Points of Action

Under sections 411 and 802 in the USAPA, a terrorist is loosely defined as anyone
being “a representative of a foreign terrorist organization, as
designated by the Secretary of State,” and domestically, anyone engaging
in “activities that – involve acts dangerous to human life that are a
violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state;
APPEAR to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; TO
INFLUENCE THE POLICY OF A GOVERNMENT BY INTIMIDATION OR COERCION…”
[capitals mine]

The inclusion of the word “appear” leaves interpretation of the law wide
open to subjectivity and personal whim, as anyone can rightfully claim
something “appears” to be intended for a particular purpose. Note also
that our first amendment right to gather in protest against what we may
see as unjust government policies could easily fall under the concept of
“influencing” government policy by “intimidation or coercion.”

Anyone
participating in activist groups such as Greenpeace, Earth Liberation
Front, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or in protests like
the 1999 demonstration in Seattle against the WTO could find himself
suddenly stripped of his rights by the simple act of being declared a
“terrorist” in keeping with the definition of this law. Under section 803
of this Act, even the simple act of giving food or shelter to a friend
who may have been involved in any of the aforementioned activities could,
in turn, have you incriminated and branded as a “terrorist” as well.

The USA Patriot Act absolutely shreds to bits the fourth amendment.
Section 213 permits so-called “sneak and peek” searches. Translated, that
means the government has the right to go into your home while you are
away, copy your hard drive, files, or whatever, gather and take any
information or items they please without ever serving you notice since
“the execution of a warrant may have adverse effect.” They can then delay
serving you notice for up to 90 days after the fact. These newfangled
warrants can now be issued for a flimsy “reasonable cause,” further
undermining the much more difficult to achieve “probable cause”
stipulation of the fourth amendment.

Sections 216, 217 and 218 allow for unrestricted wiretapping, the tracing
and spying on email messages and internet activities of anyone anywhere
in the USA without the need to obtain a court order as long as “the
information likely to be obtained… is relevant to an ongoing criminal
investigation.” How nebulous can that get? A lawyer of any worth would
be able to argue the “relevance” of anything to an unspecified “ongoing
criminal investigation.” Kiss your protection from “unreasonable
searches” good-bye and say hello to Big Brother USA.

If you think this law applies only to foreign nationals, think again.
José Padilla, although by no means a model U.S.-born citizen, had his civil
rights stripped from him this past May just by Ashcroft’s uttering the
magic words, “enemy combatant” and “suspected terrorist.” To this day, no
solid evidence has been produced to substantiate Ashcroft’s claims –
neither bomb parts, nor bomb assembly instructions, nor any plans or maps
of intended strike areas.

A “suspected terrorist,” according to section 112, needs only to be
“certified” by the Attorney General on “reasonable grounds” that he
“believes” someone to be engaged in terrorist activities. Again, no
solid evidence is required, only a belief or suspicion suffices.

Section 236A gives the Attorney General unprecedented powers untouchable
by any court, whereby he may detain a suspect in increments of up to six
months at a time if he believes the suspect’s release would threaten
national security, or the safety of the community or any person. “At the
Attorney General’s discretion” [read: personal whims], “NO court shall
have jurisdiction to review, by habeas corpus, petition, or otherwise,
any such action or decision.” [capitals mine]

In other words, the
Attorney General’s word is sacrosanct! To give one man such grave and
all-encompassing power over the fate of any other individual is akin to
what happens in fascist police states, not in a free and openly
democratic society.

Whatever happened to one’s right to face one’s accuser, to have a fair
trial by one’s peers, to be allowed to view the evidence against oneself,
or to have an attorney?

Is it not cruel and unusual punishment to be denied your civil rights, to
be considered guilty until you can “prove yourself innocent” – which is,
in fact, very difficult to do – to be held in prison on “secret evidence”
for months or years on end with no access to a lawyer and no chance of
defending yourself against false and unfounded accusations?

I heard President Bush on the news a few weeks ago boasting that the U.S.
has so far “captured and detained over 2,400 suspected terrorists.” Yet,
by most accounts, most people being detained were initially brought in on
minor violations (which in a saner world would not have resulted in
incarceration), and have not had any terrorist-related charges brought
against them.

To this day, it is my understanding that fewer than a
dozen have actually been connected to any terrorist activity. Is that
what a democracy does: imprison whole groups of people to catch the
fewer than 1 percent who are actually committing criminal acts?

