December 30, 2005
WERE HIS FINGERS CROSSED?:
I'm a Soldier, Not a Spy (Grant Doty, December 30, 2005, Washington Post)
As Americans take stock of the news that the government has been involved in domestic warrantless eavesdropping as well as surveillance of "potentially threatening people or organizations inside the United States," many people are troubled, including me.Although the government may be interested in my ACLU membership, my wife's participation in war protests or my affiliation with the liberal United Church of Christ, my real anxiety stems from the fact that I am a soldier and may now be under suspicion from my friends and neighbors.
Specifically, given the information slowly leaking out of Washington, it may not be farfetched for some to think that when I "stumble across people or information" that might be of interest to the government, I might report it to the Pentagon's three-year-old Counterintelligence Field Activity (CIFA). [...]
Yes, I took an oath to defend the United States against all enemies "foreign and domestic"...
So, he's afraid people will think he took that oath seriously? Posted by Orrin Judd at December 30, 2005 2:21 PM
In other news, in a continuing series of stories detailing the intelligence-gathering abuses of the Bush administration, The Newspaper of Record reports a Damascus restauranteur has brought suit against Hav-a-Falafel, a new fast-food startup now market-testing in Knoxville, TN, in preparation for a nationwide rollout of its spicy mashed- chickpea-ball product.
Hamza el-Dun, claims that Mort Winston, a former signals intelligence officer at the National Security Agency and CEO of the nascent chain, acquired his recipe to make the product, which features a "Secret Syrian Spice Mix," while eavesdropping on a conversation between him and his brother Selim el-Dun, a Chicago resident, under the pretext, considered by many to be so evil, of conducting anti-terror surveillance.
"I am appalled," Sen. Ted Kennedy (D. Mass.) "Listening to al-Qaeda operatives is bad enough. But even harmless, erah, Fa-fa-falafel sellers are victimized. Oh, the humma, humma, humma, Humanity!"
"If you were accused of being a Marine," a Gunery Sargeant might ask, "would there be enough evidence to convict you?"
As to the Doggie in the article, we might have a reasonable doubt as to his loyalty and his devotion to duty.
Posted by: Lou Gots at December 30, 2005 3:49 PM