Preface

This chapter originated as a speech given at the Thomas J. Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut on the third anniversary of 9/11. It emphasizes civil liberties within the United States, but also argues against the disastrous moral fallacy of supposing that trade-offs of liberty and security are acceptable when it is a matter of one’s own security and someone else’s rights; that is no trade-off. The chapter requires only a few minor updates, plus one larger elaboration of a short argument advanced in the chapter.

The updates

This chapter warns about how easy it is for relatively trivial conduct to result in lengthy prison sentences under the draconian statutes defining material support for terrorism (see footnote 4). This has been amply born out in numerous cases of young men with jihadist ambitions but no evident skills or concrete plans who were nonetheless convicted of material support or conspiracy. For example, two youthful cousins from Chicago hoped to become jihadis. They traveled to Egypt, hoping to receive training – what kind of training, or from whom, was never clear. After returning to the United States a month later, they planned to learn the use of firearms, discussed the possibility of taking an online course in gunsmithing, and researched the purchase of weapons. They never made any concrete terrorist plans, however, and according to their indictment, one of them told an unnamed person that they needed five more years to complete their preparations for violent jihad. The indictment does not allege that they ever met with any terrorist group anywhere. They nevertheless pled guilty to conspiring to provide material support for terrorism. In another prominent case, a group of young men drew long sentences for playing paintball in Virginia to prepare for jihad in Afghanistan.