The New York Times reported Friday on the Central Intelligence Agency's destruction of at least two videotapes in 2005 recording the interrogations of al-Qaida operatives from as far back as 2002. I find this mildly disturbing to say the least. Coupled with the "ghost planes" - named so due to the fact that they lacked Federal Aviation Administration identification - allegedly shipping enemy combatants off United States soil for interrogation in foreign countries, the facts and rumors have painted a rather frightening picture.
Do you trust your government? You shouldn't. If the aforementioned details do not arouse doubt in you, how about the fact that according to CNN, President George W. Bush authorized wiretapping the phones of U.S. citizens without criminal records on the basis of "national security." It gets better: not only did he authorize them once, but also he has reauthorized them 30 times since 2002 and plans to continue to do so.
When did it become a crime to be foreign? When did it become a crime to make a phone call? Even if someone calls overseas, why does that justify listening in on the conversation without his or her knowledge? I just don't understand what national security means anymore. Sure, the words have their own separate meanings, and when the two are conjoined the meaning should be fairly comprehensible, but that doesn't seem true anymore. I can no longer reconcile what I believe in and what I see. This is becoming a problem.
A terrorist is generally, albeit loosely, a person who inspires terror within a target group or organization for political goals or ideals. This of course seems to include al-Qaida, the state formerly known as Palestine, Hezbollah, the Chinese Communist Party, the Israeli Government (think Beirut), the Mob, Cosmopolitan magazine, maybe Canada and most definitely the current administration.
Canada aside, I think most potential terrorist groups are threatening in one fashion or another, but from an American perspective our own government should never fit so nicely into such an ugly word. For one, it's just demoralizing. Another problem is how do you fight someone for being you? In the way only politicians can, the Bush administration has used circular logic and somehow not found the end of the circle. Unfortunately, this is why the Department of Homeland Security has not gone ahead and permanently "detained" itself.
Maybe this is just a rant; maybe I should just consider the positive things from the past few years. Things like the ridiculous deficit and the fact taxes have been slashed anyway, or maybe the two wars, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency-Katrina fiasco - such great memories. You can just hope for a regime change in the 2008 election, but I'm not sure if I like the puppet on the left any more than the one on the right. What is a patriotic American to do? (Besides start an independent militia that abuses the Second Amendment in the name of "freedom").
In the turmoil during upcoming months, don't worry about the past eight years or even the issues being debated running up to the election. Just remember one thing George Orwell once said: "Big Brother is watching you."
—Thomas Shattuck is a freshman in the School of Engineering.
