MeekandMild
Member
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2002
- Messages
- 1,877
I think that it is interesting he thinks information about making WMD is 'new'. IIRC I read detailed instructions in the 1960's for same in various college textbooks printed in the 1950's and 60's.
This is from the NCPA digest:
SACRIFICE LIBERTY FOR SECURITY? SURE.
Complaining about the "unjust" detention of 1,200 foreigners on
security grounds -- and the imprisonment of enemy combatants at
Guantanamo -- New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof
favors violating the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the
press and the privacy of individuals.
In addition, Kristof proposes adoption of a national
identification card and the banning of certain books.
Regarding a national ID, he argues:
o More than 100 nations have some kind of national ID card,
and "we're already moving toward a government ID system --
using driver's licenses and Social Security numbers to
prove who we are -- but they neither protect our privacy
nor stop terrorists. Instead, they simply promote
identity theft."
o Furthermore, "At least seven of the Sept. 11 hijackers,
some living in Maryland hotels, managed to get Virginia ID
cards or driver's licenses, which can be used as
identification when boarding planes."
o One undercover federal study last year successfully "used
off-the-shelf materials to forge documents that were then
used to get driver's licenses in seven states and the
District of Columbia."
On the First Amendment, Kristof is horrified at "booklets,
typically sold at gun shows or on the Internet, detailing how to
make mustard gas, VX, anthrax or 'home-brew nerve gas.'" He
assumes that such publications are new and that chemical
knowledge isn't widespread:
o "Now in these cookbooks we're seeing 'information
proliferation' that empowers terrorists."
o "....a cult or terrorist group....could make sarin (nerve
gas), just as the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan did before
releasing it in the Tokyo subways in 1995."
o After all, says Kristof, Alexander Bickel arguing before
the Supreme Court in the N.Y. Times "Pentagon Papers"
case, agreed that he'd block a publication if 100
Americans would "certainly die as a result."
Reluctantly, he says, we are "better off banning books."
Source: Nicholas D. Kristof, "May I See Your ID?" New York Times,
March 17, 2004.
For NY Times text
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/opinion/17KRIS.html
For more on Terrorism
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/ter/
This is from the NCPA digest:
SACRIFICE LIBERTY FOR SECURITY? SURE.
Complaining about the "unjust" detention of 1,200 foreigners on
security grounds -- and the imprisonment of enemy combatants at
Guantanamo -- New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof
favors violating the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the
press and the privacy of individuals.
In addition, Kristof proposes adoption of a national
identification card and the banning of certain books.
Regarding a national ID, he argues:
o More than 100 nations have some kind of national ID card,
and "we're already moving toward a government ID system --
using driver's licenses and Social Security numbers to
prove who we are -- but they neither protect our privacy
nor stop terrorists. Instead, they simply promote
identity theft."
o Furthermore, "At least seven of the Sept. 11 hijackers,
some living in Maryland hotels, managed to get Virginia ID
cards or driver's licenses, which can be used as
identification when boarding planes."
o One undercover federal study last year successfully "used
off-the-shelf materials to forge documents that were then
used to get driver's licenses in seven states and the
District of Columbia."
On the First Amendment, Kristof is horrified at "booklets,
typically sold at gun shows or on the Internet, detailing how to
make mustard gas, VX, anthrax or 'home-brew nerve gas.'" He
assumes that such publications are new and that chemical
knowledge isn't widespread:
o "Now in these cookbooks we're seeing 'information
proliferation' that empowers terrorists."
o "....a cult or terrorist group....could make sarin (nerve
gas), just as the Aum Shinrikyo cult in Japan did before
releasing it in the Tokyo subways in 1995."
o After all, says Kristof, Alexander Bickel arguing before
the Supreme Court in the N.Y. Times "Pentagon Papers"
case, agreed that he'd block a publication if 100
Americans would "certainly die as a result."
Reluctantly, he says, we are "better off banning books."
Source: Nicholas D. Kristof, "May I See Your ID?" New York Times,
March 17, 2004.
For NY Times text
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/17/opinion/17KRIS.html
For more on Terrorism
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/ter/
