LONDONISTAN, ITS NOT JUST FOR ROYALS ANYMORE

Those of you who read this site on a regular basis know I have shown great interest in the Islamic terrorist movement that has touched us so profoundly on American shores and those lands across the seas.  I have reviewed books such as “America Alone – Mark Steyn”, “The West’s Last Chance - Tony Blankely”, ”Because They Hate – Brigitte Gabriel”, “The Truth About Muhammad – Robert Spencer”,  and “Now They Call Me Infidel – Noni Darwish (not reviewed in full, but given special credit in one article).

All of these books helped to analyze the threat that terrorism and extreme Islam pose to every American and every non-Muslim citizen in this world. These books helped to define what Islam is all about, what it means to those who are so called moderates or worse yet, infidels, what the message is to those who have gone extreme and what the future holds if we choose to not hear the message being sent loud and clear to the world by those who have hijacked this religion and want to change our current landscape drastically.

I would like to add two more books to your reading list for consideration on this topic;   Londonistan and Jihad Incorporated.  I will review Londonistan first and then do  a second entry for Jihad Incorporated. I hope you will consider buying these books, reading them and adding them to your personal library.  They are both well worth it.

Book Review  #1 

Londonistan
By Melanie Phillips
2006 - Encounter Books
Available at all major books stores- Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Walden, Schuster, etc.

Type of Book:

Non-fiction.

Background: 

Per Encounter Books, Melanie Phillips is an award winning columnist for London’s Daily Mail. She was educated at Oxford and won the Orwell Prize for journalism in 1996.  She is the author of All Must Have Prizes, The Ascent of Woman, America’s Social Revolution and a number of others books. She is a regular guest on BBC shows.   This book, Londonistan, is her latest offering.  Further information about this author can be found on Wikipedia.

General  Book Overview: 

Londonistan is a snap shot of British society in the modern world and the price it has paid by ignoring their newest foe in the 21st century – extreme Muslims and the jihad movement tied directly to the religion of Islam.

Ms. Phillips shares with the reader powerful thoughts such as, “What the free world has failed to grasp is the biggest threat we face is not terrorism. It is instead the ideology that drives it. It’s not enough to fight terror, vital though it is. The principal battle ground is the world of ideas. The Islamists understand this. They understand the psychological warfare – the fermenting of paranoia, resentment, hysteria and demoralization – is their most effective weapon.   They understand that if they can hijack the human mind to the cause of hatred and lies, they have an army; and if they can further hijack the minds of their victims, they will win”.

She lays out with devastating clarity how Great Britain fell into a deep slumber for the last few decades while the enemy made camp around and within. They drifted off even while continual suicide bombers, attempted high jackings, downed planes, blown up embassies/military compounds and innumerable wounded and dead citizens of the world happened throughout the 1970’s, 1980’s and 1990’s.  Even with all these events, the British public remained blissfully unaware of the danger within and abroad.  September 11, 2001 and the impact of the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York, the destruction to the Pentagon in Washington D.C.  and the downing of Flight 93 in a Pennsylvania field which resulted in the loss of massive life altered world views  - short term.  Then Britain fell asleep again.   Bombings impacted Spain’s public safety and train system and killed numerous citizens and changed an electoral vote in 03’. The British napped yet again.  The gruesome murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gough in 2004, left the public stunned, but oddly unchanged. Once again, they drifted off.  Bombings happened on home soil with deadly results to London’s underground trains, tube and bus system in 05’.  Although many because upset and frightened by such a local tragedy, still British citizens and public officers denied the full ramifications of such deadly intentions.  It wasn’t until 2006 when home grown British Muslims were identified as operating out of London mosques and were involved in worldwide global terrorist movements which originated from small Hamlets throughout Britain that the public realized the reality of events - London had become the European hub for terror networks throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s.  They had their own ground zero.  It took over thirty years for Brits to finally recognize the horror of this movement in which they themselves had silently given their consent and approval. 

While the public looked the other way, terror networks quietly set up shop throughout the country in big and small villages alike. They imported large Arab populations from around the world. They wove into their fabric of  religious and cultural change naturalized citizens and UK born citizens as well.  The common denominator  - all were Muslim, all practiced Islam, all were either converts to the faith or born into the faith.  The Imams and Ayatollah leaders then indoctrinated these followers into the world of preaching violence, raising money, recruiting members for jihad and supporting suicide death and martyrdom for the sake of Islam and Allah.  They are very discriminate in their hate. If you are not a practicing Muslim, you are the enemy. It’s that simple. Even if it means taking out fellow U.K. citizens.

