Fomula for fighting terror

DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2005�:
"The case of Samih Jammal, convicted with the help of the Patriot Act and FISA wiretaps of fencing stolen baby formula, sits on the fine line between the government's terrorism-fighting role and its duty to protect citizen's rights."

They told us we needed special courts to issue warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), and maybe we do. But how did the FBI justify going for a FISA warrant to investigate stolen baby formula?

This case is clouded by the fact the defendant is an American citizen born in Lebanon, but it appears the crime only involved using his wholesale grocery business to fence stolen goods.

Just as RICO was justified as a tool to fight the Mafia and international drug smugglers and ended up being used to intimidate right-to-life advocates, we now see FISA being turned into just another tool in the domestic war on crime. If that is the way it will be used, we might want to take another look at how much of our privacy we want to give up in aid of routine law enforcement.