Civil Rights & Security

"In just five years, Bush has challenged more than 750 new laws, by far a record for any president, while becoming the first president since Thomas Jefferson to stay so long in office without issuing a veto." [more]

"When former military liberation movements come to power, the very 'command character' that ensured success against the enemy tends to become the structural flaw which impedes their building of the democratic institutions required by civil society ... The much-celebrated attainment of formal peace with the north and, maybe eventually, independence for the south, should not be equated with liberation, and certainly not with the creation of lasting democracy." [more]

"Once you sign a plea you cannot appeal it. I was threatened with 20 years in prison under an additional terrorist enhancement if I didn't take a plea, and I didn't have the financial resources to acquire the appropriate legal council for trial. I was railroaded." [more]

"The Minutemen left California as a failure, drawing few people to their project while encountering strong resistance from a broad coalition of opposition." [more]

"The Israel Defense Forces recently began to distribute 'resident' stickers to West Bank settlers to be affixed to their cars' windshields. The stickers are intended to allow settlers to drive quickly through army checkpoints along the Green Line." [more]

"The Bush administration has told a federally funded conference on LGBT suicide to remove the words 'gay,' 'lesbian,' 'bisexual' and 'transgender' from its material. [...] 'It is incredible, the venom from these people,' said spokesperson Mark Weber who added that the name change was 'only a suggestion'. / But, when pressed by the Post about how strong a suggestion it was, Weber replied: 'Well, they do need to consider their funding source.'" [more]

"The Bush administration has turned Guantánamo into a place that is devoid of due process and the rule of law. It's a place where human beings can be imprisoned for life without being charged or tried, without ever seeing a lawyer, and without having their cases reviewed by a court. Congress and the courts should be uprooting this evil practice, but freedom and justice in the United States are on a post-9/11 downhill slide." [more]

"In the Senate hearings, lawmakers grilled Gonzales on whether it is legally permissible for U.S. personnel to engage in 'cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment' of noncitizens detained outside of the United States. Gonzales replied that 'aliens interrogated by the United States outside the United States enjoy no substantive rights' under the U.S. Constitution or the Convention Against Torture, a treaty ratified by the Senate in 1994 that bans all interrogation methods that cause severe pain or discomfort." [more]

"Taking a look at the new Bush administration composition in the ministries and institutions that are affiliated to the White House reveals that powerful and influential neo-conservative leaders that earlier were busy in America's research and study centers such as the American Enterprise, the Heritage Institute, the Near East Political Institute, etc., devising and drawing up projects such as the "New American Century", the national security document, have been transferred from centers of producing ideas to centers of decision-making." [more]

"The FBI complained that military interrogators have gone far beyond the restrictions of the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture and have followed an apparently new executive order from President Bush that permits the use of dogs and other techniques to harass prisoners." [more]

"Many of the arguments wedding the war in Iraq with a strategy for neoliberal expansion are not readily convincing. They risk reading causality into tangential relationships. And, in their drive to connect, they overlook important disjunctures between the Bush administration’s foreign policy and the policy preferred by many business elites." [more]

"The Treasury Department lists the Jewish Legion and the Voice of Judea as Kahanist aliases and prohibits U.S. citizens from transactions with them. The group's Web site invites volunteers to Israel for a paramilitary training program in West Bank Jewish settlements." [more]

Unlike 1800, the people are given no meaningful choice. Senator John Kerry, the President’s only real challenger, voted in favor of the PATRIOT Act and authored some of its provisions. According to the Kerry campaign, the problem is not with the PATRIOT Act itself, but with those enforcing it... [more]

Their transfer had been requested by the French anti-terrorism prosecutor Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who has been investigating the men since November 2002 on possible terrorism charges, and was approved after France gave guarantees that they will face judicial proceedings. [more]

"'While this information is critical to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities in the system, it can equally be employed by hostile actors to identify vulnerabilities for the purpose of exploiting them,' the DHS argued in an FCC filing this month. 'Depending on the disruption in question, the errant disclosure to an adversary of this information concerning even a single event may present a grave risk to the infrastructure.'" [more]

The body bags have been shipped in, locals are running scared, and foreigners are being arrested and deported. Organisers of this week's G8 Summit are taking no chances with security... [more]

"'The detective told me if I did not medicate my son, I would be arrested for child abuse and neglect,'" Taylor said." [more]

"For its part, the Federal Commission for Foreigners warned that the statistics could lead to “erroneous interpretations” because they gave the impression that suspects had actually committed the crimes of which they were accused." [more]

"So Mr. Sanchez, in late 2000, was sent back for another week in a grim detention center in Lower Manhattan, severed from his family and livelihood, because his fingerprints had been mistakenly placed on the official record of another man. / Remarkably, this was not the first time Mr. Sanchez had paid for that mistake. He had been arrested three times for Mr. Rosario's crimes, and ultimately spent a total of two months in custody and was threatened with deportation before the mistake was traced and resolved in 2002." [more]

Germany's landmark immigration law will not introduce a law-free zone in which foreigners suspected of ties to terrorist groups can be held without trial or legal representation. That is a good thing... [more]

"Unlike early reports suggesting the abuses were failings by individual soldiers, Provance told the AP and other media outlets that interrogators at the prison viewed sleep deprivation, stripping inmates naked and threatening them with dogs as normal ways of dealing with 'the enemy.'" [more]

"Baker's traumatic brain injury is outlined in a military document in his possession, which says the injury "was due to soldier playing role as a detainee who was uncooperative." [more]

"What Bush seemed to have in mind was applying his broad doctrine of pre-emption to interrogations: to get information that could help stop terrorist acts before they could be carried out. This was justified by what is known in counterterror circles as the 'ticking time bomb' theory—the idea that when faced with an imminent threat by a terrorist, almost any method is justified, even torture." [more]

"'Our daughter is adopted. Her DNA is different,'" Deirdre Sassaman said. 'We wouldn't have a sample without this program.'" [more]

"The torture is not limited to the Abu Ghurayb prison and other jails all over that afflicted homeland. The occupation itself has become the instrument of torture and major destruction that is directed against the Iraqi people, their achievements, and culture." [more]

"The latest allegations will be an unwelcome blow to Malaysia, which was also embroiled in a scandal over the nuclear black market earlier this year." [more]

"The Americans in the photographs are not enacting hatred; hatred can coexist with respect, however strained. What they display, instead, is contempt: their victims are merely objects." [more]

"Practices such as lying to prisoners, intimidating them, screaming at them, stripping them, hiding their faces under hoods, and depriving them of toiletries and comforts are permissible to a degree if there is a valid reason, Ritz said./ But he drew the line at the sort of excesses allegedly committed by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, such as sodomizing prisoners with a broom and forcing them to simulate and commit sex acts." [more]

"'It seems prejudiced to me,' said Abdul Bucky, 40, who works within sight of a camera at Deal Beauty Supply and General Merchandise in East Garfield Park. 'Why didn't they put them in all the neighborhoods?'" [more]

"The terminals had failure rates of 24 per cent in Alameda County and 40 per cent in San Diego county. Incredibly, tests were only performed on ten to fifteen per cent of machines before they left the factory. Diebold president Bob Urosevich admitted that thousands of voters had been disenfranchised." [more]

"'There's only one path to safety, and that's the path of action,' Bush said. 'Congress must act with the Patriot Act. We must continue to stay on the offense when it comes to chasing these killers down and bring them to justice.'" [more]

"Demonstrator Abby Puls, 24, a Spanish interpreter at the Kent County Courthouse was singled out by undercover police officers and told she could be fired for 'choosing sides', she was also threatened with arrest for 'hindering and opposing' police if she identified any of them. Grand Rapids police chief Harry Dolan confirmed Puls's statement saying he feared for his officers' safety at peace demonstrations." [more]

"The public interest law firm's president hopes the court decision in Buonanno's case will embolden other Christian workers to challenge similar company policies that contradict their religious beliefs, whether those involve war, abortion, homosexuality, or other issues." [more]

"If Hendon had his way, the cameras would be eliminated altogether because, he said, they stigmatize neighborhoods as crime-ridden ghettos--now called 'blue-light districts'--and are an intrusion into privacy." [more]

"'[A] terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world -- it may be in the United States of America -- [would cause] our population to question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event,' says General Tommy Franks." [more]

"The intelligence officers at Fort Meade rely on a sophisticated suite of supercomputers and telecommunications equipment to analyze millions of messages and phone calls each day, looking for certain keywords or traffic patterns." [more]

"Most of the 'erased' are fellow former Yugoslavs, whom many Slovenes regard as poor Balkan cousins who failed to show sufficient loyalty to independent Slovenia. Supporters of the law and opponents of the referendum called the 4 April vote a victory for xenophobia and injustice." [more]

"Canadians are now among the few travellers in the world exempt from a controversial Bush administration program that requires visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed when entering the United States." [more]

"I can't advocate a news blackout on these issues; the term 'marketplace of ideas' is engraved on each cell in my body. But I'd like the marketplace to be a real one: complex, thoughtful, diverse. And right now, the coverage is being increasingly circumscribed by the agenda of conservative groups bent on shutting conversation down, quelling dissent and the free exchange of ideas--while they simultaneously and hypocritically claim that their moves are based on the twin pillars of free speech and fairness. It's a clever argument the local media seem to have swallowed hook, line and sinker." [more]

"Utah is the 11th state to withdraw from the federal pilot program for either privacy or financial reasons, according to the New York-based American Civil Liberties Union. Connecticut, Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still participating. / The other states that have withdrawn from Matrix are Alabama, California, Georgia, Oregon, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, South Carolina Texas and Wisconsin, the ACLU said." [more]

"'Nobody is forced to work overtime,' she said. 'It's just that sometime the supervisors tell us to put in extra time in an impolite, menacing way.' Overtime pay was theoretically time-and-a-half, but in practice this had little effect on their overall take-home pay, she said." [more]

Undercover city officers were sent to monitor anti-war meetings and rallies when opposition to the war in Iraq began to mount last year, the police chief confirms. [more]

"After a few more slides, there was a shot of Bush looking under furniture in the Oval Office. 'Nope,' Bush said. 'No weapons over there.' More laughter. Then another picture of Bush searching in his office: 'Maybe under here.' Laughter again." [more]

"Traditionally, when organizations want to secure 802.11b-based wireless networks, the only solution available to them is virtual private networking. But VPNs can be cumbersome to deploy and difficult to manage. And when, like DMLSS, the organization uses handheld devices to connect to the wireless network, VPN technology can be especially difficult to use." [more]

"The impact that terrorism has on society is determined by the authorities under target and how they deal with the threat, rather than by the terrorists' outrages." [more]

"Under the 1994 scheme, many universities agreed to contact the government when assessing applicants from potential students from countries then designated as rogue states. But after 9/11, institutions were asked to go further and secretly gather information on foreign students." [more]

"'On the contrary, it's the irrational fear of the "undesirable other" that has always been -- and continues to be -- the greatest threat to American national unity.'" [more]

Activist and singer/songwriter Evan Greer explains how public spaces are being coopted for private interests and calls for a re-claimation of public space and social interactions. [more]

"Perhaps the most ominous signal that we've allowed government snooping to go too far recently came to light: Now the military is getting into the surveillance and gathering of information on law-abiding citizens -- in a big way. Despite a 126-year-old federal law that seems to prohibit military involvement in such matters as gathering evidence on citizens and others within our borders, the Pentagon is involved in a wide variety of domestic snooping operations." [more]

"ADC advised the Army that the personnel who attended the conference were in civilian attire, did not identify themselves as representing the Army during the event, and did not express any concern or report any of their alleged suspicions to the conference organizers, UT Austin or civilian law enforcement. Further, ADC expressed grave concern about the logic underlying these alleged suspicions." [more]

"I recommend that the Supreme Court justices read Brent Kendall's report in the Feb. 13 Los Angeles Daily Journal about what actually happened when federal public defender Frank Dunham finally met Hamdi, whom he had never seen before. Dunham 'found himself in an interview room not only with Hamdi, but with a naval commander who was there to observe their conversation.'" [more]

"The push would effectively expand the scope of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, a 1994 law that requires the telecommunications industry to build into its products tools that U.S. investigators can use to eavesdrop on conversations with a court order." [more]

"Angel Berroeta’s bakery is at 18, Martin Azpilkueta street in the Donibane quarter and the police officer lives next door in flat 'C' on the first floor. According to neighbours, at about 13.30 hours the policeman's wife had had a heated argument with Berrueta about a poster saying ETA, ez (No to ETA); the neighbours were eager to stress that the woman did not go to that bakery to get bread, 'as she always goes to buy bread at the bakery opposite'." [more]

Matrix, a controversial program intended to find criminals and terrorists, appears to be withering under its critics' attacks. [more]

"Abitz joined Wallace in questioning why the proposed uranium mining is still being considered. 'We are trying to figure out why it is done differently here than in the rest of the world.' / Norman Patrick Brown, Navajo and spokesperson for a coalition of grassroots groups Diné Bidziil, said it is obvious why HRI is being allowed to proceed with the plan. 'Navajos are considered expendable.'" [more]

"While we’re all fretting over the Patriot Act, John Ashcroft’s Justice Department is after much bigger game." [more]

"Wisconsin is not alone in reconsidering the Matrix, or Multistate Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange. Of the 13 states that originally signed up, six remain. Concerns center on how detailed a picture it could paint of a person's life and activities." [more]

"Along with the shaving ban, the mayor has proclaimed all men and women must dress in Western or historic clothing on Fridays beginning in May." [more]

"John Kerry said early in the race that he intended to treat female voters exactly like male voters, because they care about the same things—jobs, health care, good wages, security. He's right—up to a point. But far more men have health coverage through work, and women's jobs not only pay less, they're more marginal. Many employers keep part-time hours just below the threshold where laid-off workers can collect unemployment, and the largest group working for minimum-wage jobs is adult women." [more]

"What that means in simple English is that the US government has just bought the world's biggest RAM drive in order to speed up cross-checking across several vast databases." [more]

"...but again I couldn't vote on the democratic primary. What gives? I flip open my voter booklet and on the second or third page it stated something to the effect of: 'non-partisan voters can vote in 3 of the 7 party primaries, just request a ballot to do so'. So I requested the ballot." [more]

"An RFID tag consists of a microchip the size of a grain of sand attached to an antenna that transmits information whenever it passes in front of an RFID reader." [more]

"The Treasury Department has warned publishers they may face grave legal consequences for editing manuscripts from Iran and other disfavored nations, on the ground that such tinkering amounts to trading with the enemy." [more]

"The anti-terrorism bill, designed as a reaction to the increased terrorism activity worldwide, had caused massive concern among South Africa's human and civil rights groups, including the country's trade union and several ANC members. Given its unclear definition of "terrorism", the groups feared the law could be used against peaceful activism, dissidents and protesters." [more]

"The United States military is facing the gravest accusations of sexual misconduct in years, with dozens of servicewomen in the Persian Gulf area and elsewhere saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by fellow troops, lawmakers and victims advocates said on Wednesday." [more]

"FBI agents arrested a Louisiana man last week under the cyberterrorism provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act for allegedly tricking a handful of MSN TV users into running a malicious e-mail attachment that reprogrammed their set-top boxes to dial 9-1-1 emergency response." [more]

"The Iowa National Guard says it will punish 21 soldiers who failed drug tests before being sent overseas. / The...soldiers will be discharged dishonorably. The troops were not discharged or put through rehab at the time of the drug tests. / Guard officials say that's because deployment schedules didn't allow for it." [more]

"A fire that damaged an Islamic mosque in southeast Houston was intentionally set, federal investigators said today." [more]

"The Bush administration's education secretary, Rod Paige, referred to the nation's largest teachers union as a 'terrorist organization.'" [more]

"A key provision of the law bars the government from using the vulnerability information in any enforcement action against the company, or from using it as the basis for proposing new legislation or regulations on industry. And if the information does somehow leak out, it cannot be used in court against the company." [more]

"Advanced Research and Development Activity works for all the nation's intelligence services, including the CIA, FBI, Defense Intelligence Agency and parts of dozens of other departments. Its budget is part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program and is secret." [more]

"There is also a growing belief that the release was a cynical move to divert attention from the US Supreme Court’s hearing later this year to test the legality of holding the Camp Delta detainees. Two of the released British detainees were named as plaintiffs in a legal challenge mounted by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), arguing that the US cannot order indefinite detention without due legal process in 'a prison that operates entirely outside the law.'" [more]

Eight new books assess the effects of the 9/11 attacks on American freedom and privacy. [more]

"All the elements are in place for a series of Supreme Court rulings this spring that will define the power of the commander in chief during wartime — and bring an election-year climax to the national debate over civil liberties and public safety that has been simmering since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001." [more]

