Requiem for open debate.
9/11 changed everything.
You're suffering from a pre-9/11 mindset.
The War on Terror is unlike any war we've fought before.
We must take extraordinary measures to protect America in a post-9/11 world.
I am sick and tired of these vapid old canards being trotted out by the right. They fit any scenario, no matter what new government program you're talking about. Warrantless wiretapping, preemptive strikes against sovereign nations, detention without trial, it all falls under the umbrella of 'protecting America in a post-9/11 world'. This is not a rational justification because it applies equally to any conceivable action. Do we round up all the Muslims in the United States and send them to concentration camps because 9/11 changed everything? Do we detonate a nuclear bomb over the entire Middle East because the War on Terror is a new kind of war? No, we don't do those things because they neither reflect the spirit with which America was founded nor the spirit of what America is today. And in that vein we must consider issues like detention without trial on their merits, and not rationalize them with platitudes.