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Dissent Is Patriotic

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee's e-mail newsletter

January 2005, Vol. 4, No. 1

In this issue:

Looking Ahead, Looking Back

Looking at 2005:

USA PATRIOT Act Sunsets: Several of the more controversial sections of the USA PATRIOT Act will sunset on December 31, 2005, unless Congress votes to reauthorize them. Expect debate about these sections to begin this spring. In enacting those sections, Congress gave the Executive Branch new powers with very little accountability to Congress. In place of data on how the FBI has used the new powers, the Justice Department merely informs Congress that the new powers have been very helpful in preventing terrorist attacks, and that the best evidence that the USA PATRIOT Act is working is that there have been no terrorist attacks on our shores since September 11, 2001.

What you can do: The American people must ensure a more substantive debate about the USA PATRIOT Act. Information on how the DOJ is using the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is classified and unavailable even to Congress. However, we can uncover how the USA PATRIOT Act and executive orders have affected people in our communities and bring that information to the attention of our local governments, our senators and representatives, and the media. Please contact us at info@bordc.org for more information on how your community can help ensure a productive, meaningful, nonpartisan debate about the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act.

Confirmations of New Attorney General and Director of HSA: President Bush's nominations of Alberto Gonzales and Michael Chertoff are two architects and unrepentant supporters of executive privilege and of some of the worst policies the Bush administration has adopted and used since September 11th. Their selection signals the administration's plan to fight for the retention and expansion of current executive branch powers. Gonzales's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing proved that, if confirmed, he will avoid accountability to Congress and the American people for the Justice Department's actions.

What you can do: Read the transcript of Mr. Gonzales's testimony here and watch for Mr. Chertoff's confirmation hearing (unlikely to occur before January 31), and tell your senators whether or not you believe these men are fit for the offices to which they have been nominated. Look up your senators' phone numbers at http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/.

Legislation: In fighting to retain its powers, the Bush administration's motto seems to be, "The best defense is a good offense." As increasing numbers of Americans call for rolling back some of the powers Congress gave to the Executive Branch shortly after September 11th, the administration pushes for more powers, such as sections of the DOJ's draft "Patriot II," which are secretly attached to mammoth "must pass" bills.

What you can do: BORDC will continue to send action alerts about proposed bills that may infringe upon civil liberties, which will provide summaries, options for action, and sources for more information.

2004 Grassroots Review: In 2004, 130 cities, towns and counties plus the state of Maine enacted resolutions upholding the rights and freedoms of 26 million residents. They include 18 of the 100 most populous U.S. cities, among them New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Milwaukee, Washington, DC, El Paso, Kansas City, MO, Atlanta, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Tampa, St. Paul, and Raleigh, NC. To date, four states and 38 of the 100 largest U.S. cities are among the 368 government bodies in 43 states and the District of Columbia that have enacted resolutions or ordinances. The total population of these "civil liberties safe zones" is more than 56 million – one in five U.S. residents.

The St. Paul City Council also passed an ordinance that prohibits city employees from asking complainants or their witnesses about their immigration status. Resolutions on college campuses grew to 45 in 19 states. Religious organizations, including the Unitarian Universalist Association of North America, also passed resolutions. So did several unions, state library associations, and other organizations. Here is a sampling of what communities with resolutions accomplished:

  • Expanded the national debate about threatened civil liberties to their communities and to neighboring communities
  • Made the USA PATRIOT Act and other policies that affect civil liberties campaign issues in the 2004 election
  • Called on their legislators to cosponsor or vote for bills that would help restore civil liberties, and to vote against bills that could threaten civil liberties without making our nation safer
  • Enforced their resolutions in many wonderful ways. For example:
    • In Tacoma, Washington, they fought a private prison built to house immigrant detainees.
    • In Boise, Idaho, they helped stop the local police and FBI's harassment of members of a local mosque.
    • In Albany, New York, they are working with local mosques to develop forums and community dialogues to dispel myths about Islam and to raise money for the families of the two Albany men who were arrested following a year-long FBI sting operation.
    • In New York City, the City Council sent a letter to the conference committee for the Intelligence Reform bill expressing their opposition to the anti-immigrant sections of H.R. 10.

