(This is a reprint from of a forum/blog entry I made elsewhere in Dec. 2005)
9/11 changed everything, he said, so we need to make some changes. We need to tap your phones if we want to, enter your house to search if we want to; we need to find out what you read if we want to, we need to put you in jail indefinitely if we want to, and not tell you why or ever bring you to trial if we want to. We need to torture your neighbor for information if we want to - oh, don't worry, we don't really torture anyone, but we reserve the right for the CIA to do so, because we want to. After all, you're an American, and Americans must be protected, he said. Most of us, anyway.
You can't tell anyone if you see us take your neighbor away though, nor tell your lawyer if we demand all your records. You can't call your lawyer if we detain you, or talk about why we did, even if we tell you the why. We won't call your lawyer for you, nor tell your family where you are. 9/11 changed everything, he said, and you don't want to help the terrorists now, do you?
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