"Mr Begg is believed by his family to have cracked after repeated questioning and confessed to a plot to attack the Houses of Parliament with planes laden with anthrax. His supporters say this is a sign that he will say anything in the hope of getting out. There have been at least 28 suicide attempts among the 680 detainees." [more]

"Republicans used to be the party that opposed social engineering, but now they push programs to outlaw marriage for some people, and encourage it for others." [more]

"Given that so much confusion exists about whether to apply wartime or law-enforcement rules to a given situation, a better approach would be to make the decision based on its public policy implications. Unfortunately, the Bush administration seems to have ignored such concerns." [more]

"A subpoena compelling Drake University to provide information about an antiwar forum on its campus on Nov. 15 was also withdrawn, as was an earlier court order that barred Drake officials from speaking publicly about the case." [more]

"The American Civil Liberties Union issued a condemnation Thursday of St. Bernard Parish Sheriff Jack Stephens' plan to seek Homeland security grants to install cameras at the parish line to photograph motorists' faces and license plates as they come and go." [more]

"A leading maker of computer election equipment defends itself in court against charges that it overreached itself in trying to stifle critics." [more]

"While it has been reported that Jabarah had been co-operating with American agents and faced unknown charges, his case has been shrouded in secrecy. Hearings have been held in private. There is no listing of his case on New York court databases and prosecutors with the Southern District of New York state won't comment to reporters." [more]

"Monroe Community College in Rochester, N.Y., for example, has recently opened the Homeland Security Management Institute, run by a retired Army colonel who was a commander at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba." [more]

"If there's an upset in a close presidential race, will we be able to trust it? Ironically, the paperless systems were supposed to restore trust in a democracy that saw the presidency hang by a few thousand chads in Florida three years ago. In Georgia, and increasingly across the nation, they're in danger of doing quite the opposite." [more]

"In what may be the first subpoena of its kind in decades, a federal judge has ordered a university to turn over records about a gathering of anti-war activists." [more]

"The law is clear that the use of the grand jury to investigate protected political activities or to intimidate protestors exceeds its authority. The government has no business investigating legal conferences held in academic institutions." [more]

"It's worth noting that the announcement came from an anonymous official, The Associated Press reported, a sign that the Pentagon wants its backpedaling to be done with as much secrecy as the American citizen gets inside the voting booth." [more]

"When Bush was elected, activists had employed irony ... we'd deconstructed traditional protest models, reaching the limits of play and camp. By the time Resolution 909 came along, we were faced with the painful question: What do you do after post modernism? You can't live on irony alone; there is too little to show for it. So we re-embraced a canonical narrative of 'straight' protest ... If we are going to suggest that another world is possible, we'd better be able to suggest that this world is more than simply ridiculous." [more]

" 'So much is being done in the name of New York, we are saying don't use our name to infringe on people's rights,' said Glenn C. Devitt, an organizer with the Bill of Rights Defense Committee." [more]

"After a series of lower-court rulings, the government convinced a federal appeals court in Richmond that the military — and not the courts — had the sole authority to wage war and that courts should defer to battlefield judgments. More than 100 law professors and other legal experts weighed in on Hamdi's side, arguing that no U.S. citizen can be held without a lawyer." [more]

"Video surveillance is a key component of BEP security. Both the Fort Worth and Washington facilities have recently begun upgrading from analog to digital video surveillance systems and have chosen Loronix Video Solutions from Verint for the process. Benefitting from decades of experience with surveillance, BEP officials have crafted methods to use the new digital systems for far more than just security." [more]

"When the State of Maryland hired a computer security firm to test its new machines, these paid hackers had little trouble casting multiple votes and taking over the machines' vote-recording mechanisms. The Maryland study shows convincingly that more security is needed for electronic voting, starting with voter-verified paper trails." [more]

A report presented to the Maryland state legislature indicated that Diebold voting systems, which have been purchased by many states, are not tamper-proof. [more]

"The United States has released three teenage boys who have been held in custody at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba for more than a year. The Pentagon cautioned, however, that 'age is not a determining factor in detention.'" [more]

"The question of whether the students were within their rights to post the [politically embarassing] memos was essentially moot: thanks to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, their speech could be silenced without the benefit of actual lawsuits, public hearings, judges or other niceties of due process." [more]

"At least 37 female service members have sought sexual-trauma counseling and other assistance from civilian rape crisis organizations after returning from war duty in Iraq, Kuwait and other overseas stations." [more]

Top officials of the Navy prison at Guantanamo Bay told a military judge in Florida that the prison's Muslim chaplain, Army Capt. James Yee, would soon be charged with mutiny, sedition, espionage, spying and aiding the enemy — crimes that could lead to his execution. But authorities never charged him with any of those offenses. [more]

"A military defense lawyer for an Australian detainee expected to be the first man tried before a military tribunal denounced President Bush's rules for the special courts yesterday, saying they are skewed against defendants and could result in proceedings that resemble political trials in authoritarian Third World countries." [more]

"U.S. security agents have a master list of five million people worldwide thought to be potential terrorists or criminals, officials say. 'The U.S. lookout index contains some five million names of known terrorists and other persons representing a potential problem,' Brian Davis, a senior Canadian immigration official in Paris, said in a confidential document obtained by the Sun." [more]

"Sandivar must wear the monitor, a thick band with a box attached, at all times, even in the shower. A large black box on her bedroom nightstand sends a signal from the ankle device to federal deportation officers ... She may not leave [the county] without permission. Immigration officials also are monitoring her phone calls and have given strict instructions about the phone, such as not to pick up before two rings ... 'It's embarrassing and inhumane,' she said." [more]

"Sami Omar Hussayen, a doctoral candidate in computer science in a University of Idaho program sponsored by the National Security Agency, is accused of creating websites and an e-mail group that disseminated messages from him and two radical clerics in Saudi Arabia." [more]

"Federal and local police rely heavily on wiretaps. In 2002, the most recent year for which information is available, police intercepted nearly 2.2-million conversations with court approval, according to the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts." [more]

"While the nation was distracted last month by images of Saddam Hussein's spider hole and dental exam, President George W. Bush quietly signed into law a new bill that gives the FBI increased surveillance powers and dramatically expands the reach of the USA Patriot Act." [more]

"The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) made news last year for its Total Information Awareness (TIA) project, which called for technologies to search commercial databases in order to identify potential terrorists. HSARPA Director David Bolka said his agency will research data mining but, unlike DARPA, will not seek to mine individuals' data." [more]

"The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning." [more]

"The split decision by a three-judge panel in San Francisco raised the possibility that all the approximately 660 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay jail for alleged al Qaeda and Taliban fighters could also be given their first habeas corpus hearings in a U.S. court." [more]

"A federal appeals court ruled today that the Bush administration overstepped its authority by detaining Jose Padilla, a U.S. citizen seized in Chicago ... [and] said the administration has no inherent constitutional power to sidestep the normal procedures required to imprison a U.S. citizen seized on American soil." [more]

"In twin setbacks for the Bush administration's war on terror, federal appeals courts on opposite coasts ruled Thursday that the U.S. military cannot indefinitely hold prisoners without access to lawyers or the American courts." [more]

"Federal prison officers in Brooklyn physically and verbally abused immigrants detained after the Sept. 11 attacks, slamming them against the wall and painfully twisting their arms and hands, the U.S. Justice Department's inspector general said on Thursday." [more]

"Saddam's capture is a 'model opportunity' for international justice, says the head of Amnesty International USA, but it doesn't justify Bush's civil liberties crackdown." [more]

"The trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person charged in an American court in connection with the attacks, has also been thrown into doubt by the government's refusal to make captured Qaeda operatives available for questioning." [more]

"Federal authorities do not have a clear understanding of how terrorists move their financial assets and are still struggling to prevent the flow of money to terror groups." [more]

"The court also upheld two other pillars of the law: a ban on the solicitation of soft money by federal candidates, and a prohibition against political advertisements by special interest groups in the weeks just before an election." [more]

"Throughout the five-day course, Lisa Reed and her fellow Terror Tourists will fire machine-guns, learn hand-to-hand combat and take part in mock attacks by Israeli commandos pretending to be Arab terrorists." [more]

" 'Piracy is like terrorism today and it exists everywhere and it is a very dangerous phenomenon.' "` [more]

"Of the more than 600 detainees at the US prison camp at Guantanamo, none has been charged with any crime. But the US has repeatedly promised that at least some of the prisoners will be charged and tried by military commissions, an arcane form of tribunal based on long-disused models from the 1940s." [more]

"The dominant position the United States occupies in the world is the element of reality that is being distorted. The proposition that the United States will be better off if it uses its position to impose its values and interests everywhere is the misconception. It is exactly by not abusing its power that America attained its current position." [more]

The city was closed down by squads of riot police during the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting ... armored vehicles patrolled the streets, police helicopters hovered overhead and, during street clashes on Nov. 20, police fired volleys of rubber bullets and pepper spray at protesters in the city center. [more]

"Congress approved a bill on Friday that expands the reach of the Patriot Act, reduces oversight of the FBI and intelligence agencies and, according to critics, shifts the balance of power away from the legislature and the courts." [more]

"The abuses of the Hoover era, which included efforts by the F.B.I. to harass and discredit Hoover's political enemies under a program known as Cointelpro, led to tight restrictions on F.B.I. investigations of political activities. Those restrictions were relaxed significantly last year, when Attorney General John Ashcroft issued guidelines giving agents authority to attend political rallies, mosques and any event 'open to the public.' " [more]

"With no public evidence or open court hearing in Abu Ali's case, the degree to which he may have been involved in terrorism remains a mystery. Neither Saudi nor U.S. authorities will say publicly whether charges have been filed against him or tell his family what alleged acts led to his lengthy detention. His rights as a U.S. citizen offer him no legal protection while he is in Saudi custody. And U.S. law enforcement officials appear content to leave him where he is." [more]

"A report issued yesterday by the House Committee on Government Reform gave the fullest accounting to date of the F.B.I.'s use of murderers as informants in Boston for three decades and its protection of them even to the point of allowing innocent men to be sentenced to death." [more]

Homeland Security spokesman Bill Strassberger and other officials said a new border-control effort set to begin Jan. 5 ... will play a similar role in monitoring visitors. The program will use photographs and fingerprints to log entries and exits at major U.S. airports and seaports." [more]

"Jailed for months with case pending, Pakistani gives up." [more]

In "liberal" New York City, 100 people attending a fundraiser for APOC, an anti-racist group of activists of color was attacked by police with nightsticks and pepperspray after police responded to an officer who claimed he had seen someone with an "open container" outside the venue of the fundraiser. 8 activists have been arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and inciting riot. [more]

"A plane filled with deportees provides a glimpse into an initiative aimed at men from Islamic nations. Justified in the name of security, it hasn't yielded a single public charge of terrorism." [more]

" 'What we see in the Patriot Act is an attempt to legalize and make more easily available to intelligence agencies tools that were used illegally and unconstitutionally to fight attempts to bring about social and political change,' [a law professor] said." [more]

With all the recent propaganda released by police about the upcoming Free Trade Agreement of the Americas protests in Miami, Indymedia provides a refreshingly realistic account of the preparations (on both sides) being made to ready Miami for the impact of the FTAA. [more]

"An agent from the Secret Service paid a visit to the Lucy Parsons Center, a long-time radical bookstore and infoshop in Boston. Earlier in the week the bookstore received a suspicious piece of mail allegedly sent from the bookstore and containing questionable material. The Secret Service acting on 'intelligence reports' was investigating this mail which had been reported to the National Lawyers Guild, but not to the Secret Service." [more]

"The Supreme Court intervened for the first time in the war on terrorism, announcing today that it will review the legal status of the 660 suspected terrorists currently being held in near-total secrecy in a U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba." [more]

"Canada was the first country to pass a virtual mirror of our Patriot Act, within weeks of ours. Australia and Great Britain followed shortly, and South Africa is struggling with one now. Unlike the U.S., Australia, Great Britain, and Canada, countries that did not bother to debate the merits of curtailing liberty, there is a strong movement of dissent in South Africa. Blacks, and concerned whites there, see the specter of apartheid returning under the guise of 'national' security." [more]

"Arar said his prison cell 'was like a grave, exactly like a grave. It had no light, it was 3 feet wide, it was 6 feet deep, it was 7 feet high ... It had a metal door. There was a small opening in the ceiling. There were cats and rats up there, and from time to time, the cats peed through the opening into the cell.' " [more]

" 'The law was intended for activities related to terrorism and not to naked women,' said Reid, who as minority whip is the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate." [more]

" 'Liberals remember Watergate — conservatives remember Waco and Ruby Ridge,' said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. 'All were the result of overzealous — and unchecked — federal power. Giving the FBI carte blanche to initiate highly invasive and super-secret intelligence investigations, without any indication of actual wrongdoing, invites a repetition of these past abuses.' " [more]

"Many groups are refusing to remove from their Web sites internal Diebold documents that they claim raise serious security questions and threaten the U.S. elections process." [more]

"The best minds in the computer-security world contend that [electronic] voting terminals can't be trusted." [more]

"The students say that, by trying to spread the word about problems with the company’s software, they are performing a valuable form of electronic civil disobedience, one that has broad implications for American society. They also contend that they are protected by fair use exceptions in copyright law." [more]

"A growing number of computer scientists are now warning that [electronic voting], far from solving America's voting problems, may actually make things worse. 'If you look at the consequences for democracy, it's terrifying,' says David Dill, a Stanford University computer-science professor." [more]

"The tightening net of Border Patrol and Immigration agents has slowed trade, snarled traffic and cost American taxpayers millions, perhaps billions, of dollars, while hundreds of migrants have died trying to evade the growing army of border authorities." [more]

" 'The computer science community has pretty much rallied against electronic voting,' said Stephen Ansolabahere, a voting expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 'A disproportionate number of computer scientists who have weighed in on this issue are opposed to it.' " [more]

"Swarthmore College students embroiled in a legal battle against voting machine-maker Diebold Election Systems have received a ground swell of support from universities and colleges nationwide." [more]

"Diebold will continue to send copyright-infringement notices to Internet service providers that host the company documents, including the four other institutions — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Purdue University, the University of Southern California, and the University of Texas-Pan American." [more]

"Diebold spokesman Mike Jacobsen said the fact that the company sent the cease-and-desist letters does not mean the documents are authentic — or give credence to advocates who claim lax Diebold security could allow hackers to rig machines. But the activists say the mere fact that Diebold was hacked shows that the company's technology cannot be trusted." [more]

"Squadrons of shiny new Touch Screen Trojan horses are being rolled into precincts across America. Not, as we are told, to make voting easier or more accurate, or to help disabled people vote privately, or to save America from the dangers of hanging chad and butterfly ballots — no. The real reason America is being flooded with billions of dollars worth of paperless computerized voting machines is so that no one will ever again be able to prove vote fraud." [more]

"Yesterday, the Delaware County school's dean, Robert Gross, asked a pair of student groups to remove Internet links at their Web sites to a trove of damning memos that activists believe reveal potential security flaws in new electronic voting machines." [more]

" 'We're advocating freedom of information and open-source standards," Smith said. "If there's anything the public has an inherent right to look in on, it's voting technology. That's why we're pushing this.' " [more]

"Testimony provided by Dr. Stanley Kurtz ... portrays areas studies centers as hotbeds of unpatriotic anti-Americanism. Dr. Kurtz focuses, in particular, on post-colonial theory and the work of Edward Said's Orientalism in which 'Said equated professors who support American foreign policy with the 19th century European intellectuals who propped up racist colonial empires. The core premise of post colonial theory is that it is immoral for a scholar to put his knowledge of foreign languages and cultures at the service of American power.' " [more]

"A quiet revolution is taking place in US politics. By the time it's over, the integrity of elections will be in the unchallenged, unscrutinised control of a few large — and pro-Republican — corporations." [more]

A spokesperson "said that it was intolerable that the complex was used as 'an investigation center, not a detention center.' He said the International Red Cross was making the unusual statements because of a lack of action." [more]

"Normally groups on the terrorism blacklist have their assets frozen and their members are subject to visa bans. In addition, US citizens and people under US jurisdiction are prohibited from giving contributions to those groups." [more]

" 'The little American said: "We can be just as ruthless as Saddam Hussein" — he was trying very hard to scare me. They were threatening me with rape and assault.' " [more]

"In a four-paragraph statement issued Thursday, [Fresno County Sheriff Richard Pierce] defended his department's legal right to send undercover officers to community meetings. 'For the purpose of detecting or preventing terrorist activities, the Fresno County Sheriff's Department may visit any place and attend any event that is open to the public, on the same terms and conditions as members of the public generally.' " [more]

