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| English: James Earl "Jimmy" Carter (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/carter-nsa-spying-democracy/2013/07/18/id/515811?s=al&promo_code=1438E-1
In an earlier post today, I featured a commentator who suggests that the billions spent by DHS is money wasted, given how unlikely it is that any of us will ever be harmed by a terrorist attack.
Is it perhaps time to:
1. Treat terrorism as what it really is: a sub-set of violent crime?
2. Treat local crimes as what they are... LOCAL crimes?
3. Take a hard look at the budget given to DHS and see what parts of that are spent on activities better handled by local and state police?
4. Take a hard look at the NSA's budget in the same light?
And, in short, forcing Uncle Sam to take a step back from his (over?)- involvement in state and local criminal justice.
An argument certainly can be made that the so-called "War on Terror" was a terrible waste of American lives and treasure:
1. Clearly the 2003 invasion of Iraq was both a travesty at the highest policy levels --- we the People were told lies about non-existent WMDs to gain our support --- and at the tactical level, where what was expected to be a quick in-and-out exercise became a 10-year war.
2. The "War on Terror" on the home front has presented many concerns about the sanctity of our civil liberties:
--- Incarcerations without charges, trial, legal representation or other due process --- as with Jose Pedilla in the mid-2000s;
--- the NSA surveillance activities;
---the Christmas Tree Bomber and Fort Dix cases, which look uncomfortably like FBI incitement...
All I'm suggesting is that the time may be right --- with Napolitano stepping down at DHS; with the NSA issue still hot; with the division of public opinion on whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor --- to conduct a reassessment of our approach to terrorism.
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