Britain’s governing class – its intelligentsia, its media, its politicians, its judiciary, its church, its police and its educational system not only allowed, but supported this deep and broad cultural mentality that allowed terrorism to breed, grow and devastate their own country and others as well.  The U.K. made it easy for this radical extreme Islam to grow. How? The country piece by piece relaxed immigration laws to bring in new citizens and fill job openings, they reduced security measures and strict laws in the name of tolerance and human rights – especially minority rights, they loosened the restrictions and standards when it came to education, religion and government benefits for the sake of being an enlightened society that takes care of it’s own and finally, they embraced diversity and multiculturalism as the answer to a being an advanced and modern society (does any of this sound a warning bell my fellow Americans?). Their goal, make everyone equal, no one better than anyone else. That is the progressive thing to do if you are a great nation in the 21st century.  The loss to the British public in regards to many of the basic foundations that make up a democratic, safe and orderly society, was traded in favor of extreme tolerance, diversity and extra rights that played perfectly into the hand of a silent and growing radical Muslim population. 

Ms. Phillips stresses to the reader with passion that, “The liberal West, which worships at the shrine of reason and makes such a fetish of the power of intellect, refuses to acknowledge that ideas can kill. As a result, Britain, Europe, America and Israel have all left the battleground of ideas totally undefended, allowing the unhindered advance of falsehood and hatred. Worse still, our intelligentsia and media often act as an Islamists’ fifth column”.

Numerous plots to maim and kill have arisen from these radicalized immigrant and home grown men, women and even children in Britain.  Some plots have worked. Some have failed. Too many remain in the planning stages. MI5 (The British Secret Service), MI6 (British Secret Intelligence Service – foreign intelligence) and other security minded organizations have stepped up, but too often, they are fighting a loosing battle inside their own country and sometimes, even with their own British countrymen. Why? They simply are acting late. Very late to a threat that has been in their midst for decades now.

This book covers important topics such as what is Londonistan, the growth of Londonistan, how jihad uses human rights to further it’s agenda, how jihad thwarts our best attempts at security, how we are paralyzed by the need for multicultural living, how British Muslims are alienated, how Jews are made to be the worlds scapegoats (again), how Brits, Americans and others are on their knees in regards to terrorism and how even religious people are appeasing jihad to keep the peace.   This book shows in short yet powerful form, radicalized Islam’s beginnings. From it’s European infancy all the way to its current deadly current state throughout Britain and the world. 

Ms. Phillips ends the book with these thoughts, “It is only if we act against the ideology that is spreading such falsehood and hatred, and stop its advance under the umbrella of minority rights, that we have any chance of successfully defending the free world.  This means, while showing respect to those Muslims who derive only spiritual sustenance from their faith, we must robustly reassert Western values, resist all the attempts to subvert them and engage with the enemy on the battleground of ideas so that truth drives out lies. Only if we take up this civilization gauntlet that has been thus thrown down at us will we stop sleepwalking to defeat”.

She makes it clear. The U.K. fell asleep at the wheel. Hopefully, America will not be such a passive driver and befall the same deadly fate. Her book is a wake up call for all those willing to hear the truth.  She believes it’s not too late for the United States to make a serious correction. But, we don’t have forever.

Personal Review:

This was a fairly short book - 214 pages. The hardcover version came out in 2006 and  contained an interesting foreword.  The copy I had was the soft cover that was published in 2007 and contained an even more interesting conclusion written months after the first publication. Numerous pages of footnotes and indexes of research background filled the back of the book.  This book has been very well received by those in the intelligence and counter terrorism community both in The UK, The US and other democratic nations who understand the war on Islamic extremism (once the shock wore off of course!).  On the other hand, the general public took longer to take to the initial message, but over time most have recognized its important message (after numerous successful as well as foiled bombings wasn’t it time after all?). 

Londonistan frequently makes reference to how Great Britain has transitioned from a once great democracy to a multicultural land where anything goes in the name of tolerance – including radical Islam. The U.K. was a place where the rights of the minority was once respected and honored, but blending into the mainstream was still expected. Unfortunately, we are now in a time where the rights of minorities trump all others. Where the separation of church and state apply to all - except those practicing Islam.   A place where everyone from the judiciary, to government/politicians and universities/school system have fallen prey to the seductive and sophisticated language of those in the elite admonishing everyone to go along to get along. For the sake of diversity and all that good stuff.  Londonistan showed in frightening detail how easy it was for Islamic operatives to overtake the minds, thoughts and morals of those in schools, churches, universities, medical establishments, seats in government, the legal system and charities country wide. This book describes how average Brits were  brainwashed along with powerful leaders of the country without their being aware of the events as they happened until it was simply too late.   

