[Mb-civic] The Enemies Among Us

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

The Enemies Among Us 

by Mike Whitney

"Progressive Trail" -- 12/20/04 

The new Intelligence reform bill is a more stunning attack on the Bill 
of Rights than the Patriot Act. Most people have no idea how 
dramatically their "inalienable" rights have been savaged, or to what 
extent the Congress has sold them out. It's no exaggeration to say 
that the foundation of personal liberty, guaranteed in the law, is 
cracking at the base. It'll be a miracle if we can put it back together 
in time to pass it on to our children. 

As usual, the role of the media has been pivotal in obfuscating the 
details of the bill. They've fed the hysteria over the establishment of 
a NID; (National Intelligence Director) a glamour position that has 
been represented as vital to stopping another 9-11. What rubbish. 
Teaching Condi Rice how to read a simple e-mail from bin Laden 
would be twice as effective. 

The media has done little to expose the real nature of the conflict 
between the Pentagon and the 9-11 panel. That battle was a 
straightforward "turf war" that threatened to take a chunk of money 
away from Rumsfeld, who presently gets 80% of the Intelligence 
budget. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) defended Rumsfeld by 
claiming that "battlefield operations" would be endangered if the bill 
passed. It was nonsensical argument reflective of Hunter's 
indebtedness to the Defense industry (Dig around the internet and 
you'll find that Hunter is even more of a corporate streetwalker than 
most of his peers) As for Rumsfeld, he just wants his $32 billion, so 
that he can persist in bankrolling his clandestine detention centers, 
death squads and propaganda facilities (now called strategic 
intelligence). In reality, Rumsfeld is conducting his own secret 
government, and has been for some time. That takes money, and 
lots of it. 

The creation of the NID is an appalling idea. It puts all 14 
intelligence agencies UNDER A POLITICAL APPOINTEE, which is 
an invitation for disaster. We all know how corrupted information 
was before the Iraq war; imagine what it will look like after it travels 
through the executive sausage-making unit. It's unlikely that 
anything remotely resembling the truth will ever emerge from the 
Bush White House. 

The new bill creates a new national ID card ("Let me see your 
papers") by federalizing driver's licenses. The plan is to establish 
federal guidelines in the design of licenses that can be used as a 
means for tracking people. These standards are unnecessary 
unless the government is developing a social strategy that is so 
heinous that it's bound to generate more enemies. The increased 
repression and the greater disparity in personal wealth suggest that 
this is the case. 

Democracy Now elaborates on the new national ID: "There's all 
sorts of new technologies that could be incorporated into the driver's 
license to link it to all sorts of public and private-sector databases. 
And you could also imagine putting an RFID chip in the license that 
would allow it to be tracked remotely. So, this is something the 9/11 
commission had actually recommended be done, that the driver's 
license should be something like an internal passport of the sort that 
we've seen in the Soviet Union in the past, and although the 
Congress wasn't willing to explicitly go that far, they have laid the 
groundwork for that kind of checkpoint society in the future." 

Did you hear any complaints from Congress over this hallmark of 
fascist's regimes? 

The Intel bill also creates a "Civil Liberties Board" charged with 
investigating whether the new legislation adversely affects civil 
rights. 

Regrettably, the board is a complete sham. It has no subpoena 
power and is subordinate to the NID, the President and the Attorney 
General. In other words, it's merely a public relations ploy intended 
to conceal the bill's harsher measures (Undoubtedly, this "Board" 
will be used by Bush to defend his steadfast concern for civil 
liberties) 

The powers of the FISA court have also been seriously expanded. 
The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act basically allows the secret 
court to overturn the "probable cause" provision of the 4th 
Amendment in the investigation of terror suspects. John Ashcroft 
gravely abused the statute by extending it to the surveillance of 
identity-theft suspects and drug traffickers (Ashcroft actually 
boasted to Congress about the success of using the Patriot Act to 
apprehend criminals who were entirely unrelated to terrorism. He 
obviously considered the 4th Amendment nothing more than an 
unnecessary nuisance) Now the law has been expanded to include 
a "lone wolf" provision; supposedly aimed at an individual terrorist 
acting without the support of a foreign government. In fact, the 
purpose of the new provision is to allow unlimited surveillance of any 
American without the hassle of having to prove even the "remotest" 
connection to organized terror or a foreign government. It is a "blank 
check" for law enforcement to eschew all privacy laws without fear 
of reprimand. It is the end of the 4th amendment. 

More importantly, if someone is arrested (as was the case with 1200 
Muslims after 9-11) as a terrorist suspect, he can be refused bail 
and IMPRISONED INDEFINITLY WITHOUT CHARGES. The 
moniker of "terrorist" trumps the underlying principle of American 
jurisprudence, that is, the "presumption of innocence" Now, 
prisoners will have to prove that they aren't guilty; a difficult prospect 
when there is no process in place to challenge the terms of their 
detention. Consider the comments of Judge Antonin Scalia in this 
regard: "The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon 
system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite 
imprisonment at the will of the Executive." 

This sounds like empty rhetoric coming from Scalia, but his point is 
a valid one. Where arbitrary imprisonment begins, the rule of law 
ends. American citizens are no longer protected by "inalienable 
rights"; their safety depends on the discretion of the President. 

This brief summary doesn't cover all the repressive elements of the 
new bill. It does, however, show how personal liberty is being 
sacrificed to enhance the power of the state. The Intelligence 
Reform legislation is 615 pages long. Not one was written by either 
a Senator or a Congressman. This entire campaign to strip 
Americans of their civil liberties is being orchestrated by private 
interests; the "silent partners" who wrote this legislation in its 
entirety. Think about that. 

The document that will be signed into law next week is a frontal 
assault on the fundamental rights of man. Even Habeas Corpus, 
which goes back 600 years in English law, is struck down. 

The enemies of freedom are among us, and they're moving quickly. 
But, don't take my word for it. Consider the meaning of these 
attacks on basic rights and make your own judgment. 

Copyright: Progressive Trail

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7518.htm


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