Cato Daily Dispatch for December 19, 2003
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Panel: 9/11 Attacks Could Have Been PreventedSchwarzenegger Declares Fiscal Crisis in California
Court Rules That Record Industry Can't Subpoena Internet Providers
Panel: 9/11 Attacks Could Have Been Prevented
According to the Washington Post, "the chairman of the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks said he believes that the strikes could have been prevented, a claim that President Bush's spokesman rejected yesterday.
"In an interview with CBS News broadcast Wednesday night, Tom Kean, the former Republican governor of New Jersey who was chosen by Bush to head the panel, said the attacks could have been avoided."
In "Does U.S. Intervention Overseas Breed Terrorism?" Ivan Eland, Cato's former director of defense policy studies, writes that "most attention has been focused on combating terrorism by deterring and disrupting it beforehand and retaliating against it after the fact. Less attention has been paid to what motivates terrorists to launch attacks. According to the Pentagon's Defense Science Board, a strong correlation exists between U.S. involvement in international situations and an increase in terrorist attacks against the United States.... The board, however, has provided no empirical data to support its conclusion."
Eland, filling in the data gap, writes that he had found "many examples of terrorist attacks on the United States in retaliation for U.S. intervention overseas. The numerous incidents cataloged suggest that the United States could reduce the chances of such devastating--and potentially catastrophic--terrorist attacks by adopting a policy of military restraint overseas."
Schwarzenegger Declares Fiscal Crisis in California
"Arnold Schwarzenegger, California's new governor, yesterday declared a state fiscal crisis, thereby giving himself the power to release emergency funds to cities and counties struggling from his repeal of the unpopular car tax and its $2.6bn in revenues," the Financial Times reports.
In "California Failing," Cato adjunct scholar Michael New writes that future fiscal crises can be avoided with a constitutional spending limit. "The state's fiscal problems stem directly from the massive increase in spending during Gray Davis's administration. A well-designed spending limit would have halted this expansion of government and prevented the current fiscal crisis.
"Hopefully, one of California's taxpayer groups can collect the necessary signatures to get a [spending-limit] proposal on the November ballot."
Court Rules That Record Industry Can't Subpoena Internet Providers
"A federal appeals court on Friday rejected efforts by the recording industry to compel the nation's Internet providers to identify subscribers accused of illegally distributing music online," the Associated Press reports.
"In a substantial setback for the industry's controversial anti-piracy campaign, the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a ruling by the trial judge to enforce a copyright subpoena."
Writing in a Cato Institute TechKnowledge article, "The Day the Music Died," University of Texas at Dallas professor Stan Liebowitz argues that the subpoena strategy is "fraught with dangers for the recording industry. For it to work, tens of millions of MP3 downloaders must be convinced to stop. To convince such a large base of users to change their behavior will require massive publicity. Bringing thousands of individuals to court will generate front-page stories. By attracting so much attention, the industry runs the risk of alienating its customers and inviting Washington to step in."
Chris Kilmer, editor, ckilmer@cato.org