Patriots Act.(ISSUES & INSIGHTS)

National Security: With the Feb. 3 deadline for renewing the Patriot Act looming, kicking the can down the road again is not an option. Had it been in place on Sept. 10, 2001, Sept. 11 might not have happened.

If your house were on fire, and firemen had to kick your door down and break a few windows to save you and your family, would you consider that an invasion of your privacy or a violation of your civil liberties?

Yet that is precisely the attitude Senate Democrats take regarding the Patriot Act despite evidence that it has infringed on no one's rights, except perhaps on the freedom of terrorists to plot mass murder undetected and unmolested.

Democrats say the Patriot Act, approved 99-1 four years ago, was enacted in a fit of rage and panic and needs fixing lest its powers be abused. But as Rep. Vito Fosella, R-N.Y., notes, Congress has scrutinized the act in 115 hearings, and there have been more than 100 pages of responses to specific questions by members of the House.

As we have reported, the Justice Department in January 2004 conducted a six-month review of the law in which 1,266 complaints filed after its passage were examined. The conclusion was that not a single American's rights had been violated. No American disappeared after a midnight knock on the door. No library was stormed by a SWAT team.

There are, however, terrorists who've had their lives and plans disrupted. As reported in the Los Angeles Times last July, since 9-11 five large terrorist cells have been broken up, from Lake Erie to Puget Sound. The Justice Department reports that under the Patriot Act, charges have been filed against 401 people, with 212 being ...