Ashcroft wants camps for citizens

[vox]

Holy shit! Did anyone else hear about this?

Published on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times

Camps for Citizens: Ashcroft's Hellish Vision
Attorney general shows himself as a menace to liberty.

by Jonathan Turley

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants" has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants.

(Full Story (http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0814-05.htm))

This is the kind of absolute authority that the US has always claimed to be against.

One would think that the "liberal" media would be all over this, no?

vox

[Lefty]

HOLY SHIT! Every single one of us is what mr. ashcroft considers enemy combatants... think about that. I think it is safe to say that Ashcroft is kinda crossing the line with this one...in fact, he has been way over for about 8 months now. What can we do to prevent this?

[Borincano]

If Ashcroft had his way, he would send every Leftist and Non-Caucasion (Including Jews.) into the camps and systematically gas each and every one of us. He needs some psychological help!

(Edited by Borincano at 12:59 am on Aug. 17, 2002)

[RedCeltic]

*RC picks himself off the floor after falling off his chair*

This seems too far over the top even for Ashcroft. Seems to me that the US is on the highway to hell the public is asleap in the back seat.

The other day I saw on a talk show, this black man say, "We need to look harder at people's ethnic background, and have tougher restrictions on people from middle eastern counteries, regardless of citizenship."

I was like, "Huh?" I kept looking to see if the fat redneck behind him was talking... Maybe he should think about what he said next time he's in a white neghborhood and a cop stops him saying, "Boy, where are you going in this here respectable neghborhood?"

[vox]

It's already happened to Jose Padilla. The Justice Department held him for thirty days and then, by law, had to release him because they didn't have enough evidence to hold him. The Bush administration then named him an "enemy combatant" so he's now being held incommunicado by the military. This is the first step to having US citizens tried be secret military tribunals, and when I say secret, I mean just that. Unlike normal prosecutions, those cases are not open to the public. It's very much like what happens in dictatorships.

As for what we can do, first thing is to tell people about it. People have to know about something before they can oppose it. Next, write your Senators and Representative, whatever party they are in, and state very clearly that you're opposed to this action. It may do well to wrap it in the flag, putting in something like, "This is an anti-American idea that violates the very principles that so many of our boys have given their lives protecting. Such an action would disgrace the memory of all those brave men." No pol of either party wants to make people think he doesn't love veterans.

vox

[Lefty]

people wont take this shit...

[Borincano]

Lefty,

It's sad, but actually, many will. That's why assholes such as him create things like this. They know it will go without much strong opposition.

[Valkyrie]

Yeah, it's one of those sneak attacks they're trying to pull on us. What they're doing is imposing martial law slowly but surely.

[Lefty]

nah... there is no way any right thinking person would let this obvious and blatant abuse of our rights go...would they? Is this in effect yet? or just an idea being exercised on a "domestic terrorist"

[Valkyrie]

Here's more of the same type of shit.

South Fla. Asks to Oust Palestinian
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 1:42 p.m. ET


TAMPA (AP) -- University of South Florida officials filed a complaint Wednesday asking a court if it can fire a tenured Palestinian professor accused of having terrorist ties.

The professor, Sami Al-Arian, who has lived in the United States since 1975, has never been charged with a crime and denies any connection to terrorists. He has been on paid leave since last fall when he was quizzed on Fox News Channel about tapes from the late 1980s and early 1990s in which he said ``Death to Israel,'' in Arabic.

The university complaint asks a federal court for a ``declaratory release'' that it can fire Al-Arian without violating his rights to free speech, USF President Judy Genshaft told reporters.

``This is a very difficult situation for the university and everyone in it,'' Genshaft said. She refused to take questions.

Al-Arian said he never advocated violence and that his words were a statement against Israeli occupation.

``It's still a case of academic freedom,'' Al-Arian said Wednesday. ``It's just an indication of how politicized the university has become.''

The American Association of University Professors has threatened to censure the school if it fires Al-Arian.

The U.S. Attorney's office in Tampa has acknowledged since February that Al-Arian has been under investigation.

School officials initially said he was put on leave for his own safety, but have recently said his return would be disruptive to the campus.

``The reality is, this guy's been associated with terrorists for the last 15 years,'' said Dick Beard, chairman of the USF trustees. ``The university has been called Jihad U. It's time we take action and effectively cut this cancer out.''

Al-Arian and his brother-in-law, Mazen Al-Najjar, founded a now-defunct Islamic think tank and charity, and Al-Najjar was jailed for three years, beginning in 1997, on secret evidence that he used the organizations to support terrorists.

Al-Najjar, 45, was again detained in November on a deportation order for overstaying his visa, which was issued 20 years ago. He was to be released this week and deported to a Middle Eastern country, his attorneys said. He has also consistently denied any connection to terrorists.

[I Will Deny You]

Will the camps be in the Catskills? Which comedians will come by and perform?

This is very, very wrong. Maybe they'll try to implement this in Afghanistan too, in which case our warlord "allies" will be able to lock up anyone who's moving in on their territory. Am I the only one who is more concerned about the international implications of this than the national implications? It seems very possible that this could happen in Afghanistan. Then our good pal Musharraf might try to "help" us our by locking up "terrorists" (read: anyone who disagrees with his fundamentalist Islamic dictatorship). I don't think it could go too far in the US. The outcry will probably be like that against TIPS.

Lindsay

[j]

I don't think we qualify as enemy combatants. We aren't physically fighting against the USA in a war with guns, etc.

But I agree this whole thing is scary as shit.

j

[Reuben]

I have never heard of this Mr Ashcroft, (i live in england), though he doesnt sound like a particularly nice man :-(