But it was too late to raise such questions. By the oldest trick in the political book — the whipping up of a panic, in which any dissenting voice could be dismissed as “soft” or even “traitorous” — powers had been ceded by the people that would never be returned. Pompey stayed in the Middle East for six years, establishing puppet regimes throughout the region, and turning himself into the richest man in the empire.What's this got to do with the modern world, the Internet, or anything?Pirates of the Mediterranean, By ROBERT HARRIS, New York Times, Published: September 30, 2006
Well, in case you didn't notice, which would be easy considering the lack of coverage in the press:
Those of us who are not Americans can only look on in wonder at the similar ease with which the ancient rights and liberties of the individual are being surrendered in the United States in the wake of 9/11. The vote by the Senate on Thursday to suspend the right of habeas corpus for terrorism detainees, denying them their right to challenge their detention in court; the careful wording about torture, which forbids only the inducement of “serious” physical and mental suffering to obtain information; the admissibility of evidence obtained in the United States without a search warrant; the licensing of the president to declare a legal resident of the United States an enemy combatant — all this represents an historic shift in the balance of power between the citizen and the executive.If you aren't familiar with ancient Roman history, read the article for what happened next.An intelligent, skeptical American would no doubt scoff at the thought that what has happened since 9/11 could presage the destruction of a centuries-old constitution; but then, I suppose, an intelligent, skeptical Roman in 68 B.C. might well have done the same.
Is overreaction good risk management? Is willingly ceding rights that terrorists couldn't take away by force good risk management? Is trading away 700 year old rights for extremely dubious temporary advantage good risk management? I think not.
-jsq
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