"Prosecutors argued that Mr. Moussaoui has no right to question witnesses held overseas as enemy combatants. Court-appointed lawyers for Mr. Moussaoui had argued, and the judge agreed, that the prisoners might be able to offer testimony showing that he had no part in the conspiracy." [more]

"Mr. Sharon on Monday expressed his support for building a barrier around the settlement, Ariel, which is about 15 miles inside the West Bank. The measure appears set to win cabinet approval at a session on Wednesday." [more]

"The auditors said that nationwide, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission tended not to issue formal citations and to minimize the significance of problems it found if the problems did not cause actual damage." [more]

"Retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark helped an Arkansas information company win a contract to assist development of an airline passenger screening system, one of the largest surveillance programs ever devised by the government." [more]

"The FBI is demanding that reporters preserve every scrap of documentation about everything having to do with Adrian Lamo — and has expressly told them that if they fail to do this for at least three months, and perhaps longer, they can expect to be prosecuted for contempt of court." [more]

"The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders." [more]

"Maryland's rush to convert 19 counties to touch-screen voting before the March 6 primary election will impose a tough deadline, local officials say, leading Howard County's elections administrator to warn yesterday that the pressure could create 'the combination for disaster' on election day." [more]

"The U.S. House of Representatives–Senate conference report on the bill and comments by Senate aides indicated the conferees moved some of the TIA software research and tools to other government agencies for use in gathering foreign intelligence — information about the intentions, plans and capabilities of foreign governments or groups." [more]

"Critics of high-tech voting have questioned the propriety of Diebold Chief Executive Walden O'Dell's role as a prominent fund-raiser in President Bush's re-election campaign. O'Dell, whose company is marketing voting machines to its home state of Ohio, wrote to campaign contributors last month that he is 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year.' " [more]

"Electronic voting machine technology used nationwide is 'at high risk of compromise' because of software flaws that could make them vulnerable to computer hackers and voting fraud." [more]

"Espionage and aiding the enemy are military charges that can carry the death penalty, said Eugene Fidell, a civilian lawyer in Washington and president of the National Institute of Military Justice. The commanding general in charge of al-Halabi's case would have to decide whether military prosecutors could seek the death penalty in his case." [more]

"The Bush administration has decided to pursue a 16-year-old effort to deport two Palestinian activists who as students distributed magazines and raised funds for a group the government now considers a terrorist organization, despite several court rulings that the deportations are unconstitutional because the men were not involved in terrorist activity." [more]

"All you do is double-click the icon. You go backwards through the Internet to that county computer, and if you have Microsoft Access on your machine you can walk right into that election database while it's open. It's configured for multiple access at the same time. You can be in there changing things and you can change anything you want." [more]

"The US decision to refuse access to Hambali came as The New York Times reported that Hambali ... had told CIA interrogators of plans to attack two US hotels and commercial airliners in Bangkok, in the lead-up to the APEC summit there next month." [more]

"The Ashcroft memo said prosecutors will have a 'general duty' to pursue the most serious crimes they feel confident of proving in court. Plea bargains involving lesser charges should be limited -- there are six specific exceptions -- and would frequently have to be approved in writing by a supervisor." [more]

" 'I once believed that I served for a cause: "To uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States." Now I no longer believe that,' Tim Predmore, a member of the 101st Airborne Division serving near Mosul, wrote ... 'I can no longer justify my service for what I believe to be half-truths and bold lies.' " [more]

"Yee is being held at a military brig in Charleston, S.C., Crosson said. That is the same place where officials are holding Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American-born Saudi who allegedly fought with the Taliban, and José Padilla, a former Chicago gang member charged with plotting to detonate a radioactive 'dirty bomb.' " [more]

"A spokesman in Iraq did not specify how many were being held but U.S. defense officials in Washington said six people claiming American nationality and two who said they were British were in detention at the Abu Ghraib prison west of Baghdad." [more]

"The master watch list will be tapped by thousands of federal law enforcement officers and many others ? from small-town cops making traffic stops to airport workers screening passengers to personnel managers checking on applicants for jobs at nuclear plants." [more]

"I certainly cannot make an offer of which Washington would take notice. The Americans listen to criticism and then act as they see fit. I think it is obvious that there must ultimately be a procedure through which an objective judicial entity decides whether a specific person constitutes a threat, and that such a person also needs legal counsel in that procedure. Otherwise fundamental principles are lost." [more]

"In the two years since law enforcement agencies gained fresh powers to help them track down and punish terrorists, police and prosecutors have increasingly turned the force of the new laws not on al-Qaida cells but on people charged with common crimes." [more]

"Thirty years ago, Chile was a democracy, yet tyranny triumphed—in the name of fighting terror." [more]

"It can be argued that globalization is inevitable, especially given the incredible technological leaps forward we make, seemingly on an hourly basis. But if that globalization is allowed to continue without giving workers around the world the ability to unionize, to fight for a living wage, to strike for the right to improve their lot, workers here in America and around the world will reap the whirlwind, will find their backs broken at the expense of bosses who have been historically allergic to giving their employees the rights they so richly deserve." [more]

"Ashcroft has always been one of the Bush administration's most controversial figures ... but now the attorney general finds himself at odds with some fellow Republicans from Idaho to Capitol Hill who are troubled by the extent of his anti-terrorism tactics and angered by his unwillingness to compromise." [more]

"The St. Petersburg Times reported Aug. 2 that documents filed by prosecutors in Chicago identified Asher as a pilot and former smuggler in the Bahamas. He served as an informant and witness in several trials and has been identified as someone who provided police protection for smuggling operations." [more]

"This appears to be the true message of Bush's war franchise: why negotiate with your political opponents when you can annihilate them? In the era of [the war on terrorism], concerns such as war crimes and human rights just don't register." [more]

"[A] letter from Walden O'Dell, chief executive of Diebold Inc. — who has become active in the re-election effort of President Bush — prompted Democrats this week to question the propriety of allowing O'Dell's company to calculate votes in the 2004 presidential election." [more]

"Congress passed harsh laws in 1996 that mandated detention for virtually all "criminal aliens"—noncitizens convicted of committing crimes—and also expanded the list of crimes deemed deportable offenses. That created a sudden surge in the numbers of detainees, who were crowded into jails that weren't always properly equipped to handle them. Post–9-11 crackdowns since then have made it even harder for detainees to win release." [more]

"When the Patriot Act raced through Congress after Sept. 11, critics warned that it was an unprecedented expansion of the government's right to spy on ordinary Americans. The more people have learned about the law, the greater the calls have been for overhauling it." [more]

"The United States figures it can get plenty out of the newly captured Chemical Ali. But how? And are these 'interrogation' techniques being readied for American citizens?" [more]

"Pentagon data on the number of crashes per hours flown show that the Global Hawk has a crash rate 50 times higher than the F-16 fighter, a plane that frequently flies more dangerous missions and at lower altitudes." [more]

"The measure would give law enforcement increased subpoena powers and more leeway over wire-tap evidence and on classifying some drug offenses as terrorism. 'This bill would allow the government to prosecute most drug cases as terrorism cases,' [one congressional aide said]." [more]

"Since the war, Iraq has started to look like a fertile ground for terrorists. The American invasion made this possible. The United States has created what it went to war to prevent." [more]

"Pipe's nomination has been stalled for months in the Senate, where key Democrats objected to his controversial statements and writings defending racial and religious profiling and suggestions that mosques in America should be targets of police surveillance." [more]

"Two years ago, the bar association rejected changes to its model code of conduct to permit lawyers more latitude in disclosing client confidences to prevent fraud. But the association seems to be more open to the idea now that the government may impose more stringent responsibilities on the profession." [more]

"MSNBC hosts asked viewers to urge MCI to fire actor and anti-war activist Danny Glover as a spokesperson - the long-distance telephone giant refused to fire him despite the ensuing hate-mail campaign - and one host, former politician Joe Scarborough, urged that anti-war protesters be arrested and charged with sedition." [more]

" 'I don't believe that anyone who's wearing a uniform in this country in a public forum should be critical of the chain of command. Period,' [one] general said." [more]

"No matter how you rationalize it — budget shortfalls, election schedules or partisan politics — the prospect of multiple states calling off [primary] elections is deeply disturbing. The result is that in 2004, fewer Americans will get to participate in one of their country's most important political choices." [more]

"Despite Washington's public obsession with Saudi terrorists, this bombing proves yet again that South East Asia is a major front in the war against terrorism." [more]

"The archive of internal Diebold Election Systems mailing lists taken from the staff site includes thousands of messages dating from January 1999 through March 2003. ... Diebold's Internet security problems necessitate that the company hire a 'Big Five-caliber' firm to conduct a thorough inspection of its software code, and to insure that malicious outsiders have not tampered with it." [more]

"The system enables investigators to find patterns and links among people and events faster than ever before, combining police records with commercially available collections of personal information about most American adults. It would let authorities, for instance, instantly find the name and address of every brown-haired owner of a red Ford pickup truck in a 20-mile radius of a suspicious event." [more]

"A legal advocacy group filed papers yesterday in federal court in Los Angeles challenging the constitutionality of the USA Patriot Act, the broad antiterrorism law that has come under increasing attacks in recent weeks in the courts and Congress. " [more]

A federal judge sentenced a man to a year in prison Monday for creating an anarchist Web site with links to sites on how to build bombs. [more]

"They searched by bag and one officer found my copy of the constitution and asked if I always carried it with me. I told him 'Yes, you never know when you might need it.'" [more]

"What would the occupying forces and their families make of Bush's executive order 13303, promulgated without fanfare in May, which gives sweeping powers to US oil companies operating in Iraq while granting immunity to them for the consequences of any of their actions in exploiting the oil?" [more]

"Before the Johns Hopkins report was published, most information about how computerized balloting works was limited to elections officials and the companies that make voting equipment. This worries voter advocates, who say elections officials often end up working for the manufacturers after they leave public service." [more]

"It is impossible to know for sure who might be on the list, or why. The ACLU says a list kept by security personnel at Oakland airport ran to 88 pages. More than 300 people have been subject to special questioning at San Francisco airport, and another 24 at Oakland, according to police records. In no case does it appear that a wanted criminal was apprehended." [more]

"I think this is the worst government the US has ever had in its more than 200 years of history. It has engaged in extraordinarily irresponsible policies not only in foreign and economic but also in social and environmental policy. This is not normal government policy. Now is the time for people to engage in civil disobedience." [more]

"The Prime Minister, who this weekend becomes the longest continually serving Labour Prime Minister in history, has set up a ministerial working group in the Home Office charged with injecting religious ideas 'across Whitehall'. One expert on the relationship between politics and religion described the move as a 'blow to secularism.' " [more]

"The Bush administration had developed an uncommonly twisted way of discussing deception itself. In his own way, Rumsfeld is uncommonly candid about his willingness to deceive and about his techniques for doing so. But even the deceptions are delivered in a convoluted manner-usually through insinuations or evasive language games rather than outright falsehoods." [more]

"The lawsuit comes after months of increasingly sharp political debate in Washington and around the country over the act. In May, Democrats beat back a move to extend the law past 2005, and last week, the House voted to scale back a 'sneak and peak' provision in the law." [more]

"The top Republican senator on the 9-11 inquiry, Richard Shelby, said Sunday that 95 percent of the classified pages could be released without jeopardizing national security. Bush ignored a reporter's question on Shelby's assessment." [more]

"The Justice Department already seems to be adjusting its sights. One person familiar with the department's agenda said the original Patriot II proposal is now 'dead.' " [more]

"The judge was clearly irritated about how Al-Marri was abruptly transferred to South Carolina and that neither he nor the defense lawyers know for certain whether his alleged offenses occurred in Peoria or elsewhere, because the government has not said exactly why Al-Marri is an enemy combatant." [more]

"With little public notice outside immigrant communities, the government is moving to deport the largest number of visitors from Middle Eastern and other Muslim countries in U.S. history." [more]

"Like other examples of doublespeak, the concept of 'shock and awe' enables its users to symbolically reconcile two contradictory ideas. On the one hand, its theorists use the term to plan massive uses of deadly force. On the other hand, its focus on the psychological effect of that force makes it possible to use the term while distancing audiences from direct contemplation of the human suffering that force creates." [more]

" 'A 15-year-old computer enthusiast could make these counterfeit cards in a garage and sell them,' Rubin said. 'Then even an ordinary voter, without knowing anything about computer code, could cast more than one vote for a candidate at a polling place that uses this electronic voting system.' " [more]

"Goller said she met with the Secret Service agent, Peter J. Damos, in the newspaper's security office and told him he could not speak to Ramirez. After some discussion, Damos left." [more]

"The move would block the Justice Department from using any funds to take advantage of the section of the act that allows it to secretly search the homes of suspects and only inform them later that a warrant had been issued to do so." [more]

The report "shows the intelligence services were much more worried that Hussein might give weapons to al Qaeda terrorists if he were facing death or capture and his government was collapsing after a military attack by the United States." [more]

"On July 1, the White House unexpectedly announced that it would be immediately cutting off all military aid to certain countries unless their leaders signed bilateral agreements guaranteeing the total immunity of all Americans (military and civilian) before the International Criminal Court." [more]

"A CIA veteran says a growing faction of the U.S. intelligence community is furious over the way the administration corrupted the system — and that the nation's security is at grave risk." [more]

" 'I'll tell you what, Marc. Someone in the shop that day saw you reading something, and thought it looked suspicious enough to call us about. So that's why we're here, just checking it out. Like I said, there's no problem. We'd just like to get to the bottom of this. Now if we can't, then you may have a problem. And you don't want that.' " [more]

"Like previous forms of totalitarianism, the Bush administration boasts a reckless unilateralism that believes the United States can demand unquestioning support, on terms it dictates; ignores treaties and violates international law at will; invades other countries without provocation; and incarcerates persons indefinitely without charging them with a crime or allowing access to counsel." [more]

" 'They are putting some money into it,' says Johnson about the systems, which he estimates could cost about $2,000 each." [more]

"No funds appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense ... or to any other department, agency or element of the federal government, may be obligated or expended on research and development on the Terrorism Information Awareness program." [more]

"The defense secretary couldn't count on the CIA or the State Department to provide a pretext for war in Iraq. So he created a new agency that would tell him what he wanted to hear." [more]

"The department acknowledged that its decision could force a federal judge to dismiss the indictment against Mr. Moussaoui. Officials have said for months that if the indictment were dismissed, his prosecution would almost certainly be moved to a military tribunal." [more]

"A Watauga County prosecutor is using a law intended to combat terrorism to fight the spread of methamphetamine laboratories in northwest North Carolina." [more]

"Selling 'Brand America' abroad was an abject failure; but at home, it worked. Manufacturers of 4x4s, oil prospectors, the nuclear power industry, politicians keen to roll back civil liberties — all seized the moment to capitalise on the war." [more]

"Much of the Internet is a cricket chorus of disaffected voices, and Raisethefist.com, which Austin still operates, is no different from any other of the woollier one-man sites on the left and right. Perhaps, in another time, the feds would have merely regarded Sherman Austin as a minor irritant, marginally worth watching. But then 9/11 hit, and the rest, as they say, is hysteria." [more]

"Donald Rumsfeld, told the Senate the US had not gone to war against Iraq because of fresh evidence of weapons of mass destruction but because Washington saw what evidence there was prior to 2001 'in a dramatic new light' after September 11." [more]

"The [British] government was 'fundamentally opposed' to the use of the death penalty and would raise the strongest possible objections if there was any chance of this being applied in these cases." [more]

"The two men face a trial where US military officers will serve as judge, jury and prosecution. The men can nominate their defence lawyer, but the lawyers have to get special US clearance." [more]

"The three known defendants are being held with as many as 680 other foreign captives at Camp X-Ray at Washington's Guantánamo Bay naval base in Cuba where, according to a series of court decisions, none of them enjoys the basic due-process rights required by the U.S. Constitution." [more]

"If a plane was flying with a no-fly-zone to the left, and the pilot started banking left to enter the zone, the avionics would counter by banking right. Lee's system, called 'soft walls', would first gently resist the pilot, and then become increasingly forceful until it prevailed." [more]

"Though insisting CTS isn't intended for homeland security, DARPA outlined a hypothetical scenario for contractors in March that showed the system could aid police as well as the military." [more]

Analysts lay out ten international-security developments that aren't getting the attention they deserve. [more]

"An Iraqi scientist who has provided what the White House yesterday called key components and blueprints for an illicit nuclear program was initially ignored by the Pentagon and jailed by U.S. military forces in Baghdad as he tried to get the materials into American hands." [more]

"Governments that abuse their own citizens, or allow corporations to abuse their citizens, promote environments conducive to terrorism. Far from undermining our security, then, the U.S. legal system's ability to enforce basic human rights standards has the potential to ward off terrorism by bringing to justice the malicious despots that create the illiberal conditions in which terrorism thrives." [more]