Even with America being oceans away, it is not a land immune to these critical and destructive changes. We are simply at the beginnings of seeing our society erode away as Great Britain did many years ago.   It’s shocking to see how the same evolution is happening here in America just as it happened in the UK.  If you want to see the America of ten years from now – look across the pond to Britain and read the shocking developments in this book. Let’s hope we wake up before the Brits did – else we will no longer be The United States of America. We will be The United States of Radicalized Islamic Extremists. In a nutshell, we will no longer be Americans. 

Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, Amir Taheri and other well know terrorism experts voice continual praise for the research, content and message contained within this book. It is an excellent reference source for those in America who want to see a course correction and soon.

Natan Sharansky, well known survivor of the Russian Gulag, former Israeli deputy Prime Minister and noted author says it best about Londonistan, “In the 1930’s, Britain was the leading appeaser of the world’s most intransigent foe, refusing to see the gathering signs of danger until it was almost too late. Today, the same tendency to appeasement and self-delusion is evident again – only now the threat is within. Britain refuses to recognize the clear and present danger of Islamism insides its own borders, which  steadily corrodes its social values and moral compass.  Once again, only the good sense of the British can save their country – and the same may be true of other democracies. This book is powerful and frightening, but also courageous. In dictatorships, you need courage to fight evil. In the free world, you need courage to see the evil”.

Well said, Mr. Sharansky, well said.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing further details of how the cradle of European democracy – Great Britain  - was so easily infiltrated by extremists and became the hub of  modern terrorism. And how America is next in line.

Final Rating

I give this book five stars *****.  Expertly researched.  A powerhouse of information.  A plethora of details.  Easy to read.  A timely reminder that the threat among us remains alive and well.   Pick this book up – it’s a must.

Reviewed by: 

Bridget Dupont-Tingley
Editor
The Local Area Watch

Comments

[Debra]

Unfortunately I don't think many Americans are listening these days. They are too well insulated from the threat and don't pay attention to the radical Islamic movement to care or understand how serious this problem really is.

Out of sight, out of mind that's the American way.

As long as the government protects them they are happy to sit at home and comfortably complain about wire tapping, the Patriot Act, irritating airline security measures, an over seas war effort that is simply not going as well as they want and the like. Too many thrive on complaining when they are safe and protected. Only Americans, who have a roof over their heads, two cars in the drive, medical care, constant food and utility sources, every luxury known to man still manage to find a way to whine about things not being perfect enough in this country. Grrrr.

As long as we keep our heads, our religious freedoms and our democracy in place, I'll take a little less privacy.

[Stephanie]

I haven't read this book yet. I heard about it on cable news a few months back. I listened to a radio talk show that had this author on it(I think it was Monica Crowley's show on a Sunday?) and found her information fascinating.

America is already becoming Londonistan. It is just harder to spot them due to our extreme population of 300 million. Due to our sizable space in this country, our constant need to be pc when it comes to diversity (except when it comes to christianity of course) and our lax immigration laws, the darkness is able to come in and be diluted. But it is still there. If Baptist, Protestant, Mormon, Catholic, Buddist, Hindu, or others were doing what these radicals Islamists were doing, I would still feel the same way. We must stop these men from further indocrination and killing. Evil is evil, regardless of what race, color, sex, religion or national origin you claim.

I think I am going to order this book after all. Sounds like an excellent reminder and wake up call as you say. I appreciate you sharing your views on things, Bridget.

Stephanie M.
East Grand Rapids

[Johnnie]

Too late ladies. We missed our wake-call, it was called the 1970s, 1980s, 1990s and into the 21st century.

Question: How many smacks, kicks, punches and KO's are Americans going to take before rolling up their sleeves, getting a fire in their eyes and gut and kicking ass and taking no prisoners? Answer: We are still waiting.

Half measures don't count. Success will not be ours until everyone gets on board with the problem AND the solution. D-Day succeeded because our government, military and public knew it was all or nothing. Americans of today have not gotten that message yet. Until we do, we will have limited victories, a few set backs and more losses than we care to admit.

[Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor @ L.A.W.]

