Topic: Newsmax
An April 9 NewsMax column by Ronald Kessler defends the government's terrorist no-fly watch program from critics who say that, at 400,000 names, the list is needlessly large and contains too many innocent people. Kessler claimed that "Americans are included only if they have been convicted of terrorist activities or are under investigation by the FBI," asserted without evidence that "There is a direct correlation between possible terrorists who are denied entry to the U.S. and the fact that we have not been attacked in over five years," and brushed off concerns over the list being too large:
What the ACLU forgets is that people from other countries do not have a right to enter the U.S. Inevitably, some will be listed in error. But the alternative is to limit the list so much that terrorists can enter the country and pull off another 9/11 attack.
Coincidentially, Kessler's article appears at the same time a case has come to light contradicting it. Walter F. Murphy -- a retired Marine and Princeton law professor emeritus who has criticized Roe v. Wade and supported the appointment of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court -- says he found himself on the terrorist watch list for no other apparent reason than publicly criticizing President Bush.
Don't look for Kessler to address this case anytime soon, unless he can find a way to debunk it.
