NYT, WaPo Again Work Tirelessly To Undermine American Security

I didn't blog this earlier because I didn't have anything interesting to say about it. Which is a stupid reason not to blog it; I'm sure many of you have interesting things to say about it.

Anyway.

Memeorandum has a lot of links.

A few points:

1) The program is completely legal.

2) This is one of the more dangerous leaks of recent years, because SWIFT (from which the records are gathered) is a Brussels-based organization, and, given the outcry, the Europeans will almost certainly now block further American searches of their databases. This leak will have consequneces, and those consequences will be the quick ending of an important, legal anti-terrorist program.

3) The Bush Administration can partly blame itself for this state of affairs. Leakers should not merely be fired; they should be prosecuted and jailed. Not all leaks; but leaks like this which are especially perilous to national security. If the Bush Administration doesn't take this seriously, why should the "let a smile be your umbrella" liberals in the MSM?

4) The left continues to undermine national security in the most despicable, cynical way. I'm quite sure the reasonable liberals at the NYT and WaPo know full well that programs like this are absolutely vital, and their secrecy is likewise vital. However, they have made the most anti-American and evil sort of decision: While tools like this are vital for saving American lives, they will not permit any Republican President to use them. Only Democratic Presidents are permitted to employ the full panoply of powers for protecting American lives.

It's blackmail, pure and simple. Either let a Democrat into the White House, or we will continue to sabotage American security and, in effect, kill Americans. We will keep secrets when a Democrat is in office, but not a Republican. So we offer the American people a choice: Let the politicians we favor run the country, or we will help Al Qaeda murder you.

I don't believe it's politically practicable to arrest reporters. Reporters don't have the primary responsibility for protecting American secrets; and the cries of "Fascism!" would be hysterical should a few part-time reporters/part-time Al Qaeda intelligence agents frogmarched off to jail.

But goddamnit, the cocksucker liberal partisans in the CIA and NSA have signed contracts promising to keep secrets secret, and voluntarily exposing themselves to long periods of jail should they breach those obligations.

It's time to start putting them in jail for 5 or 10 years. If this is all a matter of "conscience" to the terrorist Helpy Helpertons in the CIA and NSA, well, then, they shouldn't mind cooling their heels in prison for 10 years in the name of their "consciences."

Starve The Beast: There has got to be a way to declare, and enforce, a "Death Sentence" for the NYT. A total lockout. No access to any government official anywhere.

Impose an immediate ban on any government official in any security-oriented agency from speaking to the NYT. They're already forbidden from disclosing national secrets; but apparently that doesn't matter to them. So just make it a firing offense to even be seen talking with a NYT reporter.

Unconstitutional? I don't know. We'll let the courts work it out. In the meantime, fire anyone known to talk to any NYT employee for any reason.

posted by Ace at 06:40 PM

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