Other Highlights of 2004:

  • In two decisions, the U.S. Supreme Court disagreed with the Bush Administration by ruling that those being held by the U.S. government as enemy combatants could challenge their status in U.S. courts.
  • In Boise, a jury found Sami Omar Al-Hussayen not guilty of the government's charge of conspiring to support terrorists, agreeing instead with the defense, which portrayed his activities operating web sites as covered by the First Amendment. See http://www.spokesmanreview.com/local/topstory.asp?ID=16915.
  • In Detroit, at the Justice Department's request, a judge overturned the only jury convictions on terrorist charges because of prosecutorial misconduct. Attorney General John Ashcroft had previously called the men a "terrorist sleeper cell."
  • News spread of widespread abuse and torture at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere; of "torture memos"; and of a plane used to carry detainees to other countries for torture.
  • Attorney General John Ashcroft resigned, and President Bush accepted his resignation. He quickly nominated White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales as the next attorney general.
  • In July, when House Republican leaders saw that the Sanders Freedom to Read amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations Act was headed for victory, they extended the normal 15-minute voting period to 38 minutes and convinced enough members to change votes to result in an indecisive tie.
  • Oregon Attorney Brandon Mayfield was held in prison on a material witness warrant for two weeks because of FBI perceived similarities between his fingerprint and a print found on a bag of detonators linked to the Madrid subway bombings, despite assurances from Spanish authorities that his print did not match theirs. Mayfield, who is Muslim, was finally released after Spanish authorities arrested an Algerian man in connection with the bombings.

Legislation: Sensenbrenner May Introduce Anti-Immigrant Bill Next Week

After many of his anti-immigrant provision were struck from the Intelligence Reform Bill that was passed last month, U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner immediately got to work recruiting co-sponsors for a new bill to be introduced in the 109th Congress. Early drafts of his REAL ID Act have revealed that while he is not pursuing all of the provisions originally included in H.R. 10, the House version of the Intelligence Reform Bill, his bill will include provisions that would:

  • impose federal restrictions in immigrants' eligibility for drivers' licenses
  • make it more difficult for refugees to gain asylum in the U.S.
  • require completion of the U.S.-Mexico border fence near San Diego
  • allow for easier deportations based on terrorism suspicions

Sensenbrenner has already gathered at least 108 cosponsors and may introduce the bill to the House when the 109th Congress convenes the week of January 25th. For more information about Sensenbrenner's bill and the anti-immigrant bills already introduced by Rep. David Drier, read The Washington Times' "Tougher laws eyed for alien workers" (January 6, 2005, http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050106-120233-9453r.htm).

Guantánamo to Release Five Detainees

Seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prisoners at Guantánamo Bay must receive due process, either in our federal courts or in a hearing before a neutral decision-maker, the U.S. government is releasing four Britons and an Australian. Read the article here. Some of the approximately 550 men remaining at Guantánamo are expected to be held “until the war on terrorism is over,” according to Donald Rumsfeld. Read the article here.

The four Britons to be released are: Feroz Abbasi, Moazzam Begg, Martin Mubanga and Jamaal Belmar. Begg charges that he has been subjected to torture at Guantánamo. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A982-2005Jan11.html. Last March, three released Britons also said they had been abused and tortured.

Mamdouh Habib is the Australian being released. He says the U.S. transported him to Egypt, where he was tortured with high-voltage wires, drowning and merciless beatings for six months before his incarceration at Guantánamo. He confessed to many terrorist acts he had not committed, just to stop the torture. His attorney, Joseph Margulies said, “If the U.S. government believes he’s done something wrong, they wouldn’t let him go.” Read the article here .

One of conditions for the five men's release is a guarantee that the British and Australian governments will accept responsibility for the released men, and work to prevent their involvement in terrorist activities in the future. However, the U.S. apparently did not have enough evidence of terrorist activities in the past to convict them in a court of law.

In June 2004, the Supreme Court ordered the Bush Administration to provide due process to Guantánamo prisoners. Almost half the prisoners have refused their military hearings. The military hearings being held at the prison camp fall far short of that due process in that they do not allow defendants to see “classified” evidence against them. Therefore, nearly half of the detainees have refused their hearings. The U.S. Constitution is clear in the sixth amendment that defendants have the right to counsel, a right to be informed of accusations and confronted with witnesses against them. The Fifth Amendment states that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. In its June ruling, the Supreme Court was clear in upholding the Constitution. Read the ruling (PDF).

In Brief:

Observe Remembrance Day, February 19th

Some communities commemorate the anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066, which sent Japanese-Americans to internment camps. If yours holds such an event, talk to the organizers to find out whether they would be interested in remembering the post-9/11 detainees as well as the Japanese-Americans. If no commemoration is planned in your community, consider organizing a remembrance program. For more information about Remembrance Day, read this article: http://www.modelminority.com/article322.html.

Unjust Detentions Support Private Prison Industry

As the so-called "War on Terror" rages on, President Bush continues to claim the authority to label anyone – even U.S. citizens – enemy combatants and to detain them indefinitely without charges or access to legal counsel. The federal government recently announced its intention to permanently detain suspected terrorists for whom it lacks enough evidence to bring charges.

While hundreds of detainees are watching their rights disappear, however, the private prison industry is watching its profits soar. In "Globalizing Homeland Security" (December 28, 2004, Dissident Voice), Lee Hall discusses the privatization of detention facilities, and the ways in which global conflict and a policy of increased detentions creates huge profits for Halliburton and other companies. He asserts that, while government agencies have found no evidence that private prisons help reduce costs, detentions are increasingly handled by private companies – companies that often have close connections to policy-makers. Read the full article here: http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec2004/Hall1228.htm.

