Yes, I wouldn't say I'm defending it. On the contrary really, I despise it in it's current incarnation. eppie is on the right track, in that it is a tool of the political establishment to acquire and keep power. The "Terrorists" or "Red Scare" are justifications in order to sell it to the public, so that we don't mind the billion dollar data mining center being constructed in Utah.
If you want to know how to fight terrorists, you can learn everything useful from the movie "Zero Dark Thirty". Not so much reliance on satellites, or the crunching of domestic phone calls. Mostly, paid informants, interrogation(which can also be the humane type) of other criminals, and putting the pieces together with good analysis. To win a war, you need to be willing to put boots on the ground, covert ones in this case.
What they do need is a good cross agency integrated computer system for mapping those who are/were terrorists and other seemingly unrelated bits of good intelligence. Even with the Boston case, in hindsight, there was enough for the US to have put 2+2 together. They just didn't or lacked the tools useful to do so.
But, as is usual after these "War on _____" exercises get politicized, is that they become perverted into a cash cow for buying votes by bringing home the bacon.
If you want to know how to fight terrorists, you can learn everything useful from the movie "Zero Dark Thirty". Not so much reliance on satellites, or the crunching of domestic phone calls. Mostly, paid informants, interrogation(which can also be the humane type) of other criminals, and putting the pieces together with good analysis. To win a war, you need to be willing to put boots on the ground, covert ones in this case.
What they do need is a good cross agency integrated computer system for mapping those who are/were terrorists and other seemingly unrelated bits of good intelligence. Even with the Boston case, in hindsight, there was enough for the US to have put 2+2 together. They just didn't or lacked the tools useful to do so.
But, as is usual after these "War on _____" exercises get politicized, is that they become perverted into a cash cow for buying votes by bringing home the bacon.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
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