The American Civil Liberties Union and several other organizations have brought two well publicized law suits against the Bush administration on the issue of “unauthorized” domestic spying. Of course, none of the plaintiffs can demonstrate that they have been targeted by the surveillance program and the claim that this is domestic spying is not technically accurate since only those conversations with a suspected terrorists outside the United States are considered.
Plaintiffs include a gaggle of left wingers like the Council on American Islamic Relations, Greenpeace, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a writer for the Nation and others. Their argument is that the present administration is in contravention of the law, since the president lost the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance domestically after the passage of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The administration counters this claim with the argument that surveillance was authorized with the 2001 congressional resolution allowing for the use of force against al Qaeda.
Lost in the swelter of claims and counterclaims is the context for this litigation. The war on terror has not ended, and the threat posed by the terrorists remains real and frightening.
While the president insists all measures must be taken to assure American security, the plaintiffs seem to be asserting that the only threat is the abridgement of the law and the erosion of civil liberties.
On the day the lawsuit was filed, Al-Manar Hezbollah’s main vehicle for spreading anti-American propaganda, asked, “What structure built of gray sandstone in 1792 became a source of all oppressive decisions the world over? The answer: “the White House.”
In May 2004, Sheik Nasrallah said he is prepared for martyrdom. “Let Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld and all those tyrants in Washington hear … there will only be room for great sacrifice, for the call to martyrdom.”
The editor of Egyptian weekly Al Arabi is quoted in MEMRI as saying, “Anti-Americanism is like music” to his ears. He calls America “a plague,” and “an ongoing crime.”
The head of the Sunni religious courts in Lebanon, Sheik Muhammad Kar’an, called America, “The garbage of all nations.”
A professor of political science at Notre Dame University in Lebanon, Dr. George Hajjar said, “America is the New Nazism.”
Anis al Naggash, who was involved in terrorist attacks in the ’70s and ’80s, appeared on Al Manar in August 2005. He said, “The U.S. is the enemy of Arabs and Muslims … every person must resist it … if he can resist with weapons, it is his duty, mandated by the Koran. Any cleric with knowledge of Islam must declare jihad against the U.S., England, and their allies.”
As late as this January, three would-be terrorists were arrested in Italy after vowing to launch an attack in the U.S. that would dwarf Sept. 11. Curiously, with the exception of the Philadelphia Inquirer, this story was conspicuously ignored by the U.S. press corps.
Through conversations that were wiretapped, Italian officials heard Algerian terrorists plan to kill tens of thousands of Americans.
There are those in our midst who prefer legal battles against the administration because they fear a loss of civil liberties, but they do not fear, or appear not to fear, radical Islamists intent on their destruction.
Can there be any doubt that if fanatics in various corners of the globe could get their hands on nuclear weapons, they would be used?
Can there be any doubt that radical Islam is intent on causing harm to the United States, its citizens and our allies?
And can there be any doubt that a toxic poison has been set loose worldwide that could have apocalyptic repercussions if we do nothing about it?
President Bush, in fact any future president, has an obligation to take those steps necessary to provide for national security. It is not merely sad, but dangerous that many civil libertarians do not appreciate what is at stake in this global war.
Herbert London is president of Hudson Institute and professor emeritus of New York University. He is the author of “Decade of Denial.”