"Under an order that President Bush issued in November 2001, military tribunals can be used to try non-citizens accused of terrorist acts. Individuals brought before the tribunals would have no right to a jury trial, no right to confront their accusers and no right to judicial review of trial procedures or sentences, which could include death." [more]

"Foreign policy is always difficult in a democracy. Democracy requires openness. Yet foreign policy requires a level of secrecy that frees it from oversight and exposes it to abuse. As a result, Republicans and Democrats have long held that the intelligence agencies—the most clandestine of foreign policy institutions—should be insulated from political interference in much the same way as the higher reaches of the judiciary. As the Tower Commission, established to investigate the Iran-Contra scandal, warned in November 1987, 'The democratic processes ... are subverted when intelligence is manipulated to affect decisions by elected officials and the public.' " [more]

"A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Bush administration is not obligated to publicly identify the 762 foreigners it detained in the weeks and months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks." [more]

"Afghans and Pakistanis who were detained for many months by the American military at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba before being released without charges are describing the conditions as so desperate that some captives tried to kill themselves." [more]

"The focus on Iraq has robbed domestic security of manpower, brainpower and money, [the counterterrorism adviser] said. The Iraq war created fissures in the United States' counterterrorism alliances, he said, and could breed a new generation of al Qaeda recruits. Many of his government colleagues, he said, thought Iraq was an 'ill-conceived and poorly executed strategy.' " [more]

"After a year of trying to negotiate accords with governments around the globe, the United States has so far signed agreements with 37 countries – primarily poor, small ones in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe." [more]

"More than 13,000 of the Arab and Muslim men who came forward earlier this year to register with immigration authorities — roughly 16 percent of the total — may now face deportation, government officials say." [more]

"Only 5 members of the 23-member Senate committee offered any support for the commission; most of the rest, Democrats and Republicans alike, expressed deep dissatisfaction with at least some aspect of the new rules. While a majority of the Democrats on the committee criticized most of the package adopted by the commission, elements of it were also challenged by such Republicans as Ted Stevens, Conrad Burns, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Olympia J. Snowe and Trent Lott." [more]

"Why the 'dirty bomber' case threatens everyone's rights." [more]

"It was vital after the terrorism of Sept. 11 that the nation protect itself, arresting and investigating those who might have had a role. But it was equally vital that it avoid doing things we would later regret, like failing to grant detainees due process or abusing them either mentally and physically. Sadly, such caution was not exercised, according to a frank and blistering report by the inspector general of the Justice Department." [more]

"US Justice Department officials on Monday defended their decision to detain for months more than 750 illegal immigrants in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and said similar powers were still being used to hold suspected terrorists." [more]

"As expected, the commission said a single company could now own television stations that reach 45 percent of American households, up from 35 percent. The major networks wanted the cap eliminated entirely." [more]

"This is a sad day for me, and I think for the country. I'm afraid a dark storm cloud is now looming over the future of the American media. This is the most sweeping and destructive rollback of consumer protection rules in the history of American broadcasting." [more]

"Commenters addressed the need to require more independent programming on our airwaves so that a few conglomerates do not act anti-competitively to control all of the creative entertainment that we see. These proposals should have received the serious attention they deserve in this decision. Over the past decade, we have witnessed a substantial increase in the amount of programming owned by the networks. Where once independent production accounted for much of what we saw, we now have huge vertically-integrated conglomerates that own the vast majority of the programming they deliver." [more]

"Federal prosecutors across the country are turning in creative anti-terrorism records to their superiors in Washington, who are under enormous pressure to produce results and have little incentive to double-check them. The result is an epidemic of phony reporting ... Like Robert McNamara's generals, who inflated enemy body counts so politicians could claim the Vietnam War was going better than it actually was, federal prosecutors are giving us a false sense of security." [more]

"The report found that 54 of the 762 detainees were held for more than three months, despite objections from officials in the former Immigration and Naturalization Service that they should be released with 'reasonable dispatch.' " [more]

"The top Marine commander in Iraq said Friday that U.S. intelligence was 'simply wrong' in its assessment that Saddam Hussein intended to unleash chemical or biological weapons against U.S. forces during the war, but he stopped short of saying there was an overall intelligence failure." [more]

"The Atlanta Police Department routinely places under surveillance anti-war protesters and others exercising their free-speech rights to demonstrate, police officials acknowledged this week." [more]

"The government ignored long-standing immigration practices so it could hold dozens of foreigners for long periods following the Sept. 11 attacks, the Justice Department inspector general has concluded." [more]

"These resolutions are directed at the Bush-Ashcroft war on the Bill of Rights. [Yet] the undeterred Attorney General is planning to introduce in Congress USA Patriot Act II, which would much more radically reduce individual liberties in the holy name of national security." [more]

To be reviewed by the FCC: "Newspaper/Broadcast Cross-Ownership Prohibition (1975) Television broadcast companies may not buy newspapers in communities where they own stations." [more]

"[Philadelphia] City Council passed a resolution calling on local members of Congress to work for the repeal of the federal law that granted the Justice Department broad new police powers for Washington's so-called war on terrorism." [more]

"If the war on terror was supposed to make the world safer, it has failed, and has given governments an excuse to abuse human rights in the name of state security, [Amnesty's report] said." [more]

"The case tied up the court longer than any other this year. When justices heard arguments in December, they worried over its implications in terrorism cases. The ruling could have implications for counterterrorism interrogations, when building a criminal case may be less important than gathering intelligence." [more]

"The failure so far to find any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the prime justification for an immediate invasion, or definitive links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda has raised serious questions about the quality of American intelligence and even dark hints that the data may have been manipulated to support a pre-emptive war." [more]

"The Mail on Sunday reported the move is seen as logical by the US, which has been attacked worldwide for breaching the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war since it established the camp at a naval base to hold alleged terrorists from Afghanistan." [more]

"US troops will be given orders to arrest any Iraqis who carry or sell guns, it was announced today. Forces were also 'aggressively targeting' looters, but they denied reports that they had been issued with a shoot to kill policy." [more]

"The order was to close down the television station in Mosul, because it sometimes broadcasts Al-Jazeera. The TV station was the only means of public communication for a very large city. Major Means said she could not in good conscience close it down, just to suppress free speech. Her superiors could not ignore that. They relieved her of duty and flew her out of Mosul, right away." [more]

"In what officials have said was a strongly worded letter, [US Secretary of State] Powell cited complaints from allies in his argument that the indefinite holding of foreign citizens undermines efforts to win international cooperation in the war on terror." [more]

"Turley thinks the District of Columbia police deliberately encircled large numbers of protesters for mass arrests at last September's World Bank-International Monetary Fund demonstration in Washington. The goal, he thinks, was to break the protest by removing as many people as possible from the streets without giving them a chance to disperse." [more]

"A sharply divided U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a law requiring that legal immigrants who commit certain crimes in this country be detained in prison while awaiting deportation hearings." [more]

"The F.B.I. has opened an internal ethics investigation to determine whether its agents abused their authority by secretly seizing from a news organization documents on international terrorism." [more]

"Children younger than 16 are being held as 'enemy combatants' in the American detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, the US military admitted yesterday, a practice human rights groups condemned as repugnant and illegal." [more]

"Many of those fleeing the registration program by heading north are being rejected by Canadian authorities, only to get arrested by American officials when they are forced back across the border. But while much attention has been focused on the registration program, it is only the tip of the Bush administration's creeping nativism." [more]

"Last month, [Arcata] joined the rising chorus of municipalities to pass a resolution urging local law enforcement officials and others contacted by federal officials to refuse requests under the Patriot Act that they believe violate an individual's civil rights under the Constitution. Then, [it] became the first in the nation to pass an ordinance that outlaws voluntary compliance with the Patriot Act." [more]

"Denver police will no longer photograph, record license plate numbers or intercept e-mail of peaceful demonstrators, under terms of a settlement reached on Thursday between the city and the ACLU." [more]

"Congressional officials and political observers said the debate might force lawmakers to take stock of how far they were willing to sacrifice civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism." [more]

Some U.S. citizens can't fly without being subjected to extra scrutiny, questioning — and even being held at gunpoint. The only crime these Americans have committed: sharing a name with suspected terrorists. [more]

"Protesters and dockworkers were hit with wooden bullets when Oakland police opened fire to clear an anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland this morning." [more]

"Correspondent Peter Arnett should be 'tried as a traitor' for remarks he made in an interview with Iraqi state television, Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., said Tuesday." [more]

"The recent capture of Al Qaeda leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is the latest indication that the taboo on torture has been broken." [more]

President Bush linked war on Iraq to his global anti-terrorism campaign in a speech to the US Coast Guard, and argued that Saddam Hussein or his terrorist allies may try to strike America in retaliation for the US-led fighting. Several hundred protesters questioned this threat and accused the Bush Administration of waging a needless and destructive war. [more]

"Last year, in an unusual court hearing behind closed doors at the Justice Department, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft won the legal authority to merge the FBI's crime-fighting and spying units to track suspected terrorists." [more]

"A day after antiwar 'anarchy' shut down city streets, San Francisco cops keep a tight rein on smaller but still angry crowds." [more]

"An invasion was now certain, White House aides said, even if Saddam and his sons fled at the last minute. In that case, the American forces would still enter Iraq to assure order, find and destroy banned weapons, help rebuild, and lay the foundations for a new government." [more]

"FBI officials, who confirmed the operation yesterday after Arab community leaders disclosed it, said the 'voluntary interviews' were meant both to cull more information for the war and antiterrorism efforts and to reassure people that the FBI would protect them against hate crimes." [more]

"An airline passenger who had two 'No War with Iraq' signs in his suitcase says the federal security agent who opened his luggage inserted a note criticizing his 'anti-American attitude.' " [more]

"A federal appeals court in Washington D.C. has ruled that suspected Taleban and al-Qaida members held at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba have no right to U.S. legal protections." [more]

"This war was never about your safety, or the safety of this nation, or protecting freedom. It is about strategic power bases, oil reserves and control. It is about regional supremacy first, petroleum and military supply industries second, humanitarian and domestic-security concerns, well, about 147th." [more]

"The Justice Department has stepped up use of a secretive process that enables the attorney general to personally authorize electronic surveillance and physical searches of suspected terrorists, spies and other national-security threats without immediate court oversight." [more]

"A [Philadelphia] city official is urging his colleagues to join dozens of other municipalities that have adopted resolutions in defiance of an anti-terrorism law that permits unprecedented levels of domestic surveillance." [more]

"About 15,000 males age 16 or older from Saudi Arabia and Pakistan will have until March 21 to be fingerprinted, photographed and show certain documents at local Immigration and Naturalization Service offices. The previous deadline was Feb. 21." [more]

"With two of his hazardous material inspectors gone, [one chief] said other aspects of police work have given way. Response time to nonemergency calls is longer, and there is less time for the sort of community policing designed to settle citizen disputes before they escalate." [more]

"During a week of war fever, the news media gave rein to hysteria — and, critics say, let color-coded terror alerts serve the White House agenda." [more]

"The legislation would broadly expand the government's surveillance and detention powers. Among other measures, it calls for the creation of a terrorist DNA database and allows the attorney general to revoke citizenship of those who provide 'material support' to terrorist groups." [more]

"House and Senate negotiators have agreed that a Pentagon project intended to detect terrorists by monitoring Internet e-mail and commercial databases for health, financial and travel information cannot be used against Americans." [more]

"Desperate to prevent attacks, the FBI is stopping promising investigations and making quick arrests at even a hint of potential violence. ... Since Sept. 11, 2001, there have been 112 terror-related convictions in the United States; none has involved an active plot by a terror cell." [more]

"Top federal officials yesterday issued their most pointed advice since Sept. 11, 2001, on precautions the public should take against terrorist attacks, warning that every home should be stocked with three days' worth of water and food in case of a strike with chemical, biological or radiological weapons." [more]

"Specifically, Haight's ruling expands the department's investigatory powers, allowing all branches to investigate suspected political activity. Under the Handschu guidelines, such investigations were limited to one unit, the Public Security Section." [more]

"The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information." [more]

"Some officials here have been frustrated by what they see as the failure of some field offices to respond aggressively enough in chasing terrorism leads ... [but] congressional officials were bothered because the survey would apparently lump all mosques in one category without distinguishing mosques that have reported extremist ties." [more]

"Because of past scandals, the agency had largely dropped its paramilitary operations. But the war on terrorism has brought it back into the business." [more]

"The judge's ruling said the law, as written, does not differentiate between impermissible advice on violence and encouraging the use of peaceful, nonviolent means to achieve goals." [more]

"The U.S. government fumbled repeated opportunities to stop many of the men responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks from entering the country, missing fraudulent passports and other warning signs that should have attracted greater scrutiny." [more]

Concerned by reports that hundreds of immigrants across the country have not registered for fear of deportation, the INS announced the deadlines had been extended. Immigration lawyers predict little impact on the number of registrants. [more]

"About 1,000 people from around the country gathered shortly after noon a block north of Pennsylvania Avenue Park in full view of the northern windows of the White House. One group included many older people, some with long experience in civil disobedience. A younger and louder group joined the the older protesters." [more]

"Hopes have been affixed to a revival of progressivism within the Democratic party, when it was the Democrats themselves who proposed the Homeland Security Department, endorsed the Patriot Bill for the most part, and earlier failed to stand up to a stolen election that was predictably going to usher in the dictatorial actions that we've seen this regime engage in." [more]

"Men from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan and Kuwait will be added to the list of foreign visitors who must register with the U.S. government under a controversial anti-terrorism program, Justice Department officials said on Thursday." Deadlines for immigrants from 18 other nations have also been extended. [more]

"The U.S. government Thursday decided to give a second chance to thousands of immigrants from 18 mainly Muslim countries who have yet to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service." [more]

"INS officials believe fear of arrest or deportation, lack of knowledge about the program and large crowds at local offices might have prevented many of the affected people from registering earlier." [more]

"Thousands of foreign visitors from predominantly Muslim countries will be given a second chance to register with U.S. immigration authorities because the turnout for earlier deadlines was dampened by widespread fear and confusion about the program, officials said yesterday." [more]

"Thousands of immigrants across the United States ... are panicking — and in some cases packing their bags — this week as the Immigration and Naturalization Service launches the third stage of a program to track immigrants from the Middle East and other predominantly Muslim nations." [more]

"The U.S. government dramatically increased the deportation of people from Muslim nations in the year after Sept. 11, 2001, even as it eased up on illegal immigrants from Mexico and other countries." [more]

"It is a policy in local and state police departments across the country not to enforce civil-immigration law because they want immigrants to be forthcoming about crimes — such as homicide. It is even the official legal opinion of the U.S. Department of Justice that local and state police do not have the inherent authority to enforce civil-immigration law. Or at least it was until Attorney General John Ashcroft started changing the law." [more]

"A federal judge has refused to block the potential arrest and deportation of illegal immigrants who register under a new program aimed at tracking thousands of men from countries considered high risks for terrorism." [more]

"[One lawyer] said those who must register should avoid exposing themselves to detention at the local INS office by bringing only required documents such as identification and immigration papers." [more]

"Civil liberties advocates say the program is an inefficient way to find terrorists and will alienate people who could help the government. Allegations that innocent people were arrested during the first phase of the program in December have led to demands for a Justice Department investigation." [more]

"Long queues of men from 12 mainly Muslim states and North Korea formed Friday outside immigration offices across the United States to beat a registration deadline under new anti-terrorist regulations." [more]

"All registrants are fingerprinted and photographed. Government-issued documentation is reviewed and questions of a 'law enforcement nature' may be asked, according to the INS." [more]

"A U.S. anti-terrorism program that forces tens of thousands of Muslims and Arabs to report to the government for fingerprinting and photographing expands to include Saudis and Pakistanis next week, raising new cries of ethnic and religious discrimination." [more]

"A federal judge refused on Thursday to bar immigration officials from arresting and deporting illegal immigrants who register under a new program aimed at tracking men from countries considered a high risk for terrorists." [more]

"A federal judge in Orange County refused Thursday to block additional arrests and deportations of Middle Eastern and Muslim men who show up to be fingerprinted, photographed and questioned by immigration officials." [more]

"Since a clumsy start last month — when at least 200 Iranian visitors were arrested in Los Angeles alone — the program has turned into a mounting public relations problem for the Bush administration." [more]

"A total of 47 people remain in INS custody nationally because they are perceived to be public-safety threats." [more]

"On Friday, 33 national immigrant, religious and civil rights groups called on President Bush to end the registration program or at least to revamp it." [more]

