A war on terror or on citizens?

The Washington Times ^ | July 22, 2002 | Paul Craig Roberts

[robowombat]

A war on terror or on citizens? Paul Craig Roberts CREATORS SYNDICATE

Published 7/22/2002

During the Cold War, when the U.S. faced a really dangerous adversary capable of incinerating our entire country in 30 minutes, we kept to our principles, stressing the virtues of a free society over Soviet communism. The Cold War must have sapped our strength. Now, faced with Muslim terrorists who are nothing in comparison to Soviet ICBMs, we reach for the methods of our former communist adversaries. The Bush administration wants to put into place the neighborhood informant system used by the infamous Stasi, the East German secret police.

President Bush's plan, known as TIPS, Terrorism Information and Prevention System, intends to turn one out of every 24 Americans into a government spy reporting on their fellow citizens. Fortunately, House Majority Leader Richard Armey last week added a legislative barrier to the president's plan. If the White House approach ultimately prevails, the results in the United States will be the same as in East Germany. Jealousies, rivalries, misperceptions and inflamed imaginations will result in the reporting of many innocent people, who will be investigated, questioned, detained and, on occasion, framed.

Conservative gun owners would be likely targets of antigun liberals. Hunters will be reported by animal rights activists. Career rivals and rivals for the attention of a member of the opposite sex might be tempted to nudge each other out of contention with "suspicious activity" reports.

The irresponsible American media would make mountains out of molehills. As hysteria mounts, more people would feel a patriotic duty to report their neighbors. Jokes, protests, comparisons to the Stasi could all become evidence of disloyalty.

Why are 12 million Americans, in addition to thousands of government police agents with unprecedented eavesdropping powers, needed to ferret out the suspected 5,000 terrorists in the United States? U.S. government's fear of its own citizens first manifested itself in "airport security." Everyone is subject to warrantless and unreasonable searches. Regular air travelers observe that the vast majority of people searched could not possibly be terrorists, even if their lives depended on it.

Yet, the mass insult of American citizens by their own government continues unabated. Millions of man-hours are wasted standing in lines while the moronic policy of searching feeble elderly couples, young mothers with babies, and U.S. military officers wastes taxpayers' dollars.

The Bush administration's assumption is: Every citizen a potential terrorist. An entire new federal bureaucracy exists for the purpose of violating the Constitution's prohibition against unreasonable search. The government's fear of the American people exceeds the ability of bureaucrats to control us. To make sure we are properly watched, the Bush administration wants to recruit 12 million Americans to report on their fellows.

What's going on here? Why are 12 million Americans, in addition to thousands of government police agents with unprecedented eavesdropping powers, needed to ferret out the suspected 5,000 terrorists in the United States?

The best complexion that can be put on this is that the U.S. government has realized the insanity of the multicultural diversity, open borders, visas to all, immigrants from everywhere mindset that has turned the United States into a sanctuary for terrorists and illegal aliens. Too cowardly to deal with the immigration issue, the government instead has adopted police state methods to watch the population.

It is amazing to watch conservatives and patriots cheer on the advent of the Orwellian state. A new bureaucracy will be formed to record suspicious activity reports from the 12 million citizen informants. Once the police state bureaucracy is in place, it will never be dismantled. As Hoover Institution scholar Martin Anderson has pointed out, not even the fearsome Nixon White House was able to abolish a tiny bureaucracy of tea tasters.

Milton Friedman said a country cannot have open borders and a welfare state. Even less can a country welcome multicultural immigrants whose loyalties reside elsewhere. Open borders for terrorists means a police state for citizens. Rome fell when Romans came to view their government's predations as worse than those of the invaders. Will this be America's fate? Will our government do us more harm than the terrorists?

