From: Faisal Jawdat Date: Tue Nov 06, 2001 05:27:29 PM US/Pacific To: SiteEditor@stltoday.com Subject: Dershowitz article To The Editor, Your article, "U.S. now might have to consider what once was unthinkable, Dershowitz says," (11/04/2001) discusses Alan Dershowitz advocating reductions in civil liberties to increase security. Mr. Dershowitz is speaking from fear and uncertainty, and he misses a key point: none of the proposed reductions in civil liberties would increase security in the slightest. Torture is a useless crime fighting tool, which is one of the reasons it is illegal in the United States: tortured suspects, guilty or not, will admit to anything and implicate anyone to stop the torture. National ID cards give away a guarantee of anonymity for law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to stop terrorists: we knew exactly who the attackers of 9/11 were but were powerless to prevent the attacks. Why? Because they hadn't blown themselves up in a crowded place before so we didn't know they'd do it again? And is Mr. Dershowitz seriously suggesting that that men willing to spend half a million dollars to indiscriminately kill 6,000 civilians are not willing to use funds or force to get a fake ID? To throw out the Constitution, written in days of constant danger from inside and outside the nascent United States, is to throw out what makes America great. The way to protect freedom is to use it in plain sight, not to hide it in a garbage can. Regards, Faisal Jawdat