Only an Idiot Believes That Some American Citizens Wouldn't Betray This Country

We are at war whether you believe it or not. Today's enemy has the capability of using nuclear and biological weapons. Technology has given him the added advantage of the use of cellphones that can thrown away or cloned, or even registering U.S. numbers when used overseas. It is hard to understand why some can't grasp why the President of the United States and the Department of Justice must take unusual measures in wartime when faced with a new and deadly challenge.

Members of Congress should be given the opportunity for consultation. But let's face it, some members are in it for themselves and not for the good of the country. Others have an aversion to war or an ideological ax-to-grind with today's administration and would do anything in their power to spite the President regardless of the cost. Perhaps they have other reasons, but today's fast-paced warfare often require rapid and decisive action.

American citizens are generally loyal, but does citizenship automatically confer loyalty to the United States? Do children spring from their mother' wombs with a desire to defend the Constitution. What about those children whose parents have taught them to defy authority or who have been caught up in causes that appeal to the natural idealism of youth? And who hasn't met an immigrant or two that has taken the oath only to get the benefits of citizenship while the while still clinging to the old country?

And what about those entrants that are here for other reasons: to work, for refuge, to join family members, to get an education, and so on? The citizens of enemy countries were interned during previous wars. Today's conflict does not afford us the luxury of identifying the enemy as their citizenship is an ideal: to destroy the United States using any means possible. They nominally hold allegiance to diverse countries, are of varying races and ethnic backgrounds.

We have few tools with which to identify them. The media has taken two important tools from us. The first was the reportage of the use of satellite phones by Osama bin Laden and the second is the recent disclosure by the New York Times of the monitoring of phone calls. And the third could be the demise of the Patriot which is slated to expire within a few weeks.

And listen to this. Here is proof that there are some that have been casting about for something, anything on which nail Bush. Here's an offering from Newsweek's Jonathan Alter. Alter exposes his personal bias, his disbelief that we are at war, and his ignorance of Islam (At least we hope that he's ignorant and not complicit):

Dec. 19, 2005 - Finally we have a Washington scandal that goes beyond sex, corruption and political intrigue to big issues like security versus liberty and the reasonable bounds of presidential power. President Bush came out swinging on Snoopgate—he made it seem as if those who didn’t agree with him wanted to leave us vulnerable to Al Qaeda—but it will not work. We’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War...

The problem was not that the disclosures would compromise national security, as Bush claimed at his press conference. His comparison to the damaging pre-9/11 revelation of Osama bin Laden’s use of a satellite phone, which caused bin Laden to change tactics, is fallacious; any Americans with ties to Muslim extremists—in fact, all American Muslims, period—have long since suspected that the U.S. government might be listening in to their conversations. Bush claimed that “the fact that we are discussing this program is helping the enemy.” But there is simply no evidence, or even reasonable presumption, that this is so. And rather than the leaking being a “shameful act,” it was the work of a patriot inside the government who was trying to stop a presidential power grab.

When at war, one must presume that the enemy that they are under surveillance. But that doesn't mean that we should stop trying, that we should not develop ways to monitor them, to use technology in our favor.
Sadly there are useful idiots among all walks of life in the United States. Even more sad is the knowledge that some Americans are traitors and some guests are out to kill us. Surveillance will help pinpoint who is who and what is what. Those that refuse us the tools are either among the idiots or the enemy. Besides, how can we catch them IF we don't watch them? This is only common sense.