Hello Debra, Stephanie & Johnnie,

I think you all provided interesting thoughts on this issue. At least you all seem to be aware of the problem among us and aren't in denial or ignorance over the issue of radical Islam.

If the extremists can use information and knowledge to gain a short term edge over us, it's our challenge to do the same in reverse and take the lead. As noted in the articles, between our military, diplomacy and information channels, we can and must win this ideological battle of religions, cultures and the mind.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Regards,

[jon lee]

i think books like this make it seem like everyone who is a practicing muslim is either supportive of terrorism or an active terrorist. it does nothing to promote the history of peace and fellowship so prevelant in being of the islamic faith. this author is using scare tactics to make the general public afraid of a certain group of people instead of bringing together common goals of mankind. i wouldn't read this book. it's a divider not a healer. that's just my opinion.

[Brandon]

Debra,

I think you’re correct, broadly speaking, that Americans don’t listen and that we’re too insulated, not only from the threats to which you allude but from any number of realities that much of the rest of the world endures. With regard specifically to the threat of terrorism, I will be first in line to criticize my more radical compatriots on the Left for their sometimes seeming refusal to acknowledge that yes, there *are* people out there who wish us harm and want to kill us, and we ignore them at our peril. Having said that, I have to take issue with a lot of what you wrote after that.

In particular, your very last sentence is what I find a bit troubling (“As long as we keep our heads, our religious freedoms and our democracy, I’ll take a little less privacy”).

Why would keeping our religious freedom be more important than any of the other enumerated rights?

I am not, for example, a particularly ardent fan of the way the second amendment has been interpreted by the courts, and while I am in no way a gun control “nut” who wants to ban all weapons, I do think we have something of an unnatural fascination with firearms in this country. But the beauty of the second amendment is that because it’s an established right, my opinion doesn’t much matter. That's the point.

While you or I may have our *favorite* constitutional rights, the inherent powers of those rights become diminished (whether we choose to acknowledge it) when we allow any of the other ones to be weakened. As such, I will happily defend the second amendment with as much vigor as the other nine, and I can only hope you feel the same way.

Those of us who “complain” about things like wiretapping and the general, all-around emasculation of the 4th Amendment aren’t voicing our objections simply out of disdain for the current White House occupant. He’s going to be gone in a little over a year (although sooner would be better than later, as far as I’m concerned, but that’s a different discussion). The larger problem is this:

Once the executive branch is granted a certain power, that power is almost never rescinded; once it’s there, it’s there. So maybe you choose to believe that the Bush administration is conducting domestic surveillance while maintaining the highest standards of decency and integrity, but will you trust Hilary Clinton with the same power? Are you willing to trust that one year or twenty years from now we won’t elect someone who will take that power and abuse it in ways that you can’t even conceive of right now? Human nature and history being what they are, the election of such a leader is virtually inevitable at some point (again), and our ability to survive his or her “reign” will depend largely, if not entirely, on the extent to which we collectively choose to keep the constitution strong and robust. So far the battle isn’t exactly going well.

[Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor @ L.A.W.]

Hello Jon,

As I noted to you in your other comment at our site, you need to read this book before you make blanket claims about what this book does or does not promote. This book was not about pointing fingers at everyone who is Muslim and a practionier of the Islamic faith as being a terrorist or extremist. Far from it. Instead, it relied heavily on data and facts about specific towns, mosques, schools, political and charitable groups involved in supporting, promoting and actively hosting and developing radical Islamic extremists throughtout the U.K. Radical being the most important word in this sentence mind you.

As I noted, I recommend reading this book. It was valuable in seeing what is happening in Great Britian is soon to happen here. People such as yourself may see no threat. Your choice. As Natan Sharansky said about this book, we have seen the price previous generations paid by ignoring similiar threats or denying such threats ever existed. You may even deny the history of previous threats. Threats such as gas chambers filled with the ashes of human remains. Prisoner of war camps with malnourished people on the brink of death. Mass graves filled with men, women, children and the elderly snuffed out often by a single bullet. A race of people nearly erased from the face of the earth because of their differences. We are at such an impasse again in this world with radical Islam and it's followers. It's up to each one of us to determine if we will repeat past mistakes with a new group of killers (radical Islamic extremists) and a new group of victims (Infidels - non-Muslims, Christians, Jews and the like.

I read books like this to educate myself. So, hopefully mistakes of the past won't be made again. Only through knowledge can we know where were have come from, where we are at now and where we need to go.

