Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Media Knows Best

Well, thats their opinion, but not mine and Linda Chavez:

Yet another leak of highly classified intelligence has made fighting terrorists more difficult. But the media claim they -- not our elected leaders -- know what's best for the country. Last week, the New York Times and several other newspapers revealed that since 9/11, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies have been following the terrorist money trail by monitoring financial transactions through a Belgium-based banking consortium known as SWIFT...The newspaper's hubris is breathtaking, but it is important to remember the Times would not have had the story without the help of current and former government officials who decided to betray the nation's trust. They -- not the Times -- should be the subject of criminal prosecution.

I disagree with this last over who's to blame. Like the illegal immigration issue, we should be after those who encourage the law breakers first (in that case, big business). It would be much easier to stop it before its revealed to the public by the press, then go after the leakers. Finally:

...three major classified programs have been revealed on the front pages of the country's leading papers: the SWIFT program, the NSA surveillance program, and the existence of secret overseas CIA-run prisons where suspected terrorists have been questioned and detained.
This last story earned the Washington Post the Pulitzer Prize, but it should have earned jail time for those who revealed the information to the Post.


On this we do agree, whole heartedly!