Usual Suspects

New at Reason: Jacob Sullum reviews the inspector general's report on the post-9/11 roundup of illegal immigrants.

Comments

[Anonymous]

oh yes I'm so troubled that right after 9/11 the FBI didn't round about all the Swedes and Norwegians who were here illegally. What ever were they thinking!

[Anonymous]

No doubt brutish, unconstitutional behavior was exhibited. But one must remember that at the time nobody knew what was going down...was it just the planes or was there an entire "land" operation ready to be carried out. The celebrations in nearby Paterson & area coffee shops sure made me wonder.

[joe]

I wonder what our anonymous friends above would have thought about rounding up every white male with an accent in Mississippi whenever a lynching occurred.

"Duh, it's only ok when people are REALLY scared of a certain ethnic group."

[R. Stewart]

I see the Clashes of the Cultures are still being waged on this planet. What year is this? The year 2003? Oh wait, of course -- I'm way too early for any sort of harmony.

Well, I better hop back on my time machine and head back to the year 2053. I didn't realize things were still so primitive here.

[Croesus]

BUNIA, Congo (CP) - Hundreds of residents who survived savage tribal fighting last month in this northeastern Congolese town cheered the arrival Friday of French troops, the vanguard of an international force intended to stabilize the volatile Ituri region after more than 500 people were killed.

Shouting "liberated, liberated," the townspeople gathered outside the headquaters of the U.N. mission to Congo, or MONUC, as several dozen French forces pulled up in camouflage jeeps for a meeting with U.N. officials and the Hema tribal militia that now controls the town.

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/06/06/105160-cp.html

Vive la France! 🙂

[Anonymous]

great analogy joe..??? And I see Croesus is on topic as usual.

[Warren]

I wouldn't support this sort of racist abuse of power even if it truly did manage to nab a few terrorists. But the fact is, that this kind of behavior is precisely the sort of inept policing that allows terrorist to elude capture. In other words, the broad net approach unconscionably oppresses innocent people while making the rest of us LESS safe. Jacob highlights the oppression.

Go here: http://www.cato.org/dailys/06-05-03.html
To for an excellent articulation of how this approach is doomed to failure in regards to the proposed TIA database.

[Hal E.]

Never mind that these people were unjustly and unconstitutionally imprisoned. What's mind-boggling here is that out more than 700 people who were rounded up -- apparently for the crime of being Muslim -- NOT A SINGLE ONE was found to have links to terrorism. So you have to wonder what the hell the DOJ spokeswoman means when she says, "We make no apologies for finding every legal way possible to protect the American public from further terrorist attacks." Umm, excuse me, but how does arresting 762 non-terrorists protect the American public? It's one thing for the feds to be unconstitutional, but someone should tell Herr Ashcroft that we'd feel a whole lot safer if they weren't so damn incompetent, too.

[merdedepoulet]

conclusion: david's funny, joe's scary. just hope joe doesn't track me down and shoot me full of sacrimonious bullets.

[Warren]

"merdedepoulet"-HA Now THAT'S funny

[david f]

no. no. no.

we made the world safer. how do we know this is true? this is a bunch of liberals whining about stuff. it's only a cold sore. i'll only put it in part way. i'll still respect you in the morning. i did not have sexual relations with that woman.

snicker.

Hey Hal E.,

you're forgetting that ad hoc or pragmatic (backing into) justification for these actions are done by those who never will get busted for being dark skinned. it's just when czar hillary applies the SAME LAWS to the NRA or that "right to life" group or the re-enactment group for Bull Run, errr, Mannasssassassass (that's worse than "banana" to spell) get busted for terror-type activities. then all of a sudden many of our friends on this site who approve of these measures will be against. rule of men vs rule of law.

the innocent have nothing to fear. don't worry!

sarcastically and fed up with overly intrusive government that doesn't make us safer at all (apply these PATRIOT bullshit measures to guns -- no wait, "just enforce the laws that are out there"),

drf

[Anonymous]

David, like Lefty and Joe, has super powers permitting him to know the skin tone of individuals posting to this site.
He also instinctively knows how all "dark-skinned" people think, 'cause you know they're all the same and he's really down with their view of the world.

[joe]

My powers also extend to knowing who you are, chickenshit.

[david f]

hey anon!

you betcha! and i have even more super powers to cloud the minds of clear-thinking Men so that i remain invisible. and i prance around and it's amazing how people seem to sense something but studiously ignore it.

and i have powers to identify neocon plots. and i can see that U2 and bono are shit, full of krap, and suck! as you see, i have a lot of powers. it's just that i can't find a good costume. capes are sooooo outre this season. and my codpiece chafes.

🙂

drf

[Dunlap Amy]

EMAIL: [e-mail]
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DATE: 01/20/2004 08:25:43
Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what's right.