SOME PEOPLE WILL PROBABLY COMPLAIN ABOUT THIS PROGRAM, but it seems sensible enough to me:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 — The Bush administration has begun to monitor Iraqis in the United States in an effort to identify potential domestic terrorist threats posed by sympathizers of the Baghdad regime, senior government officials said.

The previously undisclosed intelligence program involves tracking thousands of Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans with dual citizenship who are attending American universities or working at private corporations, and who might pose a risk in the event of a United States-led war against Iraq, officials said.

If we go to war, these people will be enemy aliens (in fact, in light of the Congressional declaration, in a sense they already are). Keeping tabs on enemy aliens is normal for wartime. I suspect that this was deliberately leaked, as a way of discouraging untoward activity.

UPDATE: And here’s more evidence that it’s justified.