By the way, a book with research, facts and information is not a divider. Men who strap on bombs and kill those different than themselves even fellow Muslims who are not Muslim enough are dividers. Men who behead infidels in the name of Allah are dividers. Men who take hostages and murder without discrimation for the sake of jihad are the dividers. Those of us who respond to these threats and are reactive to future threats are the ones laying the path for future healing. They live for death. We live for life. You speak with passion, but without confidence, true knowledge or authority on this subject.

Feel free to read this book and then we can discuss further.

Regards,

[Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor @ L.A.W.]

Hello Brandon,

As always, your feedback to us and readers is a welcome sight to see. You manage to bring up good points from the other side of the aisle that deserves thought and attention. Especially the importance of retaining our prized Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. All of these articles, sections and amendments count. I think that Debra mentioned just a few articles that stand out to her the most from a personal view point. I doubt her not mentioning each one individually meant they were any less critical to her, her family and her nation. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong Debra.

I think part of the reason too many Americans don’t pay attention to the radical extremist issue today is simple – because they are too intellectual to do so. They are so in love with their own brilliant ideas of what’s right and wrong from the elite view point that they actually over think concepts and arrive at levels of being irrational that the average person could never obtain. The average American does not have an anti-American mindset (ie the intellecutal mind) and that is what has kept this nation rational, sane and as safe as possible in light of this deadly modern threat.

I will recommend again the book by Tony Blankley, “The West’s Last Chance”. I reviewed that at L.A.W. earlier. The book is timely and fits in well with this book, an excellent companion read. A great chapter is #6, Saving Democracy, 1940’s style. This section reminds the reader with details and examples of how constitutionally formed governments may exercise greater powers, including diminutions of individual civil liberties in time of war, necessary for the common defense. These powers ebb and flow as war begins, rages and then ends. These powers don’t hang around forever. They are revived and exercised as the times permit. This book showed how FDR, Churchill and others used the following powers for the good of the nation, even when their fellow government officials were dragging their feet about making tough decisions:

Propaganda
Censorship of the press
Subversion
Internment
Deportation
Restrictions on travel
Restrictions on free speech
and many more

For the most part, these additional powers embraced and exercised by the President and Prime Minister are an example to our current leaders that we have historical benchmarks for how decent and liberal democratic societies can operate in times of war in order to obtain total and complete victory. That means crushing the enemy. I'm sure you will be quick to point out how the Japanese internment camps were a black mark against us in the war. True enough. But, war is never easy, never quick and never perfect. Mistakes will be made. Leaders and citizens alike can only do what they think is best at the time. From there, it's up to future generations to adjust the course of new wars based upon what did work and what did not work in wars past. Bush and his administration have used barely a fraction of those powers seen in WWII. If he had, this war might be going very differently. Bush has played down his powers and cowered on this issue to both the radical extremists and America’s far left wingers as well. That’s a bloody shame. We are paying for that lack of total determination to obliterate the enemy once and for all.

In the end, we cannot keep tying the hands of those in charge of protecting us at the expense of keeping each and every civil right we have. We can’t ignore warnings and alerts no matter how irritating, yet expect our officials to keep us informed. We can’t tell the government we want them to protect us, but don’t intrude on our lives. We can’t tell the government to monitor the terrorists, but don’t look at each citizen or it is called profiling for the enemy. Something must give.

Blankley reminds readers that once upon a time in America, we were a nation that worried less about the rights that we possessed and worried more about the wrongs our enemies might imminently inflict upon us. Once upon a time we were primed for action and ready to save our nation and the world. We did what was necessary to win against a deadly enemy ready to destroy our way of life. In winning that war, we preserved our rights. The American way of life. If we lose today’s battle, we lose all our rights, including the right to free thought, free speech, freedom of press, the right to assemble, the right to practice any or no religions at all, the right to bear arms and more. There will be no American way of life.

Churchill said it well one day, he noted to his government colleagues, “you had the option to vote for war or appeasement. You voted for appeasement, now you will get war”. When your President and Congress does not stand up to the enemy and use all the war powers at their disposal, you may as well have appeased the enemy.

Consider reading all the books in this series I have mentioned. I think you will find them all worthwhile and valuable in terms of the information and data provided. Enjoy!

Regards,

[Brandon]

Bridget,

Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think a lot of people might argue that one thing we *don’t* suffer from as a nation is an overabundance of intellectualism. I do understand what you’re saying, though. And just on a personal note, even though I know you didn’t necessarily mean it this way, I do take exception at your equating intellectualism with anti-Americanism.

