USA! USA! USA! USA-PATRIOT ACT! Woo hoo! Let's roll!
[url]www.gazettenet.com/columns/newman/01122002.htm[/url]
Bush's Orwellian war on terror
Saturday, January 12, 2002 -- Last weekend President George Bush
announced in fractured English that "Anyone who espouses a philosophy
that's terrorist and bent, I assure you, we will bring that person to
justice."
Really? Bring to justice - this president's usual euphemism for a
death sentence? Does Bush actually intend to try to criminalize First
Amendment protected speech?
Well, maybe. It's tough to know because the president's aides refused
to elaborate on this apparently unscripted pronouncement.
We do know that Bush, using the Sept. 11 attacks as justification,
pushed through Congress a series of laws collectively called the USA-
PATRIOT Act. USA-PATRIOT is an acronym for Uniting and Strengthening
America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and
Obstruct Terrorism.
The act allows law enforcement officials to rummage around in private
lives without probable cause and without judicial oversight. It
invests in the federal prosecutors and police forces - the Department
of Justice, FBI, CIA, DEA and INS, among others - enormous new powers
to surveil, wiretap, spy on, detain and imprison both citizens and
non-citizens. The law allows the government to delve into the
computer files, e-mails, and Internet usage of any person a
prosecutor - not a judge - claims may have information "relevant to
an on-going investigation." The act permits the government not only
to conduct unannounced and undisclosed searches in certain
circumstances but also to help itself, through computer searches and
subpoenas, to previously privileged medical, educational and
financial records.
One frightening effect of this legislation is that it chills our
First Amendment freedoms to speak and write. Many of us will decline
to attend a rally or sign a petition or send an e-mail or visit a Web
site if we think that act may cause the government to target us. It
is only human to be self-protective - to avoid the possibility of
being indicted or blacklisted.
And do note this: In order for the USA-PATRIOT Act to successfully
squelch opposition to government policies, it is not necessary for
FBI agents to actually read all, or even most, computer files. All
that is required is for individuals to fear that they may be subject
to surveillance. As Orwell wrote in "1984":
How often...the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was
guess work...There was of course no way of knowing whether you were
being watched at any given moment.
Some provisions of the USA-PATRIOT Act continue in perpetuity. Others
require Congressional reauthorization after four years. What will
happen then?
Well, Bush and Ashcroft already have predicted that the war on
terrorism will last at least 10 years. The New York Times reported
this week that the United States now "is preparing a military
presence in Central Asia that could last for years...." And according
to the Bush administration, we should suspend freedom of speech and
freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures at least for the
duration of the war.