The Most Chilling Thing Is, We Will Be Told It Works
May 18, 2006
Sixty-three percent (63%) of Americans polled, when asked if surveillance of their personal telephone calls was a fair trade-off against possible terror strikes, said yes.
I am amazed by that.
These same Americans polled decisively against a National Identity Card. National identity cards are undisputed across Europe, but they smack too much of government in your face for Americans. What difference could possibly make up for this anomaly?
An identity card must be filled out, filled in, stamped, approved and carried around in a purse or back pocket. "Not in my country you don't!"
Telephone intercepts are fiddled-with in secrecy, unstamped, unapproved and carried surreptitiously within the archives of a government who didn’t bother to ask your permission. "Ah, who cares? If you have nothing to hide . . . "
And they could have asked, of course they could, just didn't.
CIA nominee Hayden’s premise of matching phone chatter to patterns is not unknown. The similarity to racial-profil…