The innocent have nothing to fear

Or, to put it another way, "If you'?re not a terrorist, don't worry." Comforting isn't it?

According to Armstrong Williams, the only people who have anything to fear from President Bush's new wireless spying program are terrorists. A few points Williams neglects to mention.

1. The authority to wiretap terrorists already exists under the FISA program. President Bush could have obtained the authority to accomplish those wiretaps within the system if he so chose. He chose not to.

2. The President does not have the authority to circumvent the law simply because he chooses too. The fact that the President's surrogates have repeated requested the authority to do these wiretaps (and been rebuffed) shows that.

3. There is no way of knowing whether or not the President is targeting only those with terrorist ties. That's the whole problem isn't it?

4. Armstrong Williams is a bought and paid forpropagandist.

I can kind of understand why Williams would leave out that last one, come to think of it.