Why put America in peril and further in debt to nab terrorists, when you can catch them without having to endanger our nation? by Dan Steward
(libertarian)
Friday, September 12, 2008
Some of you who are familiar with my articles may also know that I have a radio show about twice a week on blogtalkradio.com. I also tend to call in to the shows on occasion and type a few words in chat.
The host of one show acted as though I wanted America to "sit and wait for the next attack" simply because I wasn't in favor of spending billions upon billions of dollars and sinking America further into debt. I told her I wanted to catch the terrorists, just not have a grossly expensive, unneeded, and ruinous war when the US already had the means to do so and not endanger our land.
The CIA? NSA? Maxwell Smart, Agent of CONTROL? We can't get rid of them and perhaps we shouldn't, yet we should definitely tweak their job description a bit just to keep them from engaging in makework projects that aren't geared towards actually picking up enough of any real terrorists to the point where they could instead truly go about the task of shutting down their game.
The military? Ask yourself, do we really need that many soldiers to snare a few battle weary dregs of humanity? Prolonged wars in the Middle East have needlessly drained our resources, brought no peace, endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of servicemen & women, and have distanced ourselves from valuable allies.
A select group of specialists can cheaply bribe one associate of the baddies to push a button on a cell phone or transponder, gas the entire crew at his location & then wait for a few troops to jump in and sort out, then cart off the malcontents to the pokey. Lather, rinse, repeat until nobody wants to be a terrorist boss anymore. When you're fighting an enemy that our leaders claim "isn't afraid to die", catching them alive and hungover from knockout gas just might be the ticket to scare enough of them out of this type of racket.
Job done on a budget that won't end up financing a protracted war with way too many committed troops, that is ruining our already bankrupt economy. Please don't forget that Haliburton and other conflicts of interest the president and his cronies are joined at the hip with, bill you taxpayers for the tab to rebuild what the military operations constantly bomb.
What our leaders are loathe to tell you is the sad fact that wars are financed by debt. Our war debt is owned by foreign powers, sometimes with their own nuclear barrage pointed at our country. China comes to mind, and they would be pleased as punch to have a claim, legitimate or not, on a chunk of American real estate should the US default on it's war debt. Military bases have been unnecessarily closed on our east and west coasts. Troops brought home could provide the vital beefing up of our shores.
Will some of the real terrorists find better places to hide? Of course they will. The United States has plenty of satellites orbiting the planet that can read a newspaper from space. If the bad guys go outside they'll be seen. If they can be seen, they can be grabbed.
The question remains, do we sacrifice our country in a vain effort to save it? If our leaders are really serious about ending terrorism then the old failed plan needs this new plan that won't fail us because it keeps us intact while it protects us. Now isn't that what we really say we want?
With Liberty,
Dan Steward
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 17
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Dan Steward only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Dan Steward is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
You recently wrote a contrarian (oh yeah, Libertarian) comment to me about my article on cell phones. I wrote about my appalling dislike of them being used in every public nook and cranny, and I offered a safe, but sure, means of silencing them with an electronic "screecher". You thought that was the epitomy of Libertarian intrusion because, as you put it, it: "interferes with the rights and liberties of those who(m ~ added to help you more correctly make your point) you have failed to be able to peacefully live with."
Just so that I am clear, my aversion ~ and solution ~ to the public use of cell phones seems much tamer and more accommodating of liberties than your solution to "off" anyone you decide is a terrorist with your gang of "specialists" who are bribing, gasing, then waterboarding them in foreign countries! Isn't that a little aggressive for someone so concerned about liberties?
I take it, your concept of liberties doesn't extend to anyone in a foreign country, and due process doesn't apply to those who are only asserted to be "terrorists". You sound like more of a pre-emptive killer than GW Bush!
You chastised me with the question: "In what fantasy land you live in do you think that you possess some "super-rights", that trump and outright nullify all the rights of others around you?" Seems maybe a few people ought to be asking that of YOU!
You aren't a Libertarian, you're just a Bushwacker (a follower of Bush) who extols his OWN liberties while denying them to others.
You either did not read my story about torture on this site or read and ignored it.
I am no supporter of George Bush, never have been, & don't want to be. Where did you get such a notion, Master C? You'd have known about that too as well if you read any of my articles.
My opposition to torture is spelled out in my article "Torture Precedent? Thank the Torture President". Did you just read the title and draw your own misconceptions as you plodded along?
I oppose the war, it's massive cost, and it's subsequent assault on our liberties. I made that very clear. First determine if there are any "terrorists" that are a threat to our people. Send in only the amount of Special Operations soldiers that we'd actually need to catch real (not imagined ones) terrorists and not a single troop more. No torture, no waterboarding, just knock 'em out and bring them to trial in a real courtroom.
That plain enough for you?
Shame on me? Nope, Mr. Wannabee Rapper who can't read for content. Shame on you.
Oh, and yes I am a Libertarian. You wouldn't know a Libertarian if he stepped on one of your little "screecher" playtoys. No everyone that disagrees with you and doesn't fit in your little box where all the truth of the world exists, is a "Bush Lover".
What is, still is. I believe in real rights & you do not. I'd prove it to you some more but haven't you been embarrassed enough?
Want to comment on
this article? Leave your comment
here. Your email address is required to track your
comment. However, we will neither publish your email
address nor distribute it to other organizations or
persons. The only reason we might use it would be if
we needed to contact you regarding your comment. All
comments are subject to our
terms of use policy.
