Feeling Safer?

The Judiciary Committee Hearings on NSA Surveillance aren’t producing much information. It seems that anything important is an operational detail or a hypothetical, and Attorney General Gonzalez doesn’t do those. But there’s an important point that Sen. Kennedy made: Bush had better hope that none of the evidence gained under this program is ever used in any way to arrest or prosecute anybody. It’s incontrovertible that there’s a question about the legality of the program, and that means that if any of the information is used in court, it provides, in and of itself, grounds for appeal.

What this means is really simple: Bush could have Osama bin Laden himself on trial for all of the acts against America in which he has participated. And bin Laden could even be convicted. And then his attorney would have a legal obligation to appeal, arguing that illegally obtained evidence was used to convict. And we could all hold our collective breath while waiting for the case to make its way to the Supreme Court and while Bushie’s appointees tried to figure out how to make the conviction stick. And let's not whine too much about people "getting off on technicalities." Those technical requirements exist because the Founding Fathers intended to protect people from the kinds of abuses they had seen under the King George who lived in London.

As much as I understand why terrorists want to act against the United States, I detest the terrorists and their actions. I’d like to see them rot in a super-max prison until they rot in hell. Unfortunately, Bush, who has made a big deal out of keeping Americans safe, may have made it harder to stop terrorism.