The Los Angeles Times runs a story today about the difficulties that the US is having in tracking and shutting down terrorist financial operations. The story leads with a number of factors impeding both our domestic and international efforts:
[Bush administration is 'undermined', the terrorists are smarter than the feds and have found work-arounds, Bush administration 'stumbling' with interagency fighting, and of course no other nation trusts the US anymore so cooperation is imperfect. etc...]Can anyone spot what's missing? Anyone?
Apparently the Times doesn't think that the media's disclosure of the nature, procedures, and targets of those programs could have a deleterious effect on their effectiveness and foreign cooperation. Moreover, the Times doesn't think that the House Democrats' refusal to grant immunity to telecom companies who helped the government with foreign intelligence gathering could be interpreted by foreign banks and governments as a warning of might be in store for them if they, too, make the mistake of assisting the US is tracking down terrorist transactions.
And certainly, the House Democrats' refusal to renew the Patriot Act couldn't have any effect on our ability to locate and track new targets for investigation. No, certainly not. But we wouldn't want to question their patriotism.
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