Posted on 07/08/2006 11:49:58 PM PDT by neverdem
Why do they hate us? No, I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we refuse to treat women as second-class citizens, because we do not kill homosexuals, because we are a free society.
No, the "they" I'm referring to are the editors of The New York Times. And do they hate us? Well, that may be stretching it. But at the least they have gotten into the habit of acting in reckless disregard of our safety.
Last December, the Times ran a story revealing that the National Security Agency was conducting electronic surveillance of calls from suspected al-Qaida terrorists overseas to persons in the United States. This was allegedly a violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. But in fact the president has, under his war powers, the right to order surveillance of our enemies abroad. And it makes no sense to hang up when those enemies call someone in the United States -- rather the contrary. If the government is going to protect us from those who wish to do us grievous harm -- and after Sept. 11 no one can doubt there are many such persons -- then it should try to track them down as thoroughly as possible.
Little wonder that President Bush called in Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and top editor Bill Keller, and asked them not to run the story. But the Times went ahead and published it anyway. Now, thanks to The New York Times, al-Qaida terrorists are aware that their phone calls can be monitored, and presumably have taken precautions.
Last Friday, the Times did it again, printing a story revealing the existence of U.S. government monitoring of financial transactions routed through the Brussels-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, which routes about $6 trillion a day in electronic money transfers around the world. The monitoring is conducted by the CIA and supervised by the Treasury Department. An independent auditing firm has been hired to make sure only terrorist-related transactions are targeted.
Members of Congress were briefed on the program, and it does not seem to violate any law, at least any that the Times could identify. And it has been effective. As the Times reporters admit, it helped to locate the mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombing in Thailand and a Brooklyn man convicted on charges of laundering a $200,000 payment to al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan.
Once again, Bush administration officials asked the Times not to publish the story. Once again, the Times went ahead anyway. "We have listened closely to the administration's arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration," Bill Keller is quoted as saying. It's interesting to note that he feels obliged to report he and his colleagues weren't smirking or cracking jokes. "We remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."
This was presumably the view as well of the "nearly 20 current and former government officials and industry executives" who were apparently the sources for the story.
But who elected them to make these decisions? Publication of the Times' December and June stories appears to violate provisions of the broadly written, but until recently, seldom enforced provisions of the Espionage Act. Commentary's Gabriel Schoenfeld has argued that the Times can and probably should be prosecuted.
The counterargument is that it is a dangerous business for the government to prosecute the press. But it certainly is in order to prosecute government officials who have abused their trust by disclosing secrets, especially when those disclosures have reduced the government's ability to keep us safe. And pursuit of those charges would probably require reporters to disclose the names of those sources. As the Times found out in the Judith Miller case, reporters who refuse to answer such questions can go to jail.
Why do they hate us? Why does the Times print stories that put America more at risk of attack? They say that these surveillance programs are subject to abuse, but give no reason to believe that this concern is anything but theoretical. We have a press that is at war with an administration, while our country is at war against merciless enemies. The Times is acting like an adolescent kicking the shins of its parents, hoping to make them hurt while confident of remaining safe under their roof. But how safe will we remain when our protection depends on the Times?
The NYT won't be satisfied until the corpses are piled high around and in the NYT building, I guess. P.S. This includes their employees chillins too. Efficient bastards ain't they?
NYTimes is a boring rag.
they will never get it. Journalists think they can change the world with words... they're the first ones to face the firing squads when the society, which they so vehemently fought, spirals into chaos. they would not stand a chance in an islamic country
"I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we refuse to treat women as second-class citizens, because we do not kill homosexuals, because we are a free society. "
That description is almost as bad as what the article is about.
Muslims hate us because we aren't Muslim.
The New York times hates us because they are the worst kind of liberals of all, New York city liberals writing for a Manhattan audience, and most of the rest of us are conservative, Christian, Americans.
Don't you get it? International communism (which includes the Democratic party and the American left)and international terrorism are on the same side.
why do they want to destroy us? because they are gramscian leftists who understand that their new order cannot be established until the present order is destroyed. its that simple.
Anyone with half a brain should be able to see it. Somehow the Times seems blissfully unaware that their heads would be the first to roll were Sharia to prevail, or that they are ground zero.
Ya know - I am convinced that if on 9/11 the terrorists took out the NYT building they would still be singing the praises of said people.
The reason why - they live in a little bubble in a big city and think the rest of the entire country sees the world as they do. News flash to the a-holes there - you are wrong.
The pseudo-intellectuals of New York City hate everyone who isn't a member of their smug, inbred, self-congratulatory little community. That's why.
The New York times hates us because they are the worst kind of liberals of all, New York city liberals writing for a Manhattan audience, and most of the rest of us are conservative, Christian, Americans.
Very succinct and right on the mark.
Very simple:
America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles.
In today's world, the United States represent the largest force for good to advance those principles against a tide of evil.
There, America must be destroyed and rebuilt on the principles of paganism, hedonism, and self-worship.
They hate the fact that they've been proven wrong. They want Liberals in power, then they'll rewrite history. In fact one specious reason the Times gave for printing secrets was that the admin. claim that it might damage relations with allies was bogus. Well, guess what. Our EU allies are demanding investigations into US 'violation' of EU banks.
Tell her to do a Google search with the words "democide" and "Rummler". Then loan her a copy of "The Black Book of Communism".
You cannot reason someone from a belief that they did not reason their way into in the first place. - Anonymous
But why do they hate us?
"Why do they hate us? No, I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we refuse to treat women as second-class citizens, because we do not kill homosexuals, because we are a free society."
He's right on. The left IS against freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The LEFT are the ones who treat women as second class citizens by allowing them to think happiness can be achieved at the abortion clinic. THEY are the ones who kill homosexuals by promoting a lifestyle that spreads AIDS. Freedom is the ultimate enemy of the left.
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