-Caveat Lector-
http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/11.21A.hentoff.disciple.htm
>>>Now, in a free society, this should be applied evenly and universally. As the
>common
man is being put under the microscope by the government, the government and their ant-y
toilers get the same in return. A<>E<>R <<<
Ashcroft's Shadowy Disciple
Someone to Watch Over Us
By Nat Hentoff
Village Voice
Friday, 15 November, 2002
The government [under the USA Patriot Act] can use [its powers] on people who aren't
suspected of committing a crime. Innocent people can be deprived of any clue that they
are
being watched and that they may need to defend themselves. --Lincoln Caplan, editor,
Legal Affairs ("A Magazine of Yale Law School"), November-December 2002
In covering the highly visible and contentious midterm national elections, the press,
in all its
manifestations, totally ignored the Bush administration's ceaseless attacks on the
Bill of
Rights, orchestrated by Attorney General John Ashcroft. So did the candidates,
editorial
writers, and commentators.
This silence on the deterioration of the liberties we are fighting to protect gives
Ashcroft all
the more encouragement to pursue his plans, as reported in the October 21 Legal Times,
to
prepare "a second round of counterterrorism legislation. . . . Lawmakers could see a
draft
bill in January, after the new Congress convenes"-- with the Republicans in control,
and
most Democratic leaders silent accomplices of Ashcroft.
Across the country, the 94 United States Attorneys were charged in an October 1 speech
by
the attorney general to vigorously enforce the USA Patriot Act and others of his
sorties
against civil liberties. In front of his troops, Ashcroft accused his critics of
"capitulating
before freedom's enemies--the terrorists." These dissenters, he added indignantly, have
been subjecting his methods to "disdain and ridicule."
By contrast, a staunch patriot, by Ashcroft's definition, is George Pataki. How many
New
Yorkers know that on September 16, the governor took time from campaigning to
announce, by executive order, the start of a new toll-free Statewide Public Security
Tips Hot
Line that, Pataki assures us, "will enable citizens from throughout the state to report
information about suspected terrorist activity."
This is Pataki's version of John Ashcroft's Operation TIPS, which House Majority
Leader Dick
Armey, a conservative Republican libertarian, struck out of the still-pending bill to
create a
Department of Homeland Security. Armey insisted that the government should not be
encouraging Americans to spy on one another.
Pataki, who has been tone-deaf to civil liberties throughout his terms as governor,
has no
such compunctions-- a point Carl McCall might have mentioned. Because press coverage of
this state's very own Operation Tips has been minimal, I am grateful to Bob Perry,
legislative counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union, for information on the
scope of
this dangerous Ashcroftean plan to create watch committees, in neighborhoods and
elsewhere, that will report their suspicions not only to the state hot line but also
to the New
York Police Department's hot line.
Keep in mind that all these tips on "suspicious or unusual activity . . . will be
cross-
referenced through federal, state and local databases," says the Pataki press release.
There is no indication that false tips will eventually be erased from those multiple,
intersecting databases.
In 1984, George Orwell predicted the Ashcrofts and Patakis to come: "There of course
was
no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment."
The governor should tell us the definition of "suspected terrorist activity" and
"unusual
activities." The senior adviser to the governor on counterterrorism, James K.
Kallstrom--of
whom I expected better, because he commended my civil liberties concerns some months
ago--says:
"We ask that the public use common sense and sound judgment when making reports to
the hot line." Again, what do these terms mean--especially in the continuing climate
of fear
of "sleeper" terrorists among us? And does Kallstrom believe that everyone in the state
adheres to what he may mean by "common sense" and "sound judgment"?
The governor's press release adds: "If a lead is meaningful and can be corroborated,
the
information will be given to the Joint Terrorism Task Force for investigation." A key
element
in that Joint Terrorism Task Force is the FBI--hardly a model of scrupulous care in
investigating leads, as was evident during the decades of COINTELPRO, the FBI's
disgraced
program of infiltration and disruption of lawful activities by civil rights and
anti-war groups--
and in the shotgun investigations it has often conducted since then.
Ashcroft has restored the reckless spirit of COINTELPRO by again giving the FBI the
power
to conduct investigations under such loose guidelines that the Fourth Amendment might
as
well be obsolete.
But the Pataki press release--before it says that a lead has to be "meaningful" and
"corroborated" to be turned over to the Joint Terrorism Task Force--first declares
that all
tips through the hot line "will be cross-referenced through federal, state, and local
databases." Even if the leads are not "meaningful" and cannot be "corroborated"
sufficiently
to be turned over to the task force?
The hot line phone numbers have been in operation since September 17 and "are staffed
24 hours a day, seven days a week by the New York State Police, working in conjunction
with the New York State Office of Public Security and the Joint Terrorism Task Force."
Also, the release says that when giving a description of "a suspicious person, callers
should
make note of as many physical and behavioral descriptors as possible. If the person is
driving a vehicle, callers should try to provide the vehicle's license plate, year,
make, model,
size and color."
What about the color or the "foreign" look of these suspicious persons? Pataki calls
the hot
line "a powerful new resource" against terrorism. I would suggest that he left out one
crucial word in that phrase: "blunderbuss resource."
The United Federation of Teachers and other unions--"progressive"
unions--enthusiastically
endorsed Pataki, but I wonder how many of their innocent members may one day be
ensnared in the dragnet of the governor's Statewide Public Security Tips Hot Line.
Leaving
office, George Washington warned that a government of overwhelming power "is not
reason. . . . It is a force like fire, a dangerous servant and a terrible master."
But, of course, if you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about.
Right?
(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without
profit to
those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for
research
and educational purposes.)
© : t r u t h o u t 2002 | t r u t h o u t | forum | issues | editorial | letters |
donate |
contact |
| voting rights | environment | budget | children | politics | indigenous survival |
|energy |
| defense | health | economy | human rights | labor | trade | women | reform | global |
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
