I have seen this before...............

The New York Times recently reported (January 12, 2005) that the White House intervened in attempts to limit the methods used by US security agencies to get information from suspects. Apparently Condoleezza Rice argued that laws protecting prisoners already existed in international law and the US did not need to limit the powers. Our first reaction to this may be that giving the government power to do what it chooses in this situation is OK. It is being applied to terrorists and on foreign soil and to protect us. The catch is that once the laws are on the books they apply to all of us in the future.

I grew up in a country under siege and fighting a terrorist war. The government then used the same arguments we are hearing here now. The result was a set of laws over time that completely deprived the citizens of the country of basic freedoms and rights. Slowly eroding the rights of the individual in the name of national security.