Ashcroft orders review of 25 years of wiretaps to prosecute 4000+ Americans!!!!!!

So, this week, John brought together some of his favorite prosecutors from around the country and hauled out boxes of files. Old files. Old surveillance files. Maybe on you and me.
And John said to his disciples, charge these people. I don't care with what. They must have done something or we wouldn't have a file on them. Charge them with inhaling marijuana, or jaywalking, or copying a VHS tape, or writing an article, or attending a mosque, or voting Democratic (or Green, or Libertarian). Charge them. Indict them. Tell the judge they are terrorist threats (remember, terror is what I say it is) and don