Peeking

Not “Peking.” “Peeking.” How you find out something someone doesn’t want you to know. Some people profess to be shocked that our government has been peeking into the “private affairs” of people who talk to al Qaeda. We, on the other hand, don’t think people who talk to al Qaeda should have private affairs.

Not “Peking.” “Peeking.” How you find out something someone doesn’t want you to know. Some people profess to be shocked that our government has been peeking into the “private affairs” of people who talk to al Qaeda. We, on the other hand, don’t think people who talk to al Qaeda should have private affairs.

Other governments peek as well, sometimes with salutary results. Two weeks ago, Italy, our ally in Iraq and our friend in many ways, arrested three Algerians and tipped our government to the fact that terrorists were planning a series of attacks against American ships, stadiums and railway stations. According to media sources, Italian authorities increased their domestic surveillance – including wiretaps – after the London bombings.

They also tipped Belgian police. The Washington Post reported, “In wiretapped conversations recorded by the Italians, [the man] was overheard telling another radical in Milan that he and three friends were ready to carry out suicide attacks in Belgium.”

This sparked additional Belgian peeking. On 1 December, The International Herald Tribune reported the arrest of “14 suspects in a series of dawn raids aimed at breaking up a terrorist network that the Belgian authorities said was planning attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq and included a female Belgian suicide bomber who blew herself up in Baghdad three weeks ago… The police said they had found evidence of planning for more attacks against U.S. targets in Iraq… ‘We have been able to prevent attacks against other U.S. targets as a result of these arrests…’ said a senior official.”

The government of The Netherlands peeks and so does that of France. In Great Britain, the government peeks not only at the license plates of suspects, but also at the plates of “associated vehicles.” Authorities analyze convoys of vehicles to see who is driving alongside one known to be of interest to the police.

In November, Australian police arrested 17 men in raids in Sydney and Melbourne, and anticipated more. According to CNN, the New South Wales Police Commissioner said, “We believe that we’ve been able to significantly disrupt a proposed terrorist attack here in Australia.” And a prosecutor added, “The members of the Sydney group have been gathering chemicals of a kind that were used in the London… bombings.” Victorian state police had more than 240 hours of phone intercepts in which the group discussed plans to kill Australian civilians.

These are all democratic countries in which respect for civil liberties is an operative principle. All are countries to which terrorists and would-be terrorists have come to wreak havoc. And all are countries that have taken the position that peeking in on suspicious people may stop a heinous crime before it is committed – which is preferable to arresting surviving perpetrators after the fact.

Tomorrow, we will look at another democratic government with a model for winning the war against terrorists that includes, among other things, peeking.