Two excellent essays out today:
Glen Greenwald examines the use of this week’s terrorist threat as a right-wing trop to justify this administration’s blatant violations of the FISA law. Greenwald is dead on in his analysis of the situation.
Bruce Schneier (of Applied Cryptography fame) published an excellent Op-Ed in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Schneier states what I’ve been saying for a very long time, but does so far more eloquently and briefly then I seem to be able to:
The goal of a terrorist is to cause terror. Last week’s arrests demonstrate how real security doesn’t focus on possible terrorist tactics, but on the terrorists themselves. It’s a victory for intelligence and investigation, and a dramatic demonstration of how investments in these areas pay off.
And if you want to know what you can do to help? Don’t be terrorized. They terrorize more of us if they kill some of us, but the dead are beside the point. If we give in to fear, the terrorists achieve their goal even if they were arrested. If we refuse to be terrorized, then they lose — even if their attacks succeed.
