from: http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/Holocaust/Niemoller_quote.html
This quotation is often cited incorrectly. The exact phrasing was supplied by Sibylle Sarah Niemoeller von Sell, Martin Niemoeller's wife. The remark was made in reply to a student's question, "How could it happen?" First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." Martin Niemoeller The timeliness of this quote again is in the suspension of basic civil liberties of the American constitutional judicial system - such as the right to client-attorney confidentiality - to those incarcerated by the federal government, as it is being applied to the hundreds of people held now without being charged with any crime. There is the sanguine view, "oh, they must all be terrorists and to suspend their basic civil rights is just fine." Hence, time to quite Niemoeller again. An interesting sidelight on how John Ashcroft suspended basic civil rights : it was not with any courageous, forthright presentation made to the American people, such as would be done by a person of integrity, especially the head of the justice department who took an oath to uphold the Constitution. No, nothing up front about Ashcroft at all. He had his suspension of basic rights of attorney-client privilege published in the 31 October Federal Register. For those who have not seen a Federal Register, it is the size of a big city phone book most days, filled with small print, tedious regulations and such. In other words, Ashcroft buried this. It takes a week or more for a Federal Register to be read and that is why it took until the end of last week to discover what Ashcroft had done. And that means, among other things, that those being held in detention, and their attorneys, spoke to each other on "secure" phones that were tapped, without their knowledge, for the week to nine days it took for this change in policy to be discovered. Thus we are confronted with these possibilities: A. we will have people accused of crimes that stir high passions in the public, and their trials will not be fair because of the breach of confidentiality and then the inability to have confidentiality. The prosecution has a slight edge (being sarcastic) when they can listen in at will to the defense attorney and the client. These trials may approach Stalin's show trials for fairness. and B. people who are indeed guilty will be convicted in these tainted trials and there is a major risk that at some point the appellate courts will overturn the convictions of the guilty because of the fatal fundamental breach of the right to a fair trial and effective counsel. One of the reasons we have the safeguards built into the system, one reason we have civil liberties, is to ensure that those convicted are convicted fairly and thus not able to get their convictions overturned. The Ashcroft actions are inviting of appellate challenges of any convictions, and those challenges may be upheld and the guilty will eventually go free. So with the Niemoeller quote in mind, maybe I will close with the 3rd verse of my favorite patriotic song, offering this as a prayer, for we are losing our way: O beautiful for patriot dream That sees beyond the years Thine alabaster cities gleam, Undimmed by human tears! America! America! God mend thine every flaw, Confirm thy soul in self control, Thy liberty in law. (the Rev) Vince
