Patriot II. In Deliver Us from Ashcroft (in The Washington Times), Nat Hentoff begins with "Attorney General John Ashcroft, with support from President Bush, has increasingly forgotten that the Constitution is ours [~] not just his." He continues
one of the most damaging abuses [in Patriot II] is found in Section 201. According to this section, a federal court decision can be overturned, mandating that the government reveal the identities of those persons it has detained in the investigation of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The new bill states that "the government need not disclose information about individuals detained in investigations of terrorism until ... the initiation of criminal charges," no matter how long that might take...If passed, this would become the first time in American history that secret arrests would be specifically permitted under the American rule of law.
I haven't written about Patriot II yet, not out of a lack of interest, but due to a sense of weariness with all of the things happening to Americans after September 11th. I heard a lot of negative commentary about President Bush last week in London, and I remember telling someone that Bush wasn't the real threat--the real threat is Ashcroft. At least, Ashcroft is doing more harm to Americans and "the American way," however that might be understood. I'm trying to fight my inertia, and so I'm posting this in the hopes that it motivates me.
As a side note, a draft version (dated January 9, 2003) of the Act in .pdf format is available from the Center for Public Integrity. Be forwarned, though--it is a 12 MB download. CPI also has a list of related documents. [klyjen.blog]
9:04:20 PM 
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