Water boarding wiretapping Gitmo missile defense and the Patriot act are legitimate and necessary USA USA?

A rather difficult question your asking here.

I'll try to answer each one with reasons for and against.

Water Boarding - can be considered as a form of torture. Generally used to gain information from a person without killing them.

Water boarding while a form of torture, can provide valuable information in certain circumstances where the lives of people are in jepardy.

Wiretapping of phone calls - Under the current program, ONLY the phone conversations of persons in certain locations and/or certain terriorists organisations can be wiretapped without a court order. Used to provide intelligence information in a timely manner. Court orders can take from several hours to several days to get approved.

Gitmo - Prison in Cuba where terriorists are being held. Some folks say the prisoners are being tortured, some say the prisoners are being treated correctly. There are 2 thoughts on this as to why would you put terriorists in a foreign country. One is the laws vary from one country to another allowing harsher methods of extracting information from a prisoner. Another keeps any chance of a rescue remote as you can limit access to the country where the prisoners are being held.

Missile Defense - Program whereby a possible nuclear attack could be defended by an anti ballistic defense missile which destroys any incomming missiles. Since the Pakistan and North Korean states have developed nuclear weapons, this would help in stopping any attack by terriorists from those 2 nations. Also with the situation in Iran this could be a deterent, although that specific issue is VERY debateable.

Patriot Act - a Act which was enacted after the attacks on Setember 11th 2001. This Act effected many different laws that were on the books at the time. Most notably was the way it effected the FISA laws. Theses laws provide a method to acquire aproval of wiretaps for foreign intelligence. The Patriot Act changed those laws.

Overall the subject of torture is a hotly debateable issue. One thing to consider here is the Geneva Convention. The Geneva Convention is specifically against torture on persons that are covered by it. However, since terriorists don't fall under the Geneva Conventions, torture CAN be a possibility. Also IF terriorists were covered by the Geneva Convention, then their actions in Iraq and elsewhere would be in violation of the Convention allowing the use of torture on them.

The other issues mainly cover how do try and stop and detain terriorists before they attack again. Some folks don't understand that in this "net age" there is lots more information that can be spread in an instant. This requires a reworking of the laws since no technology existed like this before.

In short, all of this adds up to is that do you want to be attacked like 911 again? If not then the government is going to have to change the way they go after terriorists. They are following what has worked before on these folks. Like an example, check out the way Isreal handles terriorists.

You don't believe the US is the only western country to use these tactics do you? Wiretapping has been going on since the CIA was started....it only couldn't be used as evidence in court till now. Gitmo is a fairly public prison compared to the dark holes people disappeard in before. Waterboarding isn't widely accepted as getting credible results and is hardly the worse form of torture. No, this is a political spin. Some people lose their freedoms so the rest of us can keep them. I'm not a criminal so I'm fine with it.

Unfortunately, these issues are made into political footballs for power play by some of the Democratic party. I wish there was more concern for the safety of US citizens then for who gets to become the majority party leader or president. We need a good ol-fashioned patriot like Reagan who will lead this country and stop looking out for his own interest.

No

Waterboarding is torture--and violates the Constitution

WARRENTLESS wiretapping is also a violation of the Constitution. Wiretapping--with a warrent or proper court review--is entirely legitimate.

Gitmo detainees are being denied due process--again,a violation of the Constitution.

The "Patriot" Act purports to authorize some of the above--as well as authorizing other forms of spying without warrents adnd denial of due process--to AMERICANS-and is unconstitutional

The so-called "missile defense system" in Europe is not illegetimate--jsut pointless and stupid. Bush wants to deploy missle interceptors to protect us from a country that doesn't have any such weapons--and can't develop them in less than a decade by his own admission.

Why? Because our government, which is right so often, says so? I think these activities which Americans previously considered illegal and against our principles should have to be justified to us. As with torture, the missile defense shield probably doesn't even work. The things on your list are doing more harm than good, increasing hatred of the US and not getting any useful information

Sucide bombing.

9/11

beheading viedos.

President of Iran threatening to wipe Israel off the map

for more examples: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/

Are they legitimate and necessary?

So why are you going after a nation trying to protect itself over that who are starting the attacks?

All of those things are contrary to the USA. Torture, invasion of privacy (although not in the bill of rights is illegal if a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy), not allowing for a speedy trial and "guilty until proven innocent", big government control, fewer personal rights, fewer states' rights.... I could go on forever with this, but you get the idea. If we're founded on the idea that all men are created equal and entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, then none of this stuff holds up. It's a policy of fear. Anybody remember "Give me liberty, or give me death?"

Yes. That about sums it up. Well said.

Although I'm beginning to think that Gitmo has out-lived its usefullness.

It's more trouble than it's worth. Rendition is more effective and less troublesome.

We did manage to get through many large and small wars without the aforementioned violations of what used to be exactly what we were fighting for.

Even worse than my country dishonoring itself with fascist tactics are the amount of people who think this is the way it should be done.

Is this the way the German people were brainwashed to think that Hitler was the only one who could save them?

Is that where we are headed?

Necessary if you want the United States to become a moral failure and a totalitarian nation