FC: The Objectivist Center applauds national IDs, torture, snooping?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

[You can see the article in question here: 
http://www.objectivistcenter.com/pubs/jr_what_will_happen_now.asp To be 
fair to the Objectivist Center, the article by James Robbins was part of an 
issue (http://www.objectivistcenter.com/navig/assault_on_civilization.asp) 
that included a dozen essays from many perspectives. --Declan]

*********

From: "Chuck Hammill" <weaponsrus () earthlink net>
To: <declan () well com>
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 03:25:03 -0700

Declan,

I mostly lurk, but I received today a copy of "Navigator" published by The
Objectivist Center (Objectivism being the philosophy of the late Ayn Rand,
normally known as pro-freedom to the point of radicalism) which devoted most
of the entire issue to the events of 9-11 and included a piece by James S.
Robbins, professor of international relations at the National Defense
University in Washington, D.C.  Under the heading What Should Happen Now, he
states "[T]he prosecution of this war . . . may involve extremely
disquieting tactics:  assassinations (which are already being discussed);
secret trials (to prove we have the right guys without revealing to other
terrorists how we know); and even torture (to avert imminent attacks, say)."

Elsewhere in the article he mentions that he has abandoned his opposition to
a national ID card, and further asserts that "[t]he British, after all, have
survived heightened safety measures for thirty years in the face of IRA
terrorism and have kept their freedoms largely intact" and that "Israel,
though necessarily under a more stringent security regime, maintains . . . a
reasonable respect for civil liberties."  (Just one example: when a
newspaper recently published photos which proved certain Palestinian
prisoners were not killed in a commando raid, but rather *tortured to death*
after being captured, the government exonerated the torturers and shut down
the newspaper.)  And please do not assume anti-Semitism or pro-Arabism on my
part; I would be the first to admit that Israel's neighbors can be at least
as unfree and barbarous, but the article didn't insult my intelligence by
praising any of them.

Recalling that Ayn Rand was so protective of her ideas that she rejected the
term "libertarian" in favor of "Objectivist" (a word she registered as a
trademark), she must be spinning in her grave at the ideas being advocated
in her name.  The organization is at http://www.objectivistcenter.com.

*********




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