAT is any more harmful than announcng that from this moment forward, we will censor all mail (done in WWII), or listen in on all calls.

The statements of theirs that I recently read said that disclosing METHODS would be harmful (I agree, it sure would be), but I just don't see how announcing what amounts to at-most a change in legal policy is harmful.

Plus, take the argument that "The president has inherent power to do this." Well, was that true a year ago? If so, then a thinking person would try to use methods that cause the message to escape detection - METHODS. What METHOD has been disclosed? None that I know of.

[devolve]

The NYT/WaPo (in print recently), CAIR, Muslims ("moderate" &/or radical), CPUSA, many foreign countries, OBL, the alphabet TV networks, HAMAS, cowardly newspapers, DU, MoveOn.com, ANSWER, Kofi Anan, and democrats/liberals/socialists/commies (Slick Willie, Hillary, Kennedy, Kerry, Leahy, Russkie Findgeld, etc.) would like to have 911 go away, be forgotten, and history some how revised and rewritten "for the children".

Indeed some FReepers wish the same - or are "insulted" or their "PC sensitivity/good taste quota" is exceeded or they have a deeply embedded desire to police and/or censor - some call them the "MoveOn.FReepers" - but all of the injured feeling, all of the prose, all of the endless analysis that FReepers and lurkers scroll by or never recall the next day cannot erase the horror and reality 911.

How many actually know or recall that Slick Willie never even visited the WTC in 1993 (or after) when Islamic terrorists bombed it?

Those so deeply offended by cartoons of "MoHam" are in the company of Hooper ("...butt...") & Hillary ("Chelsea was 'jogging around the WTC' on 911 and stopped for coffee.....") and Chelsea ("I wuz in a friend's apartment and watched it happen on TV...") and the Castro/Chavez bunch.



Van Gogh is dead....

[BlueMondaySkipper]

Thus they are going to transfer to OTHER methods, most likely personal meetings or via the web so we LOSE the ability to track them.

Or they could apply thier asymetrical warfare technique and create a ton of chatter that depletes our resources. This could not only cost us a lot of money chasing down dead ends, but could hide the real stuff in the white noise.

They have also been assured that if they make calls from within the US to another person within the US, that they are safe initially.

[Purrcival]

Only four new bureaucracies?

[Purrcival]

Harry Reid: (gleefully) "We killed the Patriot Act!"

followed by wild applause and cheers from the DUmbocRATS.

Way to go, morons. If we're attacked again, we'll know exactly where to place the blame, and we will shout it from the rooftops!

[UglyinLA]

*I wrote the following on Democratic Underground. Within 2 hours, my UserId, along with my entry and responses were removed from their website*

I live in Anaheim, home to Disneyland. I have been to the park many many times. The security there is no match for determined terrorist.

Thanks to the treasonist NY Times, the ability of the terrorist to succeed has been enormously increased.

At some point in time, one would think that you Democrats would come to your senses and realize that hey, if there is another terrorist attack, the public will blame the democrats because they, along with the MSM, exposed one of our most vital anti-terrorist tools.

Do any of you doubt that the next wave of terrorist is already among us? The question is, what do we do now? How do we monitor the Al Queda in the USA. Keep in mind that its your cities that are most at risk. Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York are all Democratic cities.

[UCANSEE2]

I disagree with the author of this article and his conclusion.

Echelon and Carnivore have been around for quite some time, and were used by the Democratic Administration (specifically Bill Clinton).

President Clinton used it to 'spy'
on his political enemies.

President Bush is having it used to 'spy' on America's enemies.

The system 'works' mainly because different 'listening' posts are located in different countries, and the data is shared.

Issues like diplomatic immunity go away when you are just passing info on to your coworkers.

Each participating country has made laws to manage the use of such information, and the need for that information.

As everyone can see, or should now see, it is the moral quality of the human being responsible for being President of our Nation that makes the difference, not the tool or the laws.