According to CNS news, "A letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft Monday (March 31) from the House Judiciary Committee asked more than 125 questions about implementation of the USA Patriot Act by the Department of Justice, including queries about secret search warrants and detention of suspected terrorists."
The report added, "The 18-page letter asks Ashcroft to provide specific details about how the DOJ in general, and specifically the FBI, has used the new powers provided by the act to conduct wire taps, surveillance, data mining and secret searches, as well as detain 'suspected alien terrorists' and register citizens of certain other countries living in or visiting the U.S."
John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, said, "The Patriot Act is, in my opinion, the most invasive violation of constitutional liberties I've seen in my 28 years practicing law."
Whitehead went on to say, " Do I think you can stop the train of constitutional and civil liberties abuses at this point? No. It's a little late because everything is set in motion."
Whitehead's fears are justified. In the name of fighting terrorism, the Bush administration and a jellyfish Congress have effectively gutted the Bill of Rights and, with the stroke of a pen, have put the machinery in place to permanently establish a national police force in the United States.
Furthermore, most conservatives would be surprised to learn that the USA Patriot Act and the Department of Homeland Security are actually the brainchild of former President Bill Clinton. Shortly after the Homeland Security Bill was passed, Clinton appeared before a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations in Chicago and enthusiastically said, "We have been working on this (the Homeland Security bill) for a long time."
Bill Clinton had attempted but was unable to implement this freedom-eating monster. However, because G.W. Bush enjoys immense support from conservatives, he was able to rush the act through Congress without opposition.
At the same time that President Bush is sending America's fighting forces to Iraq in the name of liberation and freedom, he is in the process of taking away freedom and liberty from the American people.
It is right that the Republican and Democratic leadership of the House Judiciary Committee would want the Bush administration to explain itself concerning the USA Patriot Act. Indeed, all Americans should want to know what's in store for them as a result of this act.
Unfortunately, those House leaders that are now making inquiry into the act's contents, have already voted it into law, and the American people who should want to know what's in the act, have already clearly demonstrated that they are totally unconcerned.
Add an indifferent and compliant citizenry to a sheepish and cowardly Congress and you have a despotism in the making! Will someone please explain what good it does to dispose of a tyrant 7,000 miles away only to create one in your own backyard?
© Chuck Baldwin
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