<...we could have commando squads on every block and use Echelon data to bust in on everyone who so much as says they don't like the IRS...

Doubtful. The resistance would merely grow, infecting the ranks of the proposed commandos. This is a free country, and that’s how I intend to live within it. Bully-squads on every corner just don’t cut it.

That's what the negative forces want - they want to turn the US into a police state - they want to squash the very freedoms we cherish.

True

As Larry Jacks so aptly put it 'Don't let the bastards win!'

True.

Increasing internal security means living in a police state - your leaders understand that a fine balance must be drawn and maintained to preserve everyone's freedom.

I would say that most of them do, but there are some who insist on being clueless -- as is their voted-in-office, or appointed-by-the-voted-in-office right.

Freedom has casualties. We witnessed this on September, 11 2001. But, if we turn against ourselves and start internal witchhunts - we are no better than Hitler who killed Rommel, one of his finest officers, after he talked against Hitler's policies.

Many casualties.

An aside:
Field Marshal Erwin Rommel has been described as the greatest general of the 20th century. To say he was one of Hitler’s best is definitely a misquote of history. He was the best tool Hitler had in all his arsenal -- and he threw him away as though he had failed. Reverse that, and Hitler would have gotten it right. Victory and half a planet could have been his, but for his refusal to imagine that Rommel could ever have anything to say that was worth listening to.

For this, I am both happy and sad that he did not reach his full potential under Hitler. Reading his history reveals a fine man and a hero -- one with many words to his name, but few monuments.

Such paranoia leads to a weakening of America - not a strengthening.

Very true.

This terrorist action might've been preventable - but the cost would be even more lives and freedoms than one can imagine...

No, it would not have been preventable. Bin Laden wanted it to happen. He researched his options, he made his choice, and he struck, but not before finding a way in which to do so -- and there is always a way.

The only clear-cut method of preventing a crime is eliminating the criminal,
Dan