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2008-05-13 Home Front: WoT

Domestic spying far outpaces terrorism prosecutions

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Posted by Steve White 2008-05-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [1 views ] Top

#1 REDDIT Op-Ed > AMERICA IS A SOCIALIST COUNTRY NOW, thanks to Dubya???

Posted by JosephMendiola 2008-05-13 00:07|| 2008-05-13 00:07|| Front Page Top

#2 The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.

Just take out terrorism and substitute any other conventional crime and the description works just as well. Focus law enforcement resources and direction and after hammering a number of miscreants, the crime rate drops. The author probably doesn't grasp the cause>effect relationship between higher incarceration rates and drops in crime either.

Posted by Procopius2k 2008-05-13 08:30|| 2008-05-13 08:30|| Front Page Top

#3 This moron conflates monitoring of communications with BOTH terminals outside the US whcih happen to pass through a US property as "domestic" spying.

And then goes on to say there aren't "enough" prosecutions?

Well f'ing DUH! Probably the result of these intercepts is TARGETING, as in "Hello Mr Hellfire Missile", overseas.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-05-13 09:05|| 2008-05-13 09:05|| Front Page Top

#4 And then goes on to say there aren't "enough" prosecutions?
Probably the result of these intercepts is TARGETING, as in "Hello Mr Hellfire Missile", overseas.

A much preferable result, I think, instead of having liberal lawyers and judges muck up the works.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2008-05-13 09:26|| 2008-05-13 09:26|| Front Page Top

#5 Actually, they may have a point. Terrorist problems are few and far between in the US, and few police authorities have anything to do with them in their job description. This means that most police will immediately want to apply new law enforcement rules to non-terrorism related criminal investigations.

In routine police business, there is no reason for a warrantless search unless the police hear screaming or gunfire and must react immediately.

Even in the middle of the WoT, does not give the police the right to throw out the Bill of Rights for the other 99.99999% of what they do.

Posted by Anonymoose 2008-05-13 11:23|| 2008-05-13 11:23|| Front Page Top

#6 Moose, I agree with that, but the conflation of "domestic" with communications that have no terminal point in the US was a major error by the courts in interpreting FISA and the ability of the NSA and other intelligence agencies to work, and a major error for the Bush administration for not challenging it to get that poor and possibly unconstitutional decision revoked.

What troubles me even more are the over-use of SWAT and military tactics on violent midnight raids based off of "tips" for drug crimes. It seems there isnt a week that goes by without someone innocent being terrorized and possibly shot by the police in the US on one fo these stupid violent "raids" that is mistargeted, whether due to police errors or simply a lying informant.

Posted by OldSpook 2008-05-13 12:00|| 2008-05-13 12:00|| Front Page Top

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