Enough is enough - the opportunists on the left know no shame

If you were searching for a nuclear bomb that might go off at any time, would you bother getting a search warrant?

If you got a search warrant but the action tipped off the would-be terrorists so that they either hid the bomb or detonated it prematurely, would anyone have the right to be mad at you for taking too long?

The breathless media reported today that the Bush administration - gasp, shock - used detectors to see if radiation was leaking from mosques and the homes of certain Islamic individuals in the United States, and did so without - gasp, shudder - search warrants!

First, it's not entirely clear if a search warrant is needed for this kind of detection.

Second, is the left seriously trying to convince us that the Constitution gives us the right to keep dangerous radioactive materials around the house (or the mosque)?

As Abe Lincoln once reportedly said, "The Constitution is not a suicide pact." Most Americans seem to understand this. In a time of war there are certain niceties that have to be stressed a bit.

The debate is whether we are in such a time. The events of 9/11 should be a sufficient answer to the negative side of the debate, but in fact there are large numbers of people who consider 9/11 an anomalous event, thus they conclude we are at no great risk, thus we are not really at war. The irony is that it is the success of the administration's efforts to prevent another 9/11 that has led to this conclusion.

The burden of proof lies with those who believe the president and his administration have hurt the country by their actions. Most of the allegations made in the last week or so have been answered: there is clear statuatory and judicial authority for most of what has been done as surveillance against perceived foreign enemies, including some on American soil. The Democrats are trying most heartily to swallow a camel and strain at a gnat as they compromise the nation's security in order to score political points in advance of the 2006 congressional elections.

And yet they have yet to make a convincing case that Americans have been harmed through the stepped up monitoring of international traffic, including traffic that originating domestically. They are now yelling about investigators checking for radiation on the property of certain groups and individuals without a court order. But they'd yell even louder if someone detonated a nuclear device and it was shown that the government failed to act in time - for whatever reason.

It is a good thing to be concerned about civil liberties. Abuses by agencies like the IRS, or the Social Security administration are to be frowned upon. They have duties that clearly should not put them into the spying or the information sharing business.

But intelligence, whether it's foreign or domestic, is the necessary activity of any government (and its citizens) who wish to remain safe and viable.

We see nothing to convince us that the Bush Administration (and the Clinton, Bush 41, Reagan and Carter administrations before it) have exceeded the boundaries of what is necessary and proper.

We have much more to fear from a national health care database, or even from automated "gotcha" traffic cameras in our cities, than from what the Bush people have done.

Further, if the Democrats succeed in turning our intelligence gathering of the last four years into a political fiasco, the real losers are the citizens of this nation. The enemies of freedom are watching to see if we will completely disarm ourselves. If the Democrats have their way we will have no effective intelligence operations at home and not much better overseas. Whether they realize it or not they are aiding and abetting our enemies at a time when most of us realize we are in an asymetric war, the stakes of which are nothing less than our western way of life.

This is serious. Enough is enough.

And it's time that the people let these quisling political opportunists masquerading as patriots know it.