Portland City Council Reviews Local JTTF

Currently, there are 66 FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) throughout the U.S – partnerships between the FBI and local police. No city has ever severed its JTTF connection with the federal government – until now, that is. See http://www.katu.com/stories/73600.html. Portland (OR) activist Kaelin Bowers, who died in 2004 (see remembrance below), worked hard to educate the public about the dangers of the JTTF. For more information, read the article here.

In October 2003, Portland’s City Council passed a resolution opposing the Patriot Act and other post 9/11 violations of the Constitution. At that time, Council members expressed concern that because the JTTF officers report directly to the FBI, city officials are not able to say with certainty whether or not Portland police officers are violating state laws that protect immigrants and religious and political groups from police spying. Current-mayor Tom Potter says he wants FBI security clearances before he’s willing to reauthorize the JTTF. Several other Council members also want oversight.

What you can do: A campaign to revoke authorization for JTTFs in your community is another way to resist post-9/11 laws and orders. For background information and helpful resources on JTTFs, visit www.bordc.org/jttf.htm.

Captain Yee Honorably Discharged; Deserves an Apology

As of January 8, 2005, Captain James Yee was honorably discharged from the Army. Yee was arrested at Guantanamo Bay and imprisoned for over two months on charges that he was carrying classified documents. Although he was cleared of all criminal charges in March 2004, he has yet to receive an apology from the Army.

What you can do: To read more and to sign a petition urging the Army to apologize, visit the Justice for New Americans web site at http://www.j4na.org.

DOJ Whistleblower Criticizes Chertoff for Handling of Lindh Case

As the Senate prepares to consider President Bush's nomination of Michael Chertoff to head the Department of Homeland Security, we learn that he was one of the main authors of the USA PATRIOT Act, that he was responsible for the "hold until cleared" policy criticized by the DOJ's Inspector General, and that he authorized interrogating John Walker Lindh without his attorney present after Mr. Lindh had asked for and his family had hired a lawyer. On January 13th, on Democracy Now, Amy Goodman interviewed Jesselyn Radack, a former attorney for the DOJ who was responsible for advising on ethics of the interrogations. Radack was fired from the DOJ, and many of her email messages related to the Lindh case were purged. Listen online or read the transcript at http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/13/1455248.

Remembering Kaelin Bowers

We lost a rare comrade in 2004. Allyn Kaelin Bowers died in his Portland, Oregon, home after returning from a September camping trip. The cause of his death is unknown.

Kaelin was instrumental in advocating for the anti-USA PATRIOT Act resolution passed in Portland in 2003. He lobbied at the state capitol for an Oregon resolution that summer. He studied up on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, vowing to see the JTTF in Portland disbanded. In recent weeks, Portland's City Council has begun to consider making their city the first in the nation to reject its JTTF charter. Kaelin also labored for more than a year for a Multnomah County resolution, which passed after his death, on December 9.

In October 2003, Kaelin traveled to Washington, DC, to lobby Congress following the “Grassroots America Defends the Bill of Rights” Conference. Here is a quote from an essay he wrote following his return, “Before the conference, I had somehow felt that the Portland resolution was the end of a 26 mile marathon and I had hit the wall at 25. After being at the conference for just one day, I realized that the journey is much longer and I had just made it to the first mile. I learned that beyond passing resolutions, defending the Bill of Rights means passing ordinances, lobbying politicians at every level of government, and communicating this sense of urgency to the general public.” See http://lanerights.org/kaelin.htm.

Kaelin spent the last years of his life communicating that sense of urgency to everyone whose lives he touched, and continues to touch.

BORDC Expands Staff, Welcomes Hope Marston

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee is pleased to announce that Hope Marston has joined our staff as our western region organizer. Jessie Baugher will focus on the eastern region. With Hope on our staff, we will be in closer communication with community based organizations nationwide.

Prior to joining the BORDC staff, Hope was a volunteer organizer for the Lane County Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Eugene, Oregon, where her group worked for passage of Resolution 4743, unanimously approved on November 25, 2002. It was the 16th resolution nationwide.

In July 2003, Hope helped the Lane County BORDC achieve success in shepherding through a county resolution that prohibits any county funds from being used to support secret detentions or to comply with the USA PATRIOT Act. She also organized two statewide organizing meetings encouraging passage of other local Oregon resolutions. In August 2003, the statewide coalition of citizen-lobbyists Hope fostered worked feverishly in the last days of the Oregon legislative session to urge passage of a state resolution. The State Senate approved their resolution, but the legislature adjourned before the resolution reached the House floor.

Hope was also part of the Grassroots America Committee that organized a national conference held in Silver Spring, Maryland, in October 2003.

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Editor: Nancy Talanian, Director
Managing Editor: Jessie Baugher, East Region Organizer
Contributing Writer: Hope Marston, West Region Organizer

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