"Simple solutions to complex problems rarely succeed. Few problems today are thornier than trying to prevent terrorist acts. So pundits have been calling for the use of 'truth serum' for interrogation of suspected terrorists. Alas, no such drugs are known to work." [more]

" 'The question is, do the people have trust in the INS that if they go voluntarily they will not be arrested, and the answer is no,' said Kamal Abu-Shamsieh." [more]

"Guttentag said one of the most glaring problems was that the agency did not conduct enough outreach to explain to immigrants the intricacies of the policy." [more]

"Both the efficacy of the procedure — what will the INS learn and how will the information be used? — and the wisdom of treating law-abiding and largely pro-American foreigners like criminals are debatable, particularly since the precedents are not good." [more]

"A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that the government can hold U.S. citizens as enemy combatants during wartime without the constitutional protections afforded Americans in criminal prosecutions." [more]

"A growing number of Pakistanis who had been living in the United States are crossing the border and seeking asylum in Canada out of fear they will be jailed or deported if they register with a new U.S. Justice Department tracking program, according to Canadian officials." [more]

"Immigrant and civil rights advocates stood in front of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization building on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami on Monday afternoon and called on the federal government to stop its new, controversial policy of registration of some Arabs." [more]

"The revelations about the jury's actions come at a moment of intense debate about whether trials in civilian courts are appropriate for deciding the fates of accused terrorists. The Bush administration has argued that military tribunals are a better way to try some international terrorists and to more successfully win death penalties. One administration concern involves a problem that appears to have surfaced in the bombings trial: in terror cases, jurors might feel vulnerable to reprisal, and such fears could influence their actions." [more]

"Concerns ranged from a sense of hurt pride that they would be required to register to fear that registration might result in arrest — a complaint that led to a recent lawsuit by a group of Iranian men in Los Angeles." [more]

"[He] little to say to comfort the families of Iranians imprisoned in this country last week by the Immigration and Naturalization Service as part of a nationwide roundup of men and boys from largely Muslim countries. As Bush spoke, dozens still sat in immigration detention centers and local jails, and anxiety and outrage coursed through the Iranian-American community." [more]

"Our 'axis of evil' rhetoric is only making it worse." [more]

"The US military today firmly denied allegations of torture and mistreatment of suspected al-Qaeda detainees in Afghanistan, claiming detention procedures were misreported by a leading US newspaper." [more]

"At least six Middle Eastern students studying in Colorado have been jailed in the past 10 days for failing to take enough college classes as required by their student visas." [more]

"The [registration] plan is considered a major weapon in the 'war on terror' and Justice Department officials have called the registration requirement a necessary means of safeguarding national security concerns." [more]

"Those who refuse to cooperate inside this secret CIA interrogation center are sometimes kept standing or kneeling for hours, in black hoods or spray-painted goggles, according to intelligence specialists familiar with CIA interrogation methods. At times they are held in awkward, painful positions and deprived of sleep with a 24-hour bombardment of lights — subject to what are known as 'stress and duress' techniques." [more]

" 'The fear of mass illegal arrests created by these detentions will obviously inhibit compliance by people facing similar registration deadlines in the near future,' the groups said. The Justice Department did not immediately comment on the lawsuit." [more]

"Hundreds of men, most of them Iranian Americans, were arrested and detained in the Los Angeles area last week when they showed up to be interviewed, photographed and fingerprinted under the post-Sept. 11, 2001 policy. Arrests also were reported elsewhere around the country, including the Sacramento region." [more]

"The U.S. Attorney General and the nation's immigration service were hit by a class action civil liberties lawsuit on Tuesday over the mass detentions of immigrants from Muslim countries who came forward to register under new anti-terrorism rules." [more]

"The class-action suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, says that immigration officials unlawfully arrested and detained the men without appropriate warrants and that it is illegal to arrest and deport people who are eligible to apply for legal status based on family relationships or employment." [more]

"Three organizations representing Arab and Iranian immigrants sued the government Tuesday, seeking curbs on a program that requires men and boys, mostly from Middle Eastern countries, to register with immigration authorities." [more]

"Several Muslims civil liberties groups Monday filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Immigration and Naturalization Service for what they say were unlawful arrests of hundreds of Muslims, because the government did not obtain the necessary warrants." [more]

"The lawsuit asks for an injunction to prevent the INS from further detaining those still in the process of applying for residency." [more]

"The groups say the arrests were illegal because the government did not have warrants, that it is unlawful to arrest and deport people who are eligible to apply for permanent status, and some detainees were already pursuing legal residency." [more]

"The ineffective and chaotic manner in which the program is being implemented is an indication that neither the Justice Department nor the INS believes it to be important to national security." [more]

"[Sahlepour] was shuttled between cells in Los Angeles, Pasadena and Lancaster, strip searched, chained to three other men and finally dumped at a train station in the high desert three days after he willingly appeared at an INS office to register, as required." [more]

"[Justice Department] spokesman Jorge Martinez defended the registration requirement. 'We're doing what the American people want us to do and we're doing what the law wants us to do,' he said. 'What are our critics going to say when the next building blows up? That we didn't check on the background of individuals?' " [more]

"Nearly two dozen cities around the country have passed resolutions urging federal authorities to respect the civil rights of local citizens when fighting terrorism. Efforts to pass similar measures are under way in more than 60 other places." [more]

"In the Pentagon research effort to detect terrorism by electronically monitoring the civilian population, the most remarkable detail may be this: Most of the pieces of the system are already in place." [more]

" 'Over here' is unprepared, undemanding, underhanded and unreal." [more]

"As many as 700 Middle Eastern immigrants, mainly Iranians, have been detained by US officials in southern California after they turned up to register in accordance with the requirements of new residency laws." [more]

"Hundreds of Middle Eastern, Iranian and other men and teenagers were arrested this week after registering with federal immigration officers, and their supporters today charged that the detentions were not catching terrorists but harassing immigrants." [more]

"Civil liberties groups in the United States have called on the justice department to scrap an anti-terror scheme which has led to the detention of hundreds of Muslim men." [more]

"Mohajeri and relatives of the hundreds of Middle Eastern men and teens who have been detained in California this week say they feel betrayed by the country that once offered them a safe haven. Some family members fear they even became unknowing accomplices." [more]

"Immigration officers have arrested hundreds of men in the last week after they appeared voluntarily to register, with an unknown number still in custody today. An I.N.S. official in California told family members and immigration lawyers that virtually all of those still held would be released in the next 24 hours, with instructions to report back in 30 to 60 days to complete the registration process." [more]

" 'Los Angles and Orange County are a disaster area. It's a combination of long lines, and the INS zeal. It's clear that the INS is applying the rules and laws with a strictness that is uncommon is other parts of the country.' " [more]

"Muslim leaders were outraged by the registration programme and arrests, saying that the system would not help uncover terrorists living in the United States." [more]

"The arrests of hundreds of men who were trying to comply with an Immigration and Naturalization Service edict have underscored problems with a program aimed at tracking visitors from countries that have been used as bases for terrorism." [more]

"Shocked and frustrated Islamic and immigrant groups estimate that more than 500 people have been arrested in Los Angeles, neighboring Orange County and San Diego in the past three days under a new nationwide anti-terrorism program. Some unconfirmed reports put the figure as high as 1,000." [more]

"US immigration officials in Southern California have detained hundreds of Iranians and other Muslim men who turned up to register under residence laws brought in as part of the anti-terror drive." [more]

"D.C. police announced yesterday that they will put up temporary surveillance cameras next month during anti-war rallies and during an antiabortion demonstration." [more]

"Thousands of Iranian-Americans demonstrated against the arrest of Middle Eastern immigrants who had voluntarily registered with the federal government under a new anti-terrorism program." [more]

"Hundreds of men and boys from Middle Eastern countries were arrested by federal immigration officials in Southern California this week when they complied with orders to appear at INS offices for a special registration program." [more]

"Fearing that the 'USA-PATRIOT Act' will curtail Americans' civil rights, municipalities across the country are passing resolutions to repudiate the legislation and protect their residents from a perceived abuse of authority by the the federal government." [more]

"Hundreds of Muslim men and boys are being subjected to strip searches in freezing, standing room only detention centers in southern California after being arrested for routine visa irregularities, immigration lawyers said on Thursday." [more]

"Kayhan Shakib said the Immigration and Naturalization Service was ill-prepared to handle the hundreds of people who went there to register, resulting in the unnecessary detainment of individuals." [more]

"Lines began forming before dawn today outside the downtown federal building here as hundreds of men from five Muslim countries showed up to register with immigration authorities under a sweeping national dragnet designed to identify potential terrorists." [more]

"Men from the designated countries who were 16 years or older and had overstayed their student, tourist or business visas were arrested immediately, even if they had applied already for legal residency." [more]

"Iranian-Americans in Los Angeles are angry about the arrests of some Iranian nationals by U.S. immigration officials. Thousands of protesters took to the streets Wednesday, saying hundreds of Iranians were detained in the city early in the week. The detainees were responding to a registration order, imposed as an anti-terrorist measure." [more]

"Since Sept. 11, 2001, the federal government has been cobbling together a system to make sure foreign visitors that may pose a security threat to the United States are tracked after they enter the country. The plan requires non-immigrant males age 16 and older from 20 countries to register their whereabouts and itineraries while in the United States. Most are students, visitors on extended business travel or people visiting family." [more]

"The police department insists it needs broader authority to hunt terrorists, who may masquerade as regular law-abiding folks until the moment they strike. But if police win this bid, the followers of 'extremist Muslim fundamentalism' they have mentioned won't be the only ones in their sights. Everyone becomes fair game." [more]

"The move shocked many foreigners and their lawyers, who said the INS had changed its established practice of not detaining people until their green card applications were processed." [more]

"By making it possible to shift from petroleum to other primary energy sources, fuel cells could ease the threat of global warming without taking away the freedom and mobility that Americans and Europeans take for granted — and the rest of the world is determined to get for itself." [more]

"The withdrawal came as a surprising and disappointing setback for the White House, where officials had been convinced that Kissinger's name would bring credibility to an enterprise they had once resisted." [more]

"Among the chief recommendations were strengthening domestic intelligence, including an examination of whether this should continue to be the responsibility of the FBI or whether a new agency is needed. The recommendations referred to the 'FBI's history of repeated shortcomings within its current responsibility for domestic intelligence.' " [more]

"Even as the report was adopted, one leading lawmaker on the panel publicly dissented. Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Senate Republican on the joint panel, said today that he would issue a minority report, which he indicated would be more critical of FBI and CIA officials. Mr. Shelby complained in a television interview today, 'Some people on the committee don't want to assign the blame or accountability.' " [more]

"The public would be better served and the victims of 9/11 better honored by no commission rather than one headed by Kissinger." [more]

"Kissinger is the perfect chair for the 9-11 commission — if what you want is damage control rather than the truth." [more]

"On Capitol Hill, Democrats and some Republicans—including retiring House Majority Leader Dick Armey—are concerned that the project is part of a wider White House strategy to erode civil liberties in pursuit of security." [more]

"The Bush administration is developing a parallel legal system in which terrorism suspects — U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike — may be investigated, jailed, interrogated, tried and punished without legal protections guaranteed by the ordinary system, lawyers inside and outside the government say." [more]

"Authorities have arrested and jailed at least 44 people as potential grand jury witnesses in the 14 months of the nationwide terrorism investigation, but nearly half have never been called to testify before a grand jury, according to defense lawyers and others involved in the cases." [more]

"Despite concerns about the accuracy of some of the information that the F.B.I. has provided, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, which considers surveillance applications, approved all 932 requests for intelligence warrants from the Justice Department last year. Department officials said they did not expect a large increase in wiretaps and surveillance, even with the expanded authority." [more]

"Ending months of rancorous debate on the new department, the Senate approved the bill on a 90-to-9 vote that hid some misgivings many Democrats said they still harbored about President Bush's design for the agency. Only after urgent phone calls from the president and last-minute promises by Republican leaders to eliminate several special-interest business provisions did wavering moderates from both parties agree to the final vote." [more]

"While his colleagues have debated the fine points of the domestic security bill, he has been virtually alone in asking the larger question: Why is this new department suddenly so necessary? What will the largest and hastiest reorganization of the federal government in half a century do besides allow politicians to claim instant credit for fighting terrorism?" [more]

"After Sept. 11, 2001, the feds embarked on an unprecedented and brazen campaign of domestic spying. Leading the charge, Attorney General John Ashcroft signaled his intent to spy on law-abiding religious congregations and political groups." [more]

"The previously undisclosed intelligence program involves tracking thousands of Iraqi citizens and Iraqi-Americans with dual citizenship who are attending American universities or working at private corporations, and who might pose a risk in the event of a United States-led war against Iraq, officials said." [more]

"Some members of Congress have said they favor creating a domestic security agency and it is likely legislative proposals will be offered during the next Congress. 'We're either going to create a working, effective, substantial domestic intelligence unit in the FBI or create a new agency,' said Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.), ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence." [more]

"A federal agency confirms that it maintains an air-travel blacklist of 1,000 people. Peace activists and civil libertarians fear they're on it." [more]

"The United States is somewhat unusual in that it doesn’t have a federal-level privacy agency to protect citizens’ interests and privacy. Virtually all of the European countries do, and many of the countries in East Asia do so, as well. As a consequence, when these proposals come forward or these new legal authorities are created—as will be in the Homeland Security Act—there’s no counterbalance to determine whether the authorities are being used appropriately." [more]

"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend — all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as 'a virtual, centralized grand database.' " [more]

"The House hurriedly approved a revised domestic security bill tonight to reflect a new agreement with the White House on reducing worker protections, brushing aside Democratic objections that Republican leaders had added several provisions benefiting businesses and Republican interests." [more]

"Student aid applicants, check the fine print. That information you put on your application to the U.S. Department of Education is being shared with the Pentagon, the Justice Department and other agencies, even private companies like debt collectors." [more]

Frustrated by obstacles in the civilian prosecution of Zacarias Moussaoui, the Bush administration is looking at changing course and attempting to bring the accused al Qaeda terrorist before a military tribunal, government officials said yesterday. [more]

"The Pentagon is constructing a computer system that could create a vast electronic dragnet, searching for personal information as part of the hunt for terrorists around the globe — including the United States." [more]

"Hundreds of people from Algeria held a rally Saturday, pleading with Ottawa not force them to return to their homeland." [more]

" 'Your ticket has been randomly flagged,' they insist. Call it what you will. But I literally can't remember the last time I made it on to an airplane without being quietly pulled aside and asked to open all my bags." [more]

International students "still worry about being assaulted, though they're even more wary of new U.S. government roadblocks to their education in the name of national security. So, some have decided to study in Europe or Australia." [more]

"A third ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, said in June that it did not anticipate changing ratings on any commercial real estate loans because of a lack of terrorism insurance, since it was virtually impossible to calculate the risks of another attack." [more]

Mary Cheh, a law professor at George Washington University, argued that if the same police tactics had been used "against the Million Man March, or the Million Mom March ... people would have been quite irate." [more]

"For most American dissidents, opposition to the war on terrorism involves a nod to the loss of innocent American life, a tendentious comparison with the loss of innocent Afghan life, a playing down of the danger posed by Al Qaeda and an exaggeration of the Justice Department's domestic security abuses (which don't need exaggerating). Stewart is more intellectually honest than this." [more]

" 'All you'd have to do is declare someone a terrorist organization to prevent someone from knowing who the enemy is or what they stand for,' Lukianoff said. 'That's not how democracy works.' " [more]

"Federal health officials will issue detailed guidelines today for vaccinating the entire U.S. population against smallpox within five days of an outbreak of the dreaded disease." [more]

"The Central Intelligence Agency failed to adequately scrutinize information it received before Sept. 11 about the growing terrorist threat posed by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a leader of Al Qaeda now believed to have been a central planner of the attacks on New York and Washington, Congressional investigators have concluded." [more]

"An Indian-born doctor who was on a flight when a federal air marshal pointed a gun at passengers while another detained an unruly passenger said he was held for hours after the plane landed because of racial profiling." [more]

"The U.S. intelligence community received a surprising number of credible reports of a likely terrorist attack prior to Sept. 11, including some threats to domestic targets, according to a congressional report to be unveiled today." [more]

" 'Liberty is the most precious gift we offer our citizens.' Could Tom Ridge have said anything scarier or more telling as he accepted the post of homeland security czar? Trying to strike the bell of liberty, he sounds its death knell, depicting government not as the agent of the people's will, but as an imperious power with the authority to give us our democratic freedoms. Which means, of course, that it can also take them away." [more]

"Just over a year ago, President Vicente Fox of Mexico visited Washington to press forward with a deal he and President Bush were hatching on immigration reform. Today, that deal is all but dead." [more]

