[geeks] Re: [rescue] The war begins....

[David Cantrell]

On Mon, Oct 08, 2001 at 09:33:39AM -0700, Gregory Leblanc wrote:
> David Cantrell wrote:
> > [alleged evidence not being submitted to the appropriate authorities]
> I don't disagree with you her, but I would ask that you keep in mind the
> reason this evidence is considered "too sensitive".  If they were to
> divulge that information, it would most likely allow "the enemy" to
> figure out how the information was gathered.  If it was gathered by
> spys, that would put those people at risk of death, or worse.

That's just too bad.  Risk of the job.

Bah, back in the good old days, spies were getting wasted left right and
centre, there was none of this namby-pamby 'safety at work' rubbish.  Or
that's what Ian Fleming tells me :-)

>                                                                If by
> some sort of long-range surveillance, then it would give them a better
> opportunity to avoid/hinder that surveillance.

Yes, the same argument was used in WW2 to convince people that they
shouldn't use all the Enigma intercepts.  Doing so would have blown the
interception capability.  At the time, that interception capability was
considered to be more important than the lives and materiel that could
have been saved.  Someone needs to make a similar decision here.  Is
the surveillance capability more important than bringing an alleged
criminal to justice?

>                                                 Of course, if we don't
> show them the evidence, they won't believe that it's convincing, so it's
> pretty much a lose-lose situation.  :-(

Yeah, it sucks having morals.  It means you have a choice of either
sticking to your beliefs or jumping down into the filth and becoming that
which you despise.  Unfortunately, in this particular situation, becoming
what you despise won't only make you feel a bit dirty, it also becomes a
weapon your enemies* can use.  The rank hypocrisy of the nation which
trumpets its 'justice' throwing that justice away when it becomes
inconvenient will be a wonderful recruiting tool.  It will 'prove' that
the imams are right, that the US is decadent and immoral, that its people
are not any longer 'people of the book' and that jihad must be waged.

* - not thinking of any particular enemy, but they are legion.

-- 
David Cantrell | david at cantrell.org.uk | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
 (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless
 series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary"  -- H. L. Mencken