So how far must one go before getting charged with a terrorist conspiracy? the Washington Post's Dahlia Lithwick is concerned about the federal government prosecuting "thought crimes".

The government claims to have foiled two major terrorism plots in the past month -- both in early planning stages that had not crossed the line from talk to action. In late June, seven men were arrested in Miami on suspicion of concocting a plan to blow up, among other places, the Sears Tower in Chicago. Then, several men were arrested in the Middle East in connection with plotting suicide bombings of transit tunnels between New Jersey and Manhattan.

This shift -- toward disrupting attacks long before explosives are stockpiled or targets scoped out -- makes some sense, given what we know about the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and last year's mass-transit bombings in London. The difference between grandiose gym talk and a lethal terrorist strike can be bridged in a nanosecond, with a box cutter and a phone call.

But it's also a shift from prosecuting tangible terrorism conspiracies to prosecuting bad thoughts. And we need to think carefully before we go further down that road.

While Lithwick's piece is full of hand-wringing liberalism, she does raise some valid points. What is the line between line between the fantasies and boasts of a few oddballs and an actual terrorist conspiracy?

But unfortunately, Lithwick seems unwilling to recognize that stopping terrorism before the terrorists have acted is the only way to head off the conspirators. In particular, she appears to think that the arrest of teh Miami plotters (seeking to destroy the Sears Tower in Chicago) might have been an over-reaction by the feds.

But I wonder -- if my buddies and I were to take similar actions while discussing the possiblility of blowing up the Washington Post offices where Lithwick works, would Dahlia be as willing to give us the benefit of the doubt as she is the accused terrorist plotters?

Posted by: Greg at 10:04 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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