Copyright © 2002 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

[robowombat]

While the 1-800-YOUSQUEAL program seems doomed for this round of anti-terror legislation, Paul Craig Roberts asks "Why are 12 million Americans, in addition to thousands of government police agents with unprecedented eavesdropping powers, needed to ferret out the suspected 5,000 terrorists in the United States?" As part of the larger question as to why the US gov appears to fear its own citizens more than foreign foes. His conclusion is "The best complexion that can be put on this is that the U.S. government has realized the insanity of the multicultural diversity, open borders, visas to all, immigrants from everywhere mindset that has turned the United States into a sanctuary for terrorists and illegal aliens. Too cowardly to deal with the immigration issue, the government instead has adopted police state methods to watch the population." So here we have it. The FBI was so infected with pc virus that it did nothing to move against well documented suspicious activites by a bunch of Arabs attending flight schools in the US thus leading directly to the events of 9-11. Now the same agencies that can't protect our lives due to pc will be given virtual police state powers to treat us all as subjects rather than citizens. Dear reader, do youthink this will stop future mass casualty terrorist acts?

[browardchad]

Open borders for terrorists means a police state for citizens.

And PC now also stands for Political Cowardice.

[cynicom]

TIPS and the military power of arrest for "domestic terrorists" go well together. Jesse Jackson is already calling for Ridge to combat "domestic terrorism" against blacks.

[iconoclast]

BTTT!

[AAABEST]

I wouldn't consider it tinfoil if someone were to contend that we are in the process of creating a quasi National Socialist system . If not intentionally then by default.

Our econimic policies and spending initiatives are moving towards socialism while our law enforcement and intelligence ops become facist.

[Red Jones]

bump

[ellery]

Agreement BUMP!

[junta]

It works both ways, let us see him or his co-horts gin up a riot and see how the "War on Terrorism" suits him after the B-52s reduce crime and welfare roles in fell swoop.

[MissAmericanPie]

Bush has done more to send us down the road to totalitrainism than any President in history. His folding on the ICC, Airport Security, Homeland Defense, the Patriot Act, TIPS, and now Ridge and Bidens attack on the Posse Comitatus. I said over a year ago that in five years the USofA would not be recognizable. I was wrong, it only took a little over a year.

[AAABEST]

Heh. Like I said it's not tinfoil anymore to contend that we're moving closer towards a quasi National Socialist system. It's simply a fact of life supported by imperical evidence.

[Doctor Stochastic]

The purpose of terrorism is to induce a government to make war on its own citizens.

[Austin Willard Wright]

You ain't seen nothing yet. This is tame compared to what we will see during the coming utopian social engineering project to bring democracy to Iraq with American bayonets and bureaucrats.

[Don Myers]

"This is tame compared to what we will see during the coming utopian social engineering project to bring democracy to Iraq with American bayonets and bureaucrats."

American bayonets and bureaucrats are what these people are seeing for America, not just Iraq.

[AAABEST]

Thought you might enjoy this.

[serinde]

Bush has done more to send us down the road to totalitrainism than any President in history.

Shhhh. You don't want the Bush lovers to hear you. Don't you know that "he really has a plan, we just don't know all the details? After all, he is the best president we've had!"

I started becoming concerned about Bush during his speech after 9/11, when having the unofficial militia help out against terrorism wasn't even considered. Then came the Patriot Act. Each step since then has gotten even worse, and there is no end in sight.

[MissAmericanPie]

What scares me more is the people that believe these reassurances that this only pertains to terrorists. The SS number will never be used for identification, either.

I'll keep plugging away about the States need to drain power away from D.C., can't hurt.

[Travis McGee]

"Too cowardly to deal with the immigration issue, the government instead has adopted police state methods to watch the population."

[mysterio]

I honestly didn't think Bush would ever do anything like this. In another thread, I found out that I fit the definition of a terrorist, because I quote the Constitution. I have become libertarian in the past year or so. I always thought it was kind of a wasted vote, but with no difference between to parties, I guess it isn't.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Hasn't the TIPS proposal been defeated and eliminated?

[cynicom]

In theory yes. They never die, they always appear with another name, more palatable.