re: #329 The Sanity Inspector

I would think so too, if we hadn’t already had terrible proof to the contrary. The trials of the ‘93 WTC bombers disclosed valuable intelligence to the public, which made its way back to bin Laden. He had been under eavesdropping surveillance, but armed with the knowledge that we were listening, and how we were listening, he secured his lines of communication for the rest of the 90s. He was thus able to perpetrate the East African embassy bombings, and then 9/11 itself.

This is not a talking point, nor is it gibberish. It is a serious concern with real-world precedent, which deserves honest engagement.

That is a valid point and you are correct, worthy of honest engagement. the fact that it may have been done incorrectly once, does not mean it can’t be done correctly the next time. I am not saying it is easy, but living up to the values that you have set for yourself as a nation is not always easy.

Which brings me to a second point, which is that I do not view these values to be absolute. The fact is that if you commit a crime in Iran, or in China, you need to know what your trial is going to look like. Its your own damn fault. you should not have committed that crime there if you wanted a real trial with a real adversarial system. That is why I do not fault Israel for the way they treat “ticking time bombs” within their system. I may wish for something else, but the reality is it is their system. They live with shit we cant even imagine.