"A librarian who is served with a warrant must surrender records of the patron's book borrowing or Internet use and is prohibited from revealing the search to anyone — including the patron. The Justice Department has refused to tell Congress how the law is being used, saying the information is classified." [more]

"Freezing the assets of Benevolence and another Islamic charity based in the Chicago area, Global Relief Foundation, were among the most visible actions of the federal government's drive to shut off the flow of U.S. dollars to terrorists overseas." [more]

"Unprecidented" warnings from the State Department, U.S. military, FBI, and Pentagon sources have sparked a raise in the "threat assessment level" to "orange, or high risk" for the first time since the system was instituted. This indicates "specific and credible" threats against mostly overseas U.S. targets. Surface-to-air missles will likely be positioned around Washington. Several embassies and consulates will close. [more]

"Civil liberties were rapidly becoming the domestic collateral damage of the war on terrorism. It almost could be said they died without a fight, except for a brave but ineffective handful of stragglers in their progressive enclaves." [more]

"Increased access to the internet and non-western news outlets like Qatari satellite channel al-Jazeera have made viewers question information given by mainstream outlets." [more]

"Government may search and seize Americans' papers and effects without probable cause to assist terror investigation." [more]

"A year has passed since Sept. 11. Yet we, the American people, still donít know exactly what happened. There are still no plans for a public investigation of how more than 3,000 Americans lost their lives, nor what could have been done to prevent the attacks or reduce their impact." [more]

"It appears that the institutions most responsible for reassuring Americans, from politicians to police to the private sector, have not done a very good job." [more]

"Half of all Americans say the First Amendment 'goes too far' in the rights it guarantees -- a 10 percentage point increase in barely a year and more than double the proportion that offered a similarly negative view just two years ago, according to a survey by the First Amendment Center." [more]

"European Union governments are secretly drawing up a treaty with the US on issues ranging from extradition to undercover police operations in a move which has huge implications for individual rights and liberties." [more]

"Without seeking formal approval from either Congress or the courts, the Bush administration has taken steps to establish military trials for foreign terror suspects, designated two U.S. citizens as 'enemy combatants' who may be held indefinitely without charge and ordered secret deportation hearings for suspected terrorists." [more]

"Judge Keith wrote an opinion, handed down last Monday by a three-judge panel in Cincinnati, that clarified and reaffirmed some crucially important democratic principles that have been in danger of being discarded since the terrorist attacks last Sept. 11. The opinion was a reflection of true patriotism, a 21st-century echo of a pair of comments made by John Adams nearly two centuries ago. 'Liberty,' said Adams, 'cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.' " [more]

"If colonists and despots call acts carried out in defence of the legitimate right to self-determination "acts of terrorism" when they occur off the battlefield and involve civilians, then it should be remembered that freedom fighters and dissidents are not always capable of facing their enemies on the battlefield or of avoiding the killing of innocent people. Violence is not intended to terrorise the persons attacked but to cause society, or governments, or the world at large, to take notice of grievances suffered, and of the reality of large-scale struggles." [more]

"If the world's conscience now shows the first signs of acting on behalf of the Palestinians, it is to be hoped that this will mitigate the Palestinians' deep despair. When young Palestinians learn that academics the world over and young people on campuses in Britain, France, Canada, and United States are stirring on their behalf, this will convince them that they are not alone, and, once they are so convinced, they may be persuaded to renounce their acts of desperation. The academic boycott of Israel uses non-violent means -- it leverages moral suasion -- to reduce the violence of the coloniser as well as that of the colonised." [more]

"Typically, these new rules have been put into effect by memorandum, without public explanation. Missing has been any forum for weighing the risks of shutting off public access." [more]

"A top expert says America's approach to protecting itself will only make matters worse. Forget 'foolproof' technologyówe need systems designed to fail smartly." [more]

"A federal air marshal pointed a gun towards passengers on a flight from Atlanta to Philadelphia for about 30 minutes Saturday while detaining an unruly passenger, travelers said." [more]

"The Hamdi case asserts a novel separation of powers between the executive branch and the judiciary that is almost unprecedented. During the Civil War, the Supreme Court prohibited military detention of noncombatant Americans without appeal as long as the courts were functioning." [more]

"A look around the world should tell all Americans that once freedoms are surrendered to governments, they are not always returned. Many of the safeguards put in place to establish a wall between information gathered in government surveillance activities and criminal prosecutions resulted from Nixon-era government excesses." [more]

"It's time that the Justice Department got the message. In the wake of the attacks, authorities rounded up large numbers of Arabs and Muslims whose immigration status had been revealed as deficient in the context of the terrorism probe. Many of these people surely had nothing to do with terrorism ... It is hard to imagine that those few detainees who are actually al Qaeda operatives need open proceedings to make their capture known." [more]

"A panel of three judges at the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled the public and press cannot be barred from immigration hearings for people rounded up after Sept. 11." [more]

"'It's been too hard, I've been taking medication. My brain is not functioning any more, I forget a lot and I get shocks at night because they used to bang the door and they never let us sleep.'" [more]

"The secretive federal court that approves spying on terror suspects in the United States has refused to give the Justice Department broad new powers, saying the government had misused the law and misled the court dozens of times, according to an extraordinary legal ruling released yesterday." [more]

"As the nation now moves to upgrade its various surveillance and detection systems, one author writes in the September Atlantic that we should be wary of placing too much faith in the capacity of technology to protect us." [more]

"Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists." [more]

"'I didn't even know they could hold you under a name that is not yours,' said Thompson, from her home in Seattle. 'This is the first time I found out that he is not there under his name' Thompson said several civil rights groups have called her, asking how they might assist Ujaama's case — but that these groups are finding it impossible to even find him in the federal system." [more]

"[The House Judiciary Committee] asked about "roving" surveillance; lists of calls to and from telephone numbers; demands for bookstore, library and newspaper records; and subpoenas under the amended Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act served on Americans or permanent residents. Some simpler questions, about Immigration and Naturalization Service employees the Canadian border, were answered." [more]

"An American touted by Attorney General John Ashcroft as a significant terrorism figure with plans to detonate a radioactive bomb is probably a 'small fish' with no ties to al-Qaida cell members in the United States, law enforcement officials say." [more]

"Justice Department officials have decided to scale back the controversial Operation TIPS program before it even begins, saying yesterday that they no longer plan to ask thousands of mail carriers, utility workers and others with access to private homes to report suspected terrorist activity." [more]

"Hamas is a humane movement, which cares for human rights and is committed to the tolerance inherent in Islam as regards attitudes towards other religions. It is only hostile to those who are hostile towards it, or stand in its way in order to disturb its moves or to frustrate its efforts. Under the shadow of Islam it is possible for the members of the three religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism to coexist in safety and security." [more]

"A type of neighborhood anti-terror program launched by the Bush administration will be up and active this month in 10 cities across the country and some of those recruited could be neighborhood truck drivers, utility employees and train conductors." [more]

"FEMA officials made very clear that the purpose of one of the most massive undertakings in the agencyís history was to prepare for potential mass destruction attacks on U.S. cities." [more]

"Military leaders should be wary. Efforts to further weaken the Posse Comitatus Act are, at a minimum, unnecessary, and at a maximum, potentially damaging." [more]

"Volunteers for Operation TIPS, John Ashcroft's citizen spy army, are being steered to the Fox crime show 'America's Most Wanted.' Is the merger of tabloid TV with the federal snooping operation funny or scary or both?" [more]

"The recent arrivals bring the detainee population to 598. Fifty-nine detainees remain at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials said they plan to eventually move all of them to Guantanamo Bay to free more U.S. troops for the war." [more]

"The government's effort has produced few if any law enforcement coups. Most of the detainees have since been released or deported, with fewer than 200 still being held. But it has provoked a sprawling legal battle, now being waged in federal courthouses around the country, that experts say has begun to redefine the delicate balance between individual liberties and national security." [more]

"As pacifists and pastors in the Church of the Brethren, Phil and Louise Baldwin Rieman argue that contributing funds to war is the same as killing. For 30 years they have given about 60 percent of their taxes to civil rights and peace programs, despite Internal Revenue Service threats of liens against their bank accounts, wage-garnishment letters sent to churches where they worked and government seizure of their family van." [more]

"A federal judge ruled today that the Bush administration had no right to conceal the identities of hundreds of people arrested after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and she ordered that most of their names be released within 15 days." [more]

"Mr. Rumsfeld's efforts to consolidate his hold over military intelligence ó an enormous bureaucracy that includes the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the intelligence branches of the individual military services ó carries important implications for the whole intelligence community." [more]

"The ruling is a victory for the Bush administration, which contends that the more than 560 detainees at a Navy base in Cuba are enemy combatants who can be held indefinitely without criminal charges or access to legal counsel or U.S. courts." [more]

"Under the legislation, sponsored by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, and Senator Jon Kyl, Republican of Arizona, the Justice Department would no longer have to convince a special court that a suspect was an agent of a foreign power or a member of an international terrorist organization to obtain a wiretap under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act." [more]

"In May, a wireless security expert managed to detect the nonsecure wireless LAN at the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in Arlington, Va. (see story). While parked across the street from DISA's headquarters, the security expert was able to view the Service Set Identifier numbers of access points and numerous IP addresses. Using a standard 802.11b wireless LAN card attached to his laptop computer and access-point detection software from San Diego-based NetStumbler.com, he was able to scan the network in less than half an hour." [more]

"The Bush administration has been surprisingly up front about its intentions of propagating falsehoods. In February, for example, the Pentagon announced a plan to create an Office of Strategic Influence to provide false news and information abroad to help manipulate public opinion and further its military objectives. Following a public outcry, the Pentagon said it would close the office — news that would have sounded more convincing had it not come from a place that just announced it was planning to spread misinformation." [more]

"From 1982-84 Colonel Oliver North assisted FEMA in drafting its civil defence preparations. Details of these plans emerged during the 1987 Iran-Contra scandal. They included executive orders providing for suspension of the constitution, the imposition of martial law, internment camps, and the turning over of government to the president and FEMA." [more]

"The Democrats did achieve one unexpected victory. At the last minute, party leaders brought up a motion that would forbid the department to contract with companies that establish an offshore headquarters to evade American taxes. The proposal usually fails when Democrats bring it up in other contexts, but tonight it picked up enough Republican votes to pass. Once it became clear that it would pass, scores of Republicans changed their votes to join the bandwagon, and the measure was approved 318 to 110." [more]

"While facilitating the transfer of detainees to Middle Eastern countries that use torture, the US tried unsuccessfully to block a vote in the United Nations this week on the UN Convention Against Torture, which it has signed and ratified." [more]

"A subsidiary of a company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney has won a $9.7 million contract to build more cells for terrorist suspects at a naval base in Cuba, the Navy announced Friday." [more]

"Camp Delta has space for a little over 600, so the new construction would mean a capacity of over 800. Officials said previously that they could eventually expand the prison to hold 2,000." [more]

"Senator Leahy seemed unsatisfied, saying 'The program would enlist thousands, even millions, of civilians as TIPS informants to report their suspicions to the Justice Department.' Referring to a World War I program, he added, 'We did this back in the early part of the last century, and under a guise of being vigilant, we ended up being vigilantes.' " [more]

"They thought they were making routine purchasesóthe innocent, everyday pickups of charcoal and hummus, bleach and sandwich bags, that keep the modern household running. Regulars at a national grocery chain, these thousands and thousands of shoppers used the store's preferred-customer cards, in the process putting years of their lives on file. Perhaps they expected their records would be used by marketers trying to better target consumers. Instead, says the company's privacy consultant, the data was used by government agents hunting for potential terrorists." [more]

"A young Sydney man falsely linked to al-Qaeda was just a 'normal Aussie kid' caught in the US with a fake ID, his lawyer said today. Adam John Hart, 20, was arrested at a military tourist site in Texas on July 11 and has remained in a Houston jail since, despite being granted bail." [more]

"USPS officials had said Wednesday their 800,000 employees would not participate in the proposed program, whose name is an acronym for Terrorist Information and Prevention System. But the USPS explained Thursday, 'That decision was made because we had insufficient information on the program, and because we had not discussed the issue internally or with the two unions affected.' " [more]

"We will soon have meter readers entering our homes, supposedly to do what we expect them to do, then rummaging around our private residences only to file a report with the Justice Department about anything they deem questionable. If police officers wanted to do the same thing, they'd have to convince a judge or magistrate that there was probable cause to issue a search warrant." [more]

"If Ashcroft wishes to assess the likely effect of the snooping regime he is about to implement, he could ask postal workers from the old days in Prague to explain what happens to a society's sense of solidarity when everybody on the block assumes that the mailman is telling the secret police that Comrade X has been reading bourgeois books." [more]

"Trained FBI agents had [information about] radical Islamic fundamentalists trying to learn how to fly airplanes and they couldn't handle that, but suddenly they're going to be able to handle thousands of unsubstantiated tips from the person reading your electric meter? ... This doesn't make us more secure. I think this turns us into a nation of paranoids," Leahy said. [more]

"The United States Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, is pushing a series of sweeping proposals that will weaken congressional supervision of the Pentagon and give the military more freedom to manage itself." [more]

"The four-star general in charge of defending the United States against attack said he would favor changes in existing law to give greater domestic powers to the military to protect the country against terrorist strikes. The Bush administration has directed lawyers in the Departments of Justice and Defense to review the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 and any other laws that sharply restrict the military's ability to participate in domestic law enforcement. Any changes would be subject to Congressional approval." [more]

"The Bush administration's broad new proposal for domestic security, to be made public on Tuesday, calls for sweeping changes that include the creation of a top-secret plan to protect the nation's critical infrastructure and a review of the law that could allow the military to operate more aggressively within the United States." [more]

"Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems. Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits. A pilot program is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage." [more]

"Under terms of his deal with prosecutors, Lindh, 21, would serve two 10-year prison sentences and would cooperate fully with U.S. authorities in the investigation of the al Qaeda and terrorism. The 10 charges in the original indictment carried at least three maximum life sentences." [more]

" 'Mr. Padilla is an American citizen,' Coughenour said. 'He is before a military tribunal. This is unprecedented.' " [more]

"It was exactly six months ago that the first prisoners were flown to Guantanamo Bay from Afghanistan, their arrival in handcuffs, goggles and ear-muffs causing an international outcry. Despite the fact that the prisoners are interrogated on a regular basis, none has been charged. It is possible that none will ever be charged. The US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has admitted that even if a prisoner were placed before a military tribunal and found not guilty, the prisoner may not be released." [more]

"Americans should not be subjecting themselves to law enforcement scrutiny merely by having cable lines installed, mail delivered or meters read. Police cannot routinely enter people's houses without either permission or a warrant. They should not be using utility workers to conduct surveillance they could not lawfully conduct themselves." [more]

"The court ruled that in a time of war the US attorney general has the right to hold an enemy combatant in military detention incommunicado." [more]

"The jailing of material witnesses in the Sept. 11 investigation was found constitutional by a federal judge, who criticized an earlier ruling freeing a Jordanian detainee." [more]

"Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was widely derided after he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to ring the Capitol with concrete and steel barriers. The move closed two main streets through the city and caused traffic headaches. 'I'm embarrassed that our governor feels he needs to hole up in the state compound like a frightened king,' local real estate agent Robin Rowe wrote in a letter to the editor of The Idaho Statesman. 'The rest of the nation must look upon the good people of Idaho as irrational reactionaries headed up by a paranoid leader.' " [more]

"Federal investigators are conducting raids nationwide on jewelry stores owned mostly by Pakistanis, hoping to break up fronts for terrorist groups or their financial backers, U.S. officials said." [more]

" 'Basically,' says a male reservist, 'I get to play James Bond in the Army. I participate in stuff like conducting liaison interviews with potential spies. I love my job. It'll also help in my civilian job in that I work a lot with computers.' A female soldier, identified as 'interrogator' and 'Spanish linguist,' also beams with pride as she offers an explanation to the camera: 'I can't really tell you a lot about the job, 'cause it is secret.' " [more]

"One by one, barriers erected in the post-Watergate era to prevent abuses and excesses by U.S. intelligence agencies are yielding to pressure to protect the nation from another terrorist attack." [more]

"Nevertheless, officials have opened three times as many investigations into hate crimes with Arab victims since Sept. 11 as in the same period the previous year. They include 350 federal cases and 70 by state and local authorities." [more]

"Some flight crews believed they were being watched by people of Middle Eastern descent. They said the individuals had gathered in hotels and other places in Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London where crews hang out between flights, and were trying to overhear their conversations." [more]

"Deputies seized computer hard drives from a community college's library to examine them for possible terrorist activity after three Middle Eastern-looking men were seen accessing Islamic websites, authorities said Thursday." [more]

