Common Dreams
by John Buell

01/16/06

Shooting wars often hide many domestic sins of commission and omission. Nonetheless, as the war in Iraq drags on, the Administration's cavalier attitude toward civil liberties has become a concern. The media have reacted with surprise and alarm to the latest revelations about the National Security Agency, but no one should have been surprised. The Administration's repeated suggestions that the ruthlessness of the enemy justifies whatever steps it takes should have kept media watchdogs on alert. For history students, Bush's rhetoric recalls those dogmatic left wing defenses of Stalin in the thirties. Stalin's sympathizers argued that food and security must be established before full freedom could be assured. I suspect we will have little security or economic justice if we don't start devoting more time to protecting our civil liberties...

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0116-30.htm


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp