@DarkSin
"and the fact it seems like no one seems to EVER report the good things we are doing in Iraq (Except from the soldiers I do know of in Iraq who say its going good, and the occasional other news places)."
That would be because there is so very little that is going right in Iraq that could possibly even begin to outweight what is going wrong.
With only 5% of the money allocated to reconstruction actually spent and only 30% of that actually going to the Iraqis; very little is going well with regards to building Iraq.
We've lost several cities that are now not under our control.
We've been isolated to a "Green Zone" which even now is starting to see insurgent attacks. This is from the Finanical Times. Hardly what you'd call a liberal newssource:
Quote: "
US military officers in Baghdad have warned they cannot guarantee the security of the perimeter around the Green Zone, the headquarters of the Iraqi government and home to the US and British embassies, according to security company employees.
At a briefing earlier this month, a high-ranking US officer in charge of the zone's perimeter said he had insufficient soldiers to prevent intruders penetrating the compound's defences.
The US major said it was possible weapons or explosives had already been stashed in the zone, and warned people to move in pairs for their own safety. The Green Zone, in Baghdad's centre, is one of the most fortified US installations in Iraq. Until now, militants have not been able to penetrate it.
But insurgency has escalated this week, spreading to the centre of Baghdad. The zone is home to several thousand Iraqis, and on Sunday it came under the heaviest attack since it was established. Up to 60 unexploded rockets were found inside its perimeters after a five-hour barrage.
On Tuesday, a car bomb outside a Baghdad police station killed 47 people, and 12 members of the police and their driver were shot dead in Baquba. The attack was the worst in the city for several months.
The violence in Iraq continued on Wednesday when 10 Iraqis were killed in clashes with US troops using artillery in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The decapitated bodies of three men, believed to be Arab kidnap victims, were separately found on a highway north of Baghdad.
"
I'd give a direct link to it but it's in their archieve now and you'd have to pay to see it. You can search on the net though and you'll probably find several places that quote some of what I just quoted.
To add to all of this, a recent release of the National Intelligence Estimate gave a very pessimistic outlook on the future of Iraq:
Quote: "
The National Intelligence Estimate, which is a compilation of views from various intelligence agencies, predicted three possible scenarios from a tenuous stability to political fragmentation to the most negative assessment of civil war, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
"There doesn't seem to be much optimism," the official said.
"
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20040916_155.html
The reason you don't hear much good news in Iraq is because there isn't any. There is no liberal conspiracy involved. Unless of course our own CIA is in on it with the latest National Intelligence Estimate.
"Err since when do terrorist not use or have "financial records, medical histories, Internet usage, bookstore purchases, library usage, travel patterns, or any other activity that leaves a record""
That's not the issue. The issue is that there is no need for them to loosen up the rules surrounding search warrents. The FBI and CIA could get all of this information under the old laws. Giving them a blank check to search anywhere they want without providing any evidence that they need to search there is asking for abuses of power. See my response to Jimmy for an example.
@Jimmy
" They aren't scanning through every american's phone logs looking for terrorist keywords."
Shows how much you know.
Quote: "
How much information would be available to the program?
Virtual dragnet programs like TIA and CAPS II are based on the premise that the best way to protect America against terrorism is to for the government to collect as much information as it can about everyone - and these days, that is a LOT of information. They could incorporate not only government records of all kinds but individuals' medical and financial records, political beliefs, travel history, prescriptions, buying habits, communications (phone calls, e-mails and Web surfing), school records, personal and family associations, and so on.
"
Quote: "
It harbors a tremendous potential for abuse. The motto of the TIA program is that “knowledge is power,” and in fact the keepers of the TIA database would gain a tremendous amount of power over American citizens. Inevitably, some of them will abuse that power. An example of the kind of abuses that can happen were chronicled in a July 2001 investigation by the Detroit Free Press (and December 2001 followup): the newspaper found that police officers with access to a database for Michigan law enforcement had used it to help their friends or themselves stalk women, threaten motorists, track estranged spouses – even to intimidate political opponents.
"
http://www.aclu.org/Privacy/Privacy.cfm?ID=13652&c=130
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutly.
Before you throw away your freedoms perhaps you should consider who it is that you are giving power to and read the above quote. Abuses of this power have already happened. I think its dangerously naive to assume that it won't happen again.
"It is designed to aid the government in catching terrorists, hackers and clowns quickly and efficiently, without the snags and slow downs of so-called "rights.""
So-called "rights"? These are rights afforded to us by the constitution. There is nothing "so-called" about them. Perhaps you should actually read the constitution and eductate yourself on the matter before you go babbling off about "so-called rights".
As for the effectiveness of such measures...
Quote: "
As computer scientists and engineers we have significant doubts that the computer-based TIA Program will achieve its stated goal of "countering terrorism through prevention". Further, we believe that the vast amount of information and misinformation collected by any system resulting from this program is likely to be misused to the detriment of many innocent American citizens.
"
http://www.acm.org/usacm/Letters/tia_final.html