"In prepared statements — not unscripted press conference bluster — Ashcroft famously warned his critics that they are essentially traitors. 'Those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty,' he inveighed before Congress, 'your tactics only aid terrorists.' He needed only to add 'and comfort' to his statement to charge dissenters with the constitutional definition of treason." [more]

" 'They told me I would be a fucking bum if I didnít join the Army,' the Portland teen said. 'After I took their verbal abuse, they sent me out in the January cold with no ride home.' Woods said he tried to get out of enlisting over the phone, but was told heíd have to come down to the recruitment office to do so, face to face. A recruiter picked him up at his house, drove him to the South Portland office and demanded a reason for changing his mind." [more]

"It notes two basic challenges to identifying the source of a nuclear weapon: determining the characteristics of the specific weapon and matching those data to information known about nuclear weapons around the world." [more]

"Inside the clandestine operations center where the CIA tries to anticipate what al-Qaeda will do next." [more]

" 'I was treated as a terrorist. I was psychologically tortured in the prison,' 35-year-old Mufeed Khan told the BBC on Saturday. 'I was shackled and handcuffed — completely bound — and questioned as if I were an associate of Osama Bin Laden.' " [more]

The ruling "preserves [a] government effort to secretly detain foreigners." [more]

"A call to Spinosa by the Secretary of Labor would not be surprising, given the stakes, but a call from the man in charge of coordinating the battle against terrorism on America's home turf confirms all the Left's deepest fears that, as so often throughout the twentieth century, national security is being used to justify strike-breaking, invocation of the Taft-Hartley Act and declarations of national emergency to shut down labor activism and if necessary throw labor organizers in jail." [more]

"Under DeWine's proposal, authorities would still have to prove a link to a foreign power. But instead of showing 'probable cause' that a link exists, it would only have to show a 'reasonable suspicion' in the case of noncitizens." [more]

"The decision covered one narrow aspect of a case that poses numerous constitutional questions about the reach of the president's authority over the rights of an American citizen in a time of war. Those questions include whether an American citizen who is accused by the president of being an enemy combatant has a right to a lawyer and whether the United States may detain that person indefinitely without charging him with a crime." [more]

"One lesson of our experience so far is that the best way to deal with suspected terrorists who are arrested in, or brought to, this country will often be neither conventional criminal prosecution (as in the Lindh case) nor unilateral military detention (as in the Padilla and Hamdi cases), but rather military detention checked by federal judicial review." [more]

"When Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment of John Walker Lindh, he said the rights of the 20-year-old 'American Taliban' had been 'carefully, scrupulously honored.' But inside the Justice Department, not everybody was convinced. Even as prosecutors began preparing criminal charges against Lindh last December, the departmentís own ethics advisers were raising red flags." [more]

"Prisoners declared enemy combatants do not have the right to a lawyer and the American judiciary cannot second-guess the military's classification of such detainees, the Justice Department argued yesterday in a brief to an appeals court." [more]

"A controversial directive passed by the European Parliament last month allows the 15 European Union member countries to force ISPs to collect and keep detailed logs of each customer's traffic, so that law enforcement agencies could access it later." [more]

"The debriefing is an extraordinary example of the way Sept. 11 has redefined U.S. engagement with regimes it once vilified. Syria remains on a State Department list of regimes that sponsor terrorism." [more]

"Mr. Padilla, an American citizen, has been sucked into a procedural black hole in which he no longer has any legal rights. If left unchecked, this contempt for the law and due process could pose more of a threat to our way of life than Al Qaeda." [more]

These internal e-mails show that Justice Dept. lawyers concluded FBI plans to interrogate John Walker Lindh without the presence of a lawyer would violate the department's ethical guidelines and was "not authorized by law." [more]

"Last December, two Justice Dept. lawyers e-mailed each other about John Walker Lindh's legal rights." These are some exerpts. [more]

"Faced with carefully worded accusations that the alleged radioactive dirty-bomb plot announced this week was exaggerated for political purposes, the White House is now acknowledging that the threat to the United States was minimal." [more]

"While Americans puzzle over the story of Jose Padilla, a Brooklyn-born hoodlum who was accused this week of plotting to explode a 'dirty bomb' on behalf of Osama bin Laden, the reality is, there are many more like him." [more]

"Attorney General John Ashcroft is claiming that indefinite detention of suspected terrorists without a trial—or any other judicial review of the allegations against them—is justified by 'clear Supreme Court precedent.' Presumably, he's referring to the case of the Nazi saboteurs. If so, then Ashcroft is dead wrong." [more]

"According to press reports, the White House thinks Ashcroft made too much of Padilla, who has not been charged with a crime. The government attorneys apparently could not get an indictment out of a New York grand jury and, rather than let him go, handed Padilla off to the military. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking from Quatar, says he might never be tried." [more]

"The transformation of a chubby Catholic boy named Jose Padilla into an Islamic terrorist suspected of plotting to unleash a 'dirty bomb' on an American city is the mystery of the moment. No one could explain why a Puerto Rican kid who spent much of his adolescence in juvenile hall ended up researching radiological dispersion devices and learning how to wire explosives in Afghanistan and Pakistan." [more]

"Mr. Padilla, who is accused of planning to explode a radioactive device, is an American citizen. He has been in custody since May 8 but has not been charged with a crime. He is, instead, being held as an 'enemy combatant.' " [more]

The policy, "without abandoning containment and deterrence, will for the first time add 'preemption' and 'defensive intervention' as formal options for striking at hostile nations or groups that appear determined to use weapons of mass destruction against the United States." [more]

"There was little doubt in the White House that the creation of a Cabinet department would have to be done in secret. How secret? Near-total. No Cabinet secretary was directly consulted about a plan that would strip 170,000 employees and $37 billion in funding from existing departments." [more]

"The information retained about emails will include who sent the message, where the email went, its contents and the time and date it was sent." [more]

Rather than operating a clearinghouse for intelligence information, officials of the proposed new Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security would be responsible for making key decisions about how to respond." [more]

"Fred Jerome reveals that the 1,800-page document prepared about Einstein by the FBI shows that the agency even bugged his secretary's nephew's house." [more]

[Graphic:] "If approved by Congress, the Homeland Security office would draw from the budgets and jurisdictions of eight existing Cabinet departments or Cabinet-level agencies and involve nearly 170,000 federal employees and a budget of $37 billion." [more]

"If these were Muslims who were forming militias and exchanging tips for making nerve gas, then we'd toss them in prison in an instant. But we're distracted by our own stereotypes, searching for Muslim terrorists in the Philippine jungle and the Detroit suburbs and forgetting that there are blond, blue-eyed mad bombers as well. We're making precisely the mistake that the Saudis did a few years ago: dismissing familiar violent fanatics as kooks." [more]

"Declaring that the Sept. 11 attacks had made the flaws in American immigration procedures "starkly clear," Attorney General John Ashcroft proposed new regulations today requiring tens of thousands of Muslim and Middle Eastern visa holders to register with the government and be fingerprinted." [more]

"In light of the handling of the Moussaoui matter last summer, Sens. Charles Schumer and Jon Kyl also Wednesday proposed making it easier for the federal government to eavesdrop on potential terrorists, saying that if the FBI had been able to listen in on Moussaoui, it might have been able to prevent the attacks. Kyl is on both the Senate intelligence committee and the judiciary panel." [more]

" 'I don't think it's a sufficient excuse, but I do think the Congress and other forces have made us overreact to that sort of a charge,' Mr. Lott said. 'I never have understood in America this preoccupation and fear that if we're going to have the necessary authority for our law enforcement people to do their jobs, it might infringe on your rights. If you're not doing something wrong, what's your concern? What's your problem?' " [more]

" 'His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the conservative supreme court (if you really want to know why the justices voted like they did, I suggest Supreme Injustice by Alan Dershowitz), the economy was sliding into the usual Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency on.' " [more]

"This is not a tyranny, as Mr. W. has claimed. It is justice, it is true equality among human beings, it is general learning and culture without which there is not, there cannot be nor will there ever be true independence, freedom and democracy anywhere on Earth." [more]

" 'There is a real cost to the openness of a free political society if every discussion group needs to be concerned that the F.B.I. is listening in on its public discussions or attending its public meetings.' " [more]

"And we should maintain a bit of humility. Instead of claiming, 'America is the greatest nation on Earth,' we might say, 'I live in the United States and have deep emotional ties to its people, land and ideals, and I want to highlight the many positive things while working to change what is wrong.' " [more]

"Two University of California students were withdrawn from the systemwide education abroad program Wednesday after they were detained by Israeli authorities. The two were part of a group of 10 foreign activists who entered the scene of a standoff between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity." [more]

" 'Well, the plutocracy ... and I think we have one now and we didn't, uh, 12 years ago when I wrote The Politics of Rich and Poor is when money has ceased just entertaining itself with leveraged buyouts and all the stuff they did in the '80s, and really takes over politics, and takes it over on both sides when money not only talks, money screams. When you start developing philosophies in which giving a check is a First Amendment right. That's incredible. What you've got is that this is what money has done. It's produced the fusion of money and government. And that is plutocracy.' " [more]

"Asked by Tim Russert last Sunday if the kind of noise that our intelligence is picking up from Al Qaeda this spring is 'similar' to the noise prior to Sept. 11, Vice President Cheney answered, 'Sure.' If that's the case, it's clear that Ari Fleischer's reassurance to the press in February that Al Qaeda has been 'severely disrupted and severely hampered' is now inoperative." [more]

"No judge anywhere in the United States denied a police wiretap request. The total number of wiretaps jumped 25 percent from 2000." [more]

"'They have been struck physically, strip-searched, deliberately stopped from praying; they've been cuffed behind their backs, picked up by their thumbs and dragged from one place to another,' said Sandra Nicholls, representing two current detainees. 'They feel they are suffering reprisals because they talked to the inspector general.' One inmate said he was told: 'Now you're suffering like the people in the towers suffered.'" [more]

"On Wednesday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the new surveillance powers by a 327 to 101 vote. The bill, titled the Customs Border Security Act, says that incoming or outgoing mail can be searched at the border 'without a search warrant.' The vote on the larger bill came after a surprisingly heated debate on the House floor over an amendment that would have deleted the mail-snooping sections." [more]

"The last National Guard soldiers are pulling out of US airports this week ... [while] security breaches continue." [more]

"Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners may soon be answering questions from lawyers for fellow Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, but the government doesn't want the detainees to know who posed the questions." [more]

"How come that a terrorist organization with a hard core numbering no more than 3,000ñ5,000 members commands better tactical intelligence than the United States as well as a counterintelligence capability effective enough to fend off hostile penetration?" [more]

"John Walker Lindh's attorneys yesterday asked that most of the charges against the California man captured with Taliban soldiers be dismissed because they violate Lindh's First Amendment right to associate with any cause, no matter how unpopular." [more]

"In the eight months since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, the Bush administration has moved more quickly than any administration since World War II to make government activities, documents and other information secret, liberals and conservatives say." [more]

"It is America's new reality: security and surveillance. From intense scrutiny at airports to expanded government authority to track Internet use, federal agents now watch American citizens more closely than ever." [more]

"The U.S. Justice Department has been ordered by three separate courts to ease the obsessive, illegal secrecy it has employed since Sept. 11. The message has yet to sink in. Instead, Attorney General John Ashcroft dismisses the rulings as 'anomalies' and goes on his merry way." [more]

Reporters who criticise Israel are to blame for inciting anti-Semites to burn synagogues. Thus it is not Israel's brutality and occupation that provokes the sick and cruel people who attack Jewish institutions, synagogues and cemeteries. We journalists are to blame. [more]

"In a recent release, the Department of Justice claimed that the total number of people still being held is down to 327. But DRUM organizers, through their own contacts with families of detainees, disagree. "There are at least 1,000 still being held in just New Jersey," says Monami Maulik." [more]

"The delegation of 12 men and women, which included survivors of the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima, was initially invited to Towers High School in South DeKalb County on Wednesday to give a history lesson about the bombing. But DeKalb County school officials asked several members of the group to leave the school grounds after they were handed a flier they said the group was distributing in the Atlanta area, warning of nuclear 'destruction' and the potential use of nuclear weapons by the United States." [more]

"Flooded with more than 60,000 applications since Sept. 11, the Central Intelligence Agency and its Pentagon counterpart are beefing up the ranks of spies ó reversing a decade of cutbacks to hire hundreds of new recruits ó from Arabic speakers to counterterrorism experts." [more]

"Authorities arrested close to 100 workers Tuesday at airports serving the nation's capital on charges they lied to obtain security badges that gave them broad access to sensitive areas. 'These individuals are charged with gaining access to secure areas of our airports by lying on security applications, using false or fictitious Social Security numbers or committing various immigration frauds,' said Attorney General John Ashcroft." [more]

"Environmentalists charge that the Pentagon's proposal would dilute the definition of 'harassment' so much that the National Marine Fisheries Service would find it difficult to regulate military activities that affect marine mammals. The changes also would make it harder for citizens and environmental groups to sue the military for endangering marine mammals. "The Pentagon's proposal, a draft of which was obtained by The Times, also would give the military exemptions under the Clean Air Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and hazardous waste laws." [more]

"Uncertain about how they will be able to prosecute many of the nearly 300 prisoners detained at a naval base in Cuba, Bush administration officials are considering a new legal doctrine that would allow prisoners to be brought before military tribunals without specific evidence that they engaged in war crimes." [more]

"Under the Patriot Act the FBI 'can go into a public library and ask for the records on anybody who ever used the library, or who used it on a certain day, or checked out certain kinds of books. It can do the same at any bank, telephone company, hotel or motel, hospital or university — merely upon the claim that the information is "sought for" an investigation to protect against international terrorism or clandestine intelligence activities.' " [more]

"The official White House transcript made no mention of the hecklers or Bush's false starts. The opposition sees a Soviet-style move to airbrush infelicitous phrases. 'These transcripts are done for near-term history as well as long-term history and it's a real problem if they start rewriting them,' said Joe Lockhart, a former press secretary for President Bill Clinton. 'The White House is rewriting history.' " [more]

"The indefinite detention of American citizens with no charge and no public legal justification is unacceptable." [more]

"Bush's new rules allow military courts to sentence defendants to life in prison either with or without parole for serious crimes such as murder, rape and kidnapping. Previously, the courts could sentence those criminals to a life sentence with no determination of whether parole would be allowed." [more]

"Jensen wrote a piece in which he urged Americans to confront some of the 'ugly truths' about their country's history of targeting civilians in war as a way to understand why some fundamentalists hate America. After a Texas newspaper published the column, more than 4,000 e-mails flooded in, many demanding he be fired and announcing intentions to stop donations to the school." [more]

"An awful question hovers over these accounts of torturers who come to America to hide from justice. How can it be that the United States makes so little effort to identify, prosecute, or extradite foreign torturers living here?" [more]

"The building of a permanent detention facility highlights an emerging US tactic: long-term holding of captives." [more]

"The Justice Department's reasons for the secrecy are unconvincing. By refusing to identify those it holds, the department says it avoids stigmatizing those who are innocent and avoids tipping off their fellow terrorists if they are not." [more]

" 'These results reflect the reality that there has been no second major terrorist attack since 9/11,' Westin said in the press release. 'The high-anxiety, very-high-approval rates for expanded law enforcement powers expressed in late September 2001 have moved, six months later, to a still-high but somewhat more cautious level, reflecting American concerns that liberty and due process intrusions be kept to the necessary minimum.' " [more]

"Prosecutors have admitted to a federal court that they have no evidence linking accused Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh to the murder of a CIA agent or direct attacks on Americans in Afghanistan." [more]

"President Bush now admits that the one-size-fits-all 'Bush doctrine' on terrorism in fact doesn't fit Yasser Arafat." [more]

"The Bush Justice Dept.ís pursuit of the death penalty for French-born Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged so-called 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, wonít do a thing to deter future violence, and may actually exacerbate it." [more]

"Fear & Favor is FAIRís annual review of incidents that reflect the range of pressures on reporters to use something other than journalistic judgment in deciding what goes in the news and what gets left out. The year 2001 presented special challenges in this regard. The horrific September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the ensuing declaration by the Bush administration of an open-ended "war on terrorism," meant incredible pressure on the press corps to present U.S. actions and policy in the best light; incidents of outright censorship occurred, and even more self-censorship, as many outlets confused independent inquiry with a lack of patriotism." [more]

"Calling the prisoners 'dangerous people,' William Haynes 2d, the Pentagon's top lawyer, said, 'If we had a trial right this minute, it is conceivable that somebody could be tried and acquitted of that charge but may not necessarily automatically be released.' " [more]

A "scanner that can see through clothes leaves nothing to the imagination, and [a] bomb sniffer also can test for drugs. Both of these systems concern civil liberties advocates." [more]

