When She's Right about Rights

Coleen Rowley says we can follow ideals and fight terrorism without trading away constitutional rights….

This is a huge issue, because if you fall into thinking that we cannot combat terrorism using our criminal justice system and all the rights and protections it affords, you open the door to all the extraconstitutional -- or more bluntly, illegal -- methods currently in vogue: the use of renditions, black sites and torture; lack of due process; and warrantless NSA monitoring on American soil. Enormous problems loom once we decide it's OK as a blanket measure to go around the constitutional rules and down this slippery slope.