The USA PATRIOT Act also includes under the “crimes of terrorism”
umbrella the destruction of property even if no one is hurt (section
808), telemarketing fraud (section 1011), as well as any kind of computer
hacking (section 217). Under the rubric of “guilt by association,” this
act also permits the denial of entry to and even the imprisonment of
“the spouse or child of an inadmissible alien” who’s been “designated” as
a terrorist within the past five years (section 211).

The FBI can now legitimately demand access to anyone’s business, medical,
student, bank, library or any other personal records in order “to protect
against … clandestine intelligence activities.” (Sec. 501) The
Associated Press reported on June 25 that the FBI has been reviewing the
library records of several hundred individuals in libraries across the
nation using a quick and largely secret process which is now legal under
the PATRIOT Act.

Judith Krug, the American Library Association’s
director for intellectual freedom, in a straight-forward statement is
quoted as saying, “… these records and information can be had with so
little reason or explanation. It’s super secret, and anyone who wants to
talk about what the FBI did at their library faces prosecution. That has
nothing to do with patriotism.”

It seems we must now extend Ashcroft’s warning about watching what we say
in public to include what we may read as well. It is really not such a
large leap to imagine our hyperparanoid government beginning to imprison
people suspected of “aiding and abetting the enemy” based upon their
“unpatriotic” ideologies and choice of reading material.

The USA PATRIOT Act creates and allows for a virtual police state with
little to no judicial oversight. We, as a nation, are literally treading
the razor’s edge when it comes to flirting with the grave dangers
inherent in giving up our rights for the empty promises of “safety” and
“national security” masquerading under the guise of a “patriotic” PATRIOT
Act. Once we fall off that edge, reclaiming and reinstating our rights,
authority and power as “WE THE PEOPLE” of this great nation might prove
very difficult.

The next obvious question is: just what can the average person do?
Across this nation, wise and enlightened individuals have been forming
groups to fight the injustices that the PATRIOT Act imposes on us.
Resolutions have been passed unanimously by city councils in Amherst,
Leverett, Northampton, Ann Arbor, Berkeley, Denver, and Cambridge. Other
cities and towns are in the process of preparing their own resolutions
and gathering signatures on petitions to protect our civil liberties
against the offenses of this Act.

The Northampton Bill of Rights Defense
Committee’s website, (www.gjf.org/NBORDC), offers a wide range of
organizing tools, links, and information about similar campaigns around
the country to help you get started in your own community.

A rally in Boston this past June 22 kicked off a movement in
Massachusetts to gather 100,000 signatures to petition our Mass.
congressional delegates to introduce a bill that would call for the
repeal or amendment of those sections of the PATRIOT Act that stand in
clear violation of our constitutional rights. For more information or to
get involved, you may contact the ACLU of Massachusetts at
617-482-3170 x 314.

At this critical juncture, to sit back and naïvely trust our government
officials to protect anything other than maintaining their own
uncontested, ill-gotten power is to risk losing the very liberties,
rights, and freedoms our founding fathers fought so hard to procure for
each and every one of us.

If we don’t stand up for our rights, then who will? If we don’t demand
the extension of these same rights to all people within our borders, then
we are nothing but accomplices in the hypocritical, haphazard, and biased
application of our nation’s core principles of democracy and equal
rights.

In closing admonition, I have taken the liberty of adding a few lines to
an excerpt taken from a sermon given in various times and places by
Martin Niemoller, 1892-1984, a Protestant pastor in Nazi Germany:

They came for the “suspected” terrorists, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a “suspected” terrorist;

They came for those of Middle Eastern descent, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t of Middle Eastern descent;

They came for the unpatriotic, and I didn’t object –

For I was not unpatriotic;

They came for the dissenters and activists, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a dissenter or an activist;

“They came for the Communists, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a Communist;

They came for the Socialists, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a Socialist;

They came for the labor leaders, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a labor leader;

They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object –

For I wasn’t a Jew;

Then they came for me –

And there was no one left to object.”

Addendum: For those who may be interested, the final official version of
the USA PATRIOT Act can be found at the following site:

http://216.110.42.179/docs/usa.act.final.102401.html

Author: Doreen Miller

News Service: YellowTimes

URL: http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=444