just an FYI.
I have spent the last 2 days on and off examining the criticism presented about the Patriot Act since it was passed and I find nothing about Americans being held without due process or having anything resembling habeas corpus suspension.According to Georgetown University professor Viet Dinh, who worked on the act when he was in the department of Justice, "The USA Patriot Act has become a brand. Activists lump everything that is objectionable about the war on terror, anything wrong with the world really, onto the USA Patriot Act. No more than 10 percent of what people ascribe to the [Patriot Act] on any given day, is in the Patriot Act itself."
I think you are referring to the Military Commissions Act.
The critique of the Patriot act was as follows (as the critics say it)
1. it grants government agencies the power to investigate people's private lives and to inhibit speech and activities protected by the First Amendment. It grants the government access to records held by third parties such as doctors, libraries, and Internet service providers, on the basis of the investigating agency's assertion that the records are related to an ongoing terrorist investigation.
2.It expands the ability of the government to conduct electronic searches without notifying the subjects until later, which to some violates the Fourth Amendment's ban against "unreasonable search and seizures "and "probable cause."
3. It created a crime of "domestic terrorism" which critics say is too vague .
4. By demolishing the "wall of separation" it puts the CIA in the domestic spy business.
Historically certain civil liberties have been curtailed in American History during times of war .We know also from history that they have never been permanent .The slippery slope theory proven again and again unfounded I would argue that over-all liberties have expanded way beyond what the founders imagined .Many of our perceived freedoms today would've been considered 'license' in the founders day. [Lack of due restraint; excessive freedom:
Quote:
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“When liberty becomes license, dictatorship is near”
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(Will Durant)]Therefore I believe Elliot is correct in his claim that the charge of abuse should be proven . Anything else is dealing in hypotheticals.
As I have pointed out in various debates about these issues ;The question comes down to a basic dispute about whether we are at war . I think if the enemy was a uniformed one like we've had in the past there would not be this debate (even though throughout history there have been some who gave cassandra warnings about the gvt. security provisions that proved unfounded) .
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