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Target:
U.S. Constitution November 27, 2003 By John O. Edwards,
General
Tommy Franks worries the Constitution might not survive a WMD attack If
worst comes to worst, those of us concerned that our civil liberties
have been threatened since the knee-jerk passage of the US Patriot Act
after Septemeber11, 2001 and the onset of the Iraq war-sequel, might
find our usual opponents in officialdom actually agreeing with us. John
O. Edwards, writing for the right-leaning website NewsMax.com, cites an
interview with Gen. Tommy Franks, published in the December issue of
Cigar Aficionado magazine, wherein the General expressed his belief that
"if the United States is hit with a weapon of mass destruction ...
the Constitution will likely be discarded in favor of a military form of
government." Franks, the former commander of the military's Central
Command and the man responsible for leading the US military operation to
"liberate" Iraq is the first government official to predict
that a breakdown of our form of republican government is contingent upon
a major terrorist attack against the US or our allies. Although Franks
wasn't able to pinpoint when a "casualty-producing" attack may
occur, he said that such an event could cause "our population to
question our own Constitution and to begin to militarize our country ...
which ... then begins to unravel the fabric of our Constitution."
The General, a decorated veteran of the George the Elder's war,
concluded his interview with a statement that makes the government's
official view towards peacekeeping and the future of democracy even more
cryptic. "It's not the history of civilization for peace to
reign," he said. "I doubt that we'll ever have a time when the
world will actually be at peace." -- Eric Larson The
entire story may be viewed at http://www.utne.com/webwatch/2003_125/news/10995-1.html
ACLU
Files Unprecedented National
Lawsuit To Protect Dissent
At events attended by
President Bush and other senior federal officials around the country,
the Secret Service has discriminated against protesters in
violation of their free speech rights, the ACLU charges in the
first nationwide lawsuit of its kind.
Read
more >>>
American
Library Association Responds to Attorney General Statements On
Librarians and USA PATRIOT ACT
CHICAGO,
Sept. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Library Association (ALA) has
worked diligently for the past two years to increase awareness of a very
complicated law -- the USA PATRIOT Act -- that was pushed through the
legislative process at breakneck speed in the wake of a national
tragedy. Because the Department of Justice has refused our requests for
information about how many libraries have been visited by law
enforcement officials using these new powers, we have focused on what
the law allows. The PATRIOT Act gives law enforcement unprecedented
powers of surveillance -- including easy access to library records with
minimal judicial oversight.
Read ALA full statement Here>>>
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