My Thoughts on the Hunt

While in London for International Women’s Day I happened to watch The Qatar Debates (http://www.qatardebate.com/events/), and one of the panelist referred to the worldwide search for terrorists who identify themselves as Muslims by the various intelligence agencies as the Hunt. I am sure the term is an old one, but it is new to me. And my thoughts on the concept are equally as new.

In general I would say that I am a pacifist, but I am old enough to know that the USA like all countries needs the type of protection that only agencies such as the FBI, CIA and Secret Service can provide. The reality is that there are people with imagined and real grievances against the USA, and they seek to give vent to their ire through violent means. This can not be tolerant by any country, as there are courts, agencies, and a myriad of world-wide associations and groups where people or groups can and should seek redress. Violence is never an acceptable answer in any society…………………………………..And agencies like the FBI and CIA must protect the citizens of American. However there must be checks and balances in how these agencies protect.

I would think that there must be a personality type that is attracted to the FBI, CIA and Secret Service that would include a mixture of traits of intelligence, curiosity, courage, loyalty, and aggression. It is a good thing that the men and women who populate these agencies are more aggressive than not, BUT………………………There must always be agencies and procedures that provide checks and balances to what these folks do in the field and beyond. For example using airport passport control for the less than appropriate questioning and search of law abiding American citizens is nothing short of circumventing the Constitution and should not be allowed.

Agents in the FBI and CIA will always want to push the envelope to get the most desirous results. Indeed that is what they are trained to do. But the USA simply can not allow that to happen. When the folks of these agencies push the envelope the Constitution, committees, courts, laws and agencies that monitor them must and should push back. That to and fro may be bothersome to many, but it is what will keep this country a true democracy.

It is not particularly realistic for any of us to think that those who are in the heat of a hunt will remember such niceties as civil liberties, the rule of law or even the Constitution. Again, that must be done by those who watch and mind the hunters.

This I think not only makes for a purer democracy, but a safer one. Many innocent Muslims feel as though they are prey and that can be no good for the country or the agencies who hunt. A community that feels under siege is less likely (or willing) to provide valuable intelligence information to these agencies if they are being unjustly profiled or harassed. And surely the hunters want intelligence from a myriad of sources and not by and large from those ensnared in the system and imparting intelligence only because they have brokered a deal with their attorney.

And in closing allowing those who hunt to ravage through the lives of the innocent is something this country must never be a part of. The damaging of the innocent (whoever they may be) is more than collateral damage; it is an affront to the Constitution and everything America stands for.