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Bush Submits His Laws for War
By Declan McCullagh
10:15 a.m. Sep. 20, 2001 PDT
WASHINGTON -- President Bush sent his anti-terrorism bill to Congress late Wednesday, launching an emotional debate that will force U.S. politicians to choose
between continued freedom for Americans or greater security.
Created in response to last week's bloody attacks, the draft "Mobilization Against Terrorism Act" (MATA) rewrites laws dealing with wiretapping, eavesdropping
and immigration. The draft, intended to increase prosecutors' courtroom authority, also unleashes the government's Echelon and Carnivore spy systems.
"We will call upon the Congress of the United States to enact these important anti-terrorism measures," Attorney General John Ashcroft said this week. "We
need these tools to fight the terrorism threat which exists in the United States, and we must meet that growing threat."
Although Ashcroft has said he hopes Congress will approve MATA by Saturday, Capitol Hill appears to be
taking a more cautious approach. The House Judiciary committee has pledged a speedy but careful
consideration, and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) has his own legislation he'll highlight at a hearing next
Tuesday.
At a press conference Thursday in Washington, scores of organizations from across the political spectrum
urged politicians to tread carefully and protect civil liberties during wartime. The In Defense of Freedom
coalition says it hopes to prevent a repetition of earlier wars that heralded greater government powers and sharply curtailed freedoms.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus, interfered with freedom of speech and of the press and ordered that suspected
political criminals be tried before military tribunals. After declaring war in 1917, Congress banned using the U.S. mail to send any material urging "treason,
insurrection or forcible resistance to any law."
President Wilson asked Congress to go even further: His draft of the Espionage Act included a $10,000 fine and 10 years imprisonment for anyone publishing
information that could be useful to the enemy. The House of Representatives narrowly defeated it by a vote of 184-144.
This is the inevitable result of war: In national emergencies, even in liberal democracies, the uneasy relationship between freedom and order edges toward
greater government power and control.