Editor:
Dave Uphoff
Once again the White House is embroiled in controversy. The Bush Administration is being criticized by members of Congress for allowing the National Security Agency to secretly tape international phone calls and monitor email of people within the United States without a court order. In addition, the President is taking heat for setting up secret prisons in Eastern Europe and for shipping suspected terrorists to other countries for harsh interrogation. Even Republican Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed that the President was overstepping his powers. In a backlash against the President's perceived abuse of power the Senate voted against extending the Patriot Act which was instituted after 9-11 to give the government more power in the handling of potential terrorists. From what I have been reading about the Bush Administration in various journals and magazines it appears to me that President Bush's obsession with terrorism is leading him into actions that are in violation of the laws and freedom our democracy is based upon. The events of September 11 have defined the Bush presidency. Most of his actions since then are reactions to September 11, including the war in Iraq. Many publications, including the New Yorker, have mentioned that the President feels he is divinely influenced in his actions to fight terrorism. If true, that bothers me. If one feels that his actions are based on a divine right, then that right will supercede any laws of the land. Is that his justification for allowing unlawful spying? To me presidential prayers for guidance on what actions to take in fighting terrorism is just as frightening as those insurgents who believe that their blowing themselves up will allow them to live in heaven with 50 virgins.
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Are the President's actions influenced by paranoia? A paranoia spawned by an unseen enemy who can strike at any time anywhere under the cloak of anonymity? There is no front line for us to attack. Is the war in Iraq a reaction to a need to have a visible and physical enemy to fight to subdue this paranoia? It seems to me that the President's decision to invade Iraq was an emotional response rather than a calculated and planned operation. However, it is counter productive now to second guess whether we should have gone into Iraq. We cannot allow the terrorist to chase us from Iraq as it would embolden them even more. If Iraq eventually becomes a democracy, Bush will go down in history as a great president regardless of the motives for the war. If the quagmire in Iraq continues, we will have another Vietnam on our hands and Bush will suffer the same fate as Nixon. Whatever the motive for the President's abuse of our individuals rights and freedom, I feel the Senate is correct in chatising the President for that abuse. We all want the President to lead us in the fight against terrorism and I still believe that things are better in Iraq than the press would have us believe. But we cannot allow the trampling of our individual freedoms in our fervor to fight terrorism. To allow that would result in a victory for the terrorists and the overturning of 230 years of freedom in our country. That is why we need a Congress - to keep presidents from turning into kings. Merry Christmas everyone.
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