Phone-tapping Politics

Cal Thomas | Syndicated columnist | Published: Dec 23, 2005

Phone-tapping Politics

December 27, 2005

Let me ask you a question: when there are people in our country plotting to kill more of us and they use cell phones to contact their co-collaboraters overseas and domestically, would you like a government official monitoring those calls? I would, especially if it improves the likelihood that terrorist will be caught and prevented from killing me.

That makes sense to all but those who think this is a legal and political game. I don’t want the government to have too much power, but when confronted with the kinds of threats we have today, I don’t mind them having the power to tap the phones of suspected terrorists. In fact, I want them to do it.

Wiretaps on terror suspects were conducted by Presidents Clinton and Carter. Democrats, then, supported them. Now for political gain, many Democrats and a few Republicans oppose them. Try playing chess when one side plays by the rules and the other has no rules. You can’t win at chess that way and you can’t win the war on terror that way either


Cal Thomas is a nationally syndicated columnist based in Washington, D.C.

 

Phone-tapping Politics