"How our search for the 'shadow government' turned into an espionage investigation." [more]

Amnesty International "accused the U.S. government of arbitrarily imprisoning the detainees and denying them 'the right to humane treatment, to be informed of reasons for detention, to have prompt access to a lawyer, to be able to challenge the lawfulness of the detention and to be presumed innocent until proven otherwise.' " [more]

The National Drug Intelligence Center "said five types of people should be targeted [on the Internet], including previous drug offenders, legalization advocates, anarchists and people promoting 'an expanded freedom of expression' that pushes the boundaries of the First Amendment." [more]

"When patriotism began to be treated as uncool, people who wanted to be cool, or at least to seem cool, stopped demonstrating patriotism, even if they felt it." [more]

"Since Sept. 11, the U.S. government has secretly transported dozens of people suspected of links to terrorists to countries other than the United States, bypassing extradition procedures and legal formalities, according to Western diplomats and intelligence sources. The suspects have been taken to countries, including Egypt and Jordan, whose intelligence services have close ties to the CIA and where they can be subjected to interrogation tactics — including torture and threats to families — that are illegal in the United States, the sources said." [more]

"Unlike much of the arms-control discussions in recent years, this dispute is not over the number of weapons the United States needs; it is over the more fundamental issue of the circumstances in which they might be used." [more]

"Attacks on Asian-Americans, particularly Pakistani and Indian immigrants, increased greatly in the United States in the weeks after Sept. 11, a report by an advocacy group says." [more]

" 'Their first instinct is not to tell people things,' Mr. Elmendorf said. 'They're not the first White House to be like that, but they're certainly more excessively secretive than I remember the Clinton White House being, or even Bush I.' " [more]

"Incidents are prompting travelers to wonder whether aviation security is in danger of running amok and turning on ordinary citizens. Whether the problems stem from overzealousness or bureaucratic ineptitude, making the system more user-friendly has become a concern second only to stopping terrorists." [more]

"The Army is considering closing its Peacekeeping Institute, the only arm of the military devoted entirely to preparing for and analyzing U.S. peacekeeping missions around the globe." [more]

"Even though a pre-emptive, limited nuclear strike might be contemplated in an unexpected emergency, it would probably be a last resort. Otherwise, anyone considering such a strike would be open to scorn as some sort of latter-day Dr. Strangelove embracing the bomb." [more]

"Outlining a broad overhaul of American nuclear policy, a secret Pentagon report calls for developing new nuclear weapons that would be better suited for striking targets. Critics responded by complaining that the Bush administration was not only pushing for the development of new types of nuclear weapons, but broadening the circumstances in which they might be used." [more]

"Despite President Bush's insistence that America's enemies resent its liberties, most critics of the U.S. don't actually object to America's stated values. Instead, they point to U.S. unilateralism in the face of international laws, widening wealth disparities, crackdowns on immigrants and human rights violations--most recently in Guantanamo Bay. The anger comes not only from the facts of each case but also from a clear perception of false advertising. In other words, America's problem is not with its brand--which could scarcely be stronger--but with its product." [more]

"An improved global order cannot come about if the label of "anti-American" is automatically and unthinkingly slapped on any serious analysis of antidemocratic trends, of political excesses and abuse when, as so often happens, the United States provides the clearest examples. Cries of "anti-American" amount to intimidation, as do the labels "leftist" and "bleeding-heart liberal" thrown at those whose conscience and intelligence drive them to rethink political purpose amid their country's technocracy and corrupted media." [more]

"Since the gradual demise of the Soviet Union, certain scholars of combat had been arguing that the great lumbering military machine constructed for the cold war was stubbornly ill suited to the new threats of a disorderly world and slow to exploit the new technologies of the information age. As they watched American airliners explode into American landmarks, and then monitored the subsequent rout of the Taliban, the reformers could barely contain the urge to gloat: this is the sort of threat we were warning you about." [more]

"The Justice Department is removing hundreds of Pakistani detainees from the United States at a 'hectic' pace and U.S. officials have told the Pakistani government that most of those arrested immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks will be returned home by the end of next month, a Pakistani official said today." [more]

Neighborhood Watch programs across the country were recently handed a new directive from Attorney General John D. Ashcroft: patrol for terrorists. [more]

"The awkwardness of [Bush's] challenge was evident Monday, when U.S. forces suffered their highest death toll of the war in Afghanistan. Aides said Bush kept up with reports from the region but did not seriously consider canceling or postponing his trip or his attendance at a Minneapolis fundraiser for Norm Coleman, a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate." [more]

"Frustrated by their inability to identify a vast majority of captured fighters of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, federal authorities are proposing to create a DNA databank of terrorism suspects by analyzing blood samples from thousands of detainees being held in Afghanistan and Cuba, government officials said." [more]

Some people "understand, better than some of their neighbours, that America itself has been largely responsible for creating an ever more integrated world. They therefore recognise that we cannot escape back to some Norman Rockwell-like age of innocence and isolationism, and fear we are alienating too much of a world to which we are now tightly and inexorably bound." [more]

"Alarmed by growing hints of al Qaeda's progress toward obtaining a nuclear or radiological weapon, the Bush administration has deployed hundreds of sophisticated sensors since November to U.S. borders, overseas facilities and choke points around Washington. It has placed the Delta Force, the nation's elite commando unit, on a new standby alert to seize control of nuclear materials that the sensors may detect." [more]

The Justice Department admits that about 326 Middle Eastern men detained in the post-attack hysteria remain in custody, most of them in New Jersey jails. Little or no evidence links the detainees to any serious crimes. [more]

"President Bush has dispatched a shadow government of about 100 senior civilian managers to live and work secretly outside Washington, activating for the first time long-standing plans to ensure survival of federal rule after catastrophic attack on the nation's capital." [more]

"Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), in an interview Thursday, made clear he has many questions for the administration -- and some frustration over the way the Bush team is ignoring Congress as it charts its policy. He said the administration has "no clear message" about the war at this point. "There is nobody I know you can go to in this administration [who can say] this is the plan," he said." [more]

"About a third of the al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, refused to eat on Thursday after guards forced a captive to remove a makeshift turban during prayers, military officials said." [more]

(1) The President shall prescribe procedures under which Federal agencies determine-- (A) whether, how, and to what extent homeland security information may be shared with appropriate State and local personnel, and with which such personnel may it be shared; and [more]

The Justice Department acknowledged the arrest of 1,200 people before it stopped releasing numbers in November; human rights groups believe the total number could be as high as 2,000. But Haddad's case is perhaps the most troubling of all because of the sheer severity of his treatment and the shockingly abrupt suspension of his rights to due legal process. Government lawyers have refused to spell out what evidence, if any, they have against him, saying that they do not have to under the Bush administration's stiff new anti-terrorism law passed in late October, the so-called Patriot Act. The US Attorney's office in Chicago refused all comment. [more]

"The Pentagon appeared increasingly likely today to eliminate a new office intended to influence public opinion and policy makers overseas, as both President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld distanced themselves from the operation. Proposals from the new agency, the Office of Strategic Influence, have caused an uproar in Congress and elsewhere in the government." [more]

"Tensions within the walls of Muslim day schools are in many ways emblematic of the U.S. Muslim community's political concerns, fears, biases and hopes, all brought into sharp focus since the events of Sept. 11." [more]

"The mother of a 22-year-old British man detained in Guantanamo Bay today called on the US government to release her son, as lawyers for Britons held in Cuba said they would sue the UK government in the high court for aiding and abetting their 'unlawful detention.' " [more]

The war in Afghanistan and Pentagon efforts to bolster security at home will cost a projected $30 billion this year, far more than Congress has provided, according to Defense Department documents obtained by The Associated Press. [more]

"A day after we learned that the military's Office of Strategic Influence wanted to plant fake stories in the overseas press, we read in Variety that the Pentagon is teaming with Jerry Bruckheimer, producer of 'Top Gun,' 'Black Hawk Down,' 'Pearl Harbor' and 'Coyote Ugly,' and Bertram van Munster, of 'Cops,' to make a TV docudrama about the war on terrorism." [more]

One of the most contentious debates has been between, on one side, government officials who believe that information about hazardous chemical sites should be kept away from potential terrorists and, on the other side, environmentalists and other groups that contend the public should have this information to address any health concerns. Another debate has been between Defense Department officials, who want to make sure their research isn't used to create weapons, and scientists, who say that new limitations on information-sharing may stifle innovation. [more]

"Foreign nationals captured in Afghanistan and held in Cuba sued members of the Bush administration and the military Tuesday, saying they are entitled to the same legal rights as American Taliban John Walker Lindh." [more]

"Rep. Dennis Kucinich issues the strongest critical statement and challenge to the Bush Administration from a member of Congress since Sept. 11." [more]

"As U.S. officials worried about terrorists tighten security at ports and borders, they have become concerned about the more than 20 American Indian reservations that line hundreds of miles of the borders with Canada and Mexico. Neither the U.S. Border Patrol nor any other state or federal agency has jurisdiction to patrol Indian lands without permission." [more]

"U.S. commanders acknowledged last week that they mistakenly took 27 prisoners in the raid, believing they were al-Qaeda and Taliban warriors ... Several contended in reports in The New York Times and The Washington Post that they were beaten and kept in a cage with wooden bars during their detention in Kandahar." [more]

"The FBI issued an extraordinary terrorist alert Monday night, asking law enforcement and the American public to be on the lookout for a Yemeni man and several associates who might be plotting a terrorist attack as early as Tuesday." [more]

"Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said that Mr Bush was wrong to take such a decision 'without convening a competent tribunal, as required by the Geneva Conventions.' They said the conventions provided explicit protection to all combatants captured in an international armed conflict." [more]

"The incident, which ended after an hour of questioning, represents more than just a disturbing day for one museum staffer. Across the US, growing numbers of Americans are facing similar interrogations — apparently, they say, because they have criticized the government, President Bush, or the war on terrorism." [more]

"President Bush reversed himself yesterday and declared that captured combatants who fought for Afghanistan's Taliban regime will be formally covered by the Geneva Conventions. But the president refused to confer that status on detainees who are members of the al Qaeda terrorist network." [more]

New government-sponsored ads "promote the twisted reasoning that, since drug profits have found their way into the pockets of terrorists, any young Americans who use drugs are therefore guilty of aiding and abetting the enemy." [more]

"Breaking with other cabinet officials, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has asked President Bush to declare that the United States is bound by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the captives in Afghanistan and at Guant·namo Bay, Cuba, administration officials said today. Seeking a review of a presidential decision made nine days ago, when the administration determined that the captured fighters were not prisoners of war and hence not fully protected by the Geneva Conventions, Mr. Powell and his lawyers at the State Department urged Mr. Bush to affirm that the international law of war does govern the United States' treatment of all captives of the Taliban military and the terrorist network Al Qaeda." [more]

"By December ... when the war in Afghanistan was well under way, the share of factual coverage overall had fallen to 63 percent — a level 'lower than those seen in the middle of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal,' according to [a] study. Analysis, speculation and outright opinion picked up the slack." [more]

"Invoking security concerns, President Bush has issued an executive order barring union representation at United States attorneys' offices and at four other agencies in the Justice Department. Although federal law bans strikes by federal employees, White House officials said Mr. Bush had issued his order out of concern that union contracts could restrict the ability of workers in the Justice Department to protect Americans and national security." [more]

"So should the media highlight, not play down, this government's attack on civil liberties—the mass detentions, secret evidence, increased surveillance, suspension of attorney-client privilege, the encouragements to spy, the warnings not to disagree, the censored images, sequestered public papers, unexpected visits from the Secret Service and so on. And so should the media not parrot what the Pentagon says about the current war, because such prettified accounts make us complacent and preserve us in our fatal ignorance of what people really think of us—and why—beyond our borders" [more]

"When the Pentagon can suppress satellite images of the war, CNN staffers can be warned not to discuss Afghan war casualties, and supposedly unbiased news broadcasters, such as CBS's Dan Rather, say things like 'Wherever [Bush] wants me to line up, just tell me where,' it seems clear that we are being fed shadows and not the truth." [more]

"The American Bar Association is urging Attorney General John D. Ashcroft to rescind his order allowing the monitoring of conversations between lawyers and clients suspected of terrorism, claiming the directive is a violation of constitutional safeguards and is counterproductive." [more]

"In all the discussion of building a homeland-security apparatus, very little attention has been paid to the fundamental question of whether 100 percent more effort will make people even one percent safer. America makes its living by exporting technology and pop culture while importing hard goods and unskilled labor. The very small percentage of unwanted people and substances that arrive with all the people and things we do want is part of the cost of being America, Inc." [more]

"In a case that could affect thousands of immigrants detained while they fight deportation, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled yesterday that the government's mandatory detention policy was unconstitutional and that each detainee was entitled to an individualized bond hearing." [more]

"The high-tech IDs, the latest in 'smart cards,' were designed for tracking personnel across the globe and running more secure and efficient military operations. But now they are models for something that was unthinkable before Sept. 11: national identification cards for all U.S. citizens." [more]

"Several officials said bin Laden's claims that most of the hijackers did not know one another or even know the game plan until the final hours indicates al-Qaeda enforces strict need-to-know operational security. That makes early detection extremely difficult." [more]

"Given the litigious nature of the United States, it should be no surprise that the American military has more lawyers than all other countries combined. Legal advisers are integral to planning and operations at all levels, reviewing targets and rules of engagement. Even at the White House level, constraints on civilian damage, either implicit or explicit, are articulated by legal counsel. Specific rules of engagement are further developed in the Pentagon by the Defense Department civilian leadership and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, with legal input, of course." [more]

"The Justice Department never discussed with the Defense Department whether Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person indicted so far in the Sept. 11 attacks, should be prosecuted by a military tribunal instead of a civilian court, officials said Wednesday." [more]

"The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court for a broad ruling to authorize the use of secret evidence in cases in which it is trying to detain or deport immigrants it contends are in the country illegally. For national security reasons, the government argues that it should share secret evidence with only immigration judges and not with the immigrants and their lawyers." [more]

"In forceful and unyielding testimony, Attorney General John Ashcroft today defended the administration's array of antiterrorism proposals and accused some of the program's critics of aiding terrorists by providing 'ammunition to America's enemies.' " [more]

"In select cases, the Bush administration is considering making concessions on both the death penalty and the use of military tribunals to gain custody of suspected terrorists held in Europe, a senior U.S. official said. It is the first indication that the United States might be willing to negotiate with other countries on how suspected terrorists will be tried." [more]

"Faced with growing criticism over his refusal to identify people jailed since the Sept. 11 attacks, Attorney General John Ashcroft today provided for the first time the names of 93 people charged with crimes arising from the government's investigation." [more]

"Shane Fink had almost made it through the morning of his first day at a new job when the secretary waved him over. Just like that, he sighed, he was a corporal in the Marine Corps again." [more]

"Over all, more than 1,200 people have been detained as part of the sweeping investigation, including men traveling the country with large amounts of cash and box cutters, and those who sought information on crop-dusters and flying lessons on large jets. But a senior law enforcement official said for the first time last week that just 10 to 15 of the detainees are suspected as Al Qaeda sympathizers, and that the government has yet to find evidence indicating that any of them had knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks or acted as accomplices. [more]

"A long-term resident of the United States who President Bush believes may have aided a terrorist can now be tried in secret by a military commission and be sentenced to death on the basis of hearsay and rumor with no appeal to any civilian court, even the Supreme Court." [more]

"Under great secrecy, Middle Eastern men are being detained on a scale not seen since World War II." [more]

"In the US and elsewhere, the fallout from 11 September may include the end of the era of civil liberties and human rights." [more]

"War skeptics such as Richard Gere, Susan Sontag, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), Bill Maher and the Berkeley City Council should be congratulated, not vilified, for daring to demur, ever so slightly, from government propaganda. Right or wrong, they have acted as free people in a free society who understand that if our course is correct, it can survive criticism. And if it is not, it is all the more important that we gather the courage to state that criticism clearly and in a timely fashion." [more]

"The result in advanced industrial cities seems to be the emergence of urban landscapes made up of many superimposed layers of surveillant simulation. Each layer has its own finer and finer mosaic of socio-spatial grids; its own embedded assumptions and criteria for allocating and withdrawing service access; its own definitions for specifying the "acceptable" presence of individuals in different "cellular" spaces; and its own cybernetic loops of system feedback, within which systems of surveillance become ever more integrated into systems of simulation. the broad result is the development of social control systems of unprecedented intensity and power which are virtually invisible and unregulated. What is most worrying is that the more disturbing aspects of these trends tend to be virtually ignored within public debates about cities and technology. In fact, many are actually being welcomed under the banners of "improved customer service" or the use of technologies to provide technical quick fixes to the complex urban social problems of crime and alienation." [more]