You make an insightful point about the ebb and flow of executive power during times of war, and to a very great extent I agree with that. But you fail to address two very important points:

First, in previous wars – I suppose WWII would be the best and most obvious example – the curbing of civil liberties was at least coupled with an all-encompassing and unambiguous desire to actually win the war as decisively as possible. I have yet to hear anyone – even the most dyed-in-the-wool conservative – make a convincing case that that same all-encompassing fervor is at work in this war. If being in Iraq is so vital to our national security, where’s the implementation of the so-called Powell Doctrine (i.e., overwhelming force)? It begs the question, to what end are our civil liberties being violated?

Second, and perhaps more importantly, the curbing of civil liberties in previous wars was done more or less openly and, if not with the full support of congress, at least the explicit awareness that drastic measures were being taken by the executive (Lincoln’s suspension of Habeas Corpus during the Civil War, for example). By contrast, the Bush administration simply engages in illegal behavior and then we all find out about it (or some of it, anyway) long after the fact. And of course it doesn’t help that we have a manifestly spineless Democratic congress that apparently doesn’t know the meaning of the word “oversight.”

Anyway, I appreciate your reply to my post, and thank you for maintaining the LAW web site – it’s a true local treasure.

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Brandon.

I think if you understand Bridget to be critiquing the rationalism that displaces commonsense in much of the American intelligentsia, then you will understand her disdain for "intellectualism".

As for conservatives having not made the case that we are engaged in a war effort like that of World War II, you're right. None have. That's because Bush foolishly told the country after 9/11 to get back into the malls and start shopping again while sending our soldiers into harm's way to fight the jihadists in a "nice guy" type of war. I think you'll find most conservatives are disgusted with how Bush failed to commit the country and our troops to a full war effort to destroy a most dangerous enemy. And the cost has been high. We probably lost more soldiers by making them play cop in Iraq than we would have had we let them go after and defeat the enemy once and for all.

However, I will not skewer Bush as liberals do on his collection of intelligence. He has done nothing illegal, at least pursuant to the Constitution. As commander-in-chief he has the inherent authority to spy on the enemy, detain them, and dispose of them as necessary for the common defense of the country. The alleged wire-tapping violations of the Fourth Amendment are a phony issue. The information being collected is not to be used as evidence in a trial, but as intelligence to identify and defeat a foreign enemy.

Too often liberals confuse war-making with law enforcement and think the rules of the latter apply to the former. They don't. So their vilification of Bush's surveillance and detention policies lacks a constitutional basis. But then, Bush has invited these attacks by failing to defend the constitutional prerogatives of the commander-in-chief, as highlighted by his submission to the Supreme Court's unconstitutional Hamdi decision.

Finally, thanks for the kind words about L.A.W., Brandon. We're glad to be of service to the community.

Regards, Bill

[Brandon]

Bill,

Whether the intelligence being collected is to be used for some kind of trial is completely immaterial. If you want to spy on American citizens, you should have a warrant, period. The FISA law makes it very easy to do -- you can even get the warrant retroactively! But "I'm the decider" doesn't pass constitutional muster.

[The Executive Director]

Hi, Brandon.

Whether or not the intelligence collected is to be used as evidence in a legal process has everything to do with it. As I said the rules of war are not rules of law enforcement, and the constitution makes this distinction with the powers it grants the president as commander-in-chief.

And because of this distinction, a U.S. citizen retains his constitutional protections if intelligence collected about him lacks a warrant. It cannot be used as evidence against him in a legal process, and because the government cannot act against a U.S. citizen (indeed, most categories of non-citizens also) except through a legal process, his liberties are safeguarded.

None of this is to say a president has carte blanche to wiretap the phone conversations of U.S. citizens without a warrant in the name of national defense. The U.S. must be engaged or about to be engaged in a lawful military conflict, and the wiretapping must serve the purpose of collecting intelligence about the foreign enemies we are fighting. A president who abuses his authority as commander-in-chief to collect such information without a warrant is subject to impeachment by the congress. So the check and balance do exist in the constitution, and if congress is too spineless to hold a president accountable for such a political crime, then it is up to the voters to throw the bums out of office.

I'm really not at odds with you, Brandon, as to how limited the wiretapping of U.S. citizens by the government should be. Indeed, I take little comfort in the alleged protections afforded to me by the secret courts of FISA. I much prefer the public political restraints of the constitution as I mentioned above, even if their implementation has fallen into disuse by a supine congress and an indifferent citizenry.

Regards, Bill