Now That The War In Iraq Is Ending, Should The Patriot Act Be Terminated Along With It?

[Geomar]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_PATRIOT_Act

[Chayim]

Astonishing fact: Windows XP turned ten years old yesterday, October 25. The Patriot Act turned ten years old today, October 26. It's only one day younger than Windows XP. I never put those in the same anything category before. But it won't be undone. Even if the Congress defunds it, we'd need to go bankrupt and start over to know it was not being paid for some other way. Oh, and don't stare at the sky too long; the drone will think you're guilty of a thoughtcrime.   danielpauldavis 26 months ago

[Eadger]

That's Bush's fault.   PamPerdue 26 months ago

[Comyn]

The PATRIOT Act has zilch to do with the Iraq war. The PATRIOT Act, if it's about anything at all, is about terrorism, which is explicitly NOT what the Iraq war was about. It was about... wait, what was it about? Cuz it sure as hell wasn't about 9/11.Conceivably, one might try to link the war in Afghanistan, or the death of Osama bin Laden, to the PATRIOT Act. But nobody thinks we're coming home from Afghanistan any time soon, and nobody thinks that the death of Osama bin Laden ended al Qaeda. Which is what the PATRIOT Act was about.Evaluating the value of the PATRIOT Act for its intended purpose is hard; by definition, it's done in secret. One of the problems with passing it in the first place is that it was known at the time that the problem it was designed to counter would never disappear. The law would continue until it expired or caused a specific scandal.The specific scandal hasn't happened yet, though nobody knows if that's because everybody is using it properly or if they're just covering up the worst abuses.(And there HAVE been abuses.)I think that some of its provisions are still valid, and perhaps should even become matters of law. Others, especially the ones that allow the executive branch to operate without oversight, should be allowed to expire. But it's got jack to do with the Iraq war.   PamPerdue 26 months ago

[Brookes]

Once the people give up rights, they don't get them back. They cost Americans a lot of blood to earn.   Max20characters 26 months ago

[Rowell]

If a murder spree is solved should we terminate the police departments?   Directmale 26 months ago