Cryptography Question (I hope it's not off-topic on this list)

[nobody@REPLAY.COM (Anonymous)]

  I was thinking about *chaining* remailers and wondered if encryption
of a certain strength could be *chained* in order to make it as strong
as stronger encryption.
  e.g. - If only 56-bit encryption becomes legal, is there a method
of *chaining* several passes of 48-bit encryption which would make it
just as hard to break as 96/192/384-bit (etc.) encryption?

  If this is indeed impossible, then perhaps the government might pass
a law that makes it illegal to encrypt an encrypted file, but experience
seems to suggest that any law passed always leaves a loophole or back
door for inventive people to circumvent it.

  CyberDoc