Re: What price freedom? cont.

Patriot Act, the sequel San Francisco Chronicle

Tuesday, February 11, 2003

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SOMEONE IN the Justice Department clearly wants to preserve our most cherished civil liberties.

Last week, that individual leaked a bill secretly drafted by Attorney General John Ashcroft's staff to the Center for Public Integrity. "The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003," is a chilling sequel to the USA Patriot Act, passed shortly after Sept.11, 2001. It's already been dubbed "Patriot Act II."

The draft legislation would reduce judicial oversight of surveillance, authorize secret arrests, create new death penalties and allow the government to revoke the citizenship of any American who is a member of -- or gives material support to -- a group designated as a "terrorist organization" by Ashcroft.

Charles Lewis, executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, speculates that the Bush administration may have planned to introduce this legislation after another terrorist attack or in the middle of a war with Iraq.

Congress, moreover, was not consulted. Ashcroft's office only sent copies to House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Vice President Dick Cheney on Jan. 10, 2003.

Secret arrests? Expatriation because you belong to a suspicious political group? Unchecked surveillance? These are instruments of repression, used by totalitarian states. They are why American soldiers have fought -- and died -- in wars against fascism and communism.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., warned that "Patriot Act II" amounts to "little more than the institution of a police state." We call upon our congressional delegation, as well as Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, to vigorously challenge any such attempt to undermine constitutional rights.