Better safe than free? The War on Terror--and our Freedom
In the process of seeking to make the U.S. absolutely safe, the Constitution and rule of law have been crippled.
It speaks volumes that Mr. Cheney's AEI address never once mentioned the sole oath taken by the president, vice president and all other officers of the United States - a vow to support and defend the Constitution. Mr. Cheney speaks of "the strategic thinking behind our policies" and "defending the country" rather that defending the Constitution.
"Our job was to stop [a sequel attack]," and, "to make certain our nation never again faced such a [Sept. 11] day or horror," Mr. Cheney said. However, while the best way to reduce to zero the probability of another 9/11 is to kill every person outside the U.S., no sane person supports that harrowing counterterrorism strategy.
The problem with the "Better Safe than Free" slogan is that it has no standard for line-drawing. Should the police be authorized to arrest or search any citizen on a hunch that the target might be a terrorist? Why not intercept every conversation and every e-mail of every American in the United States in the hope that communications will be captured with clues about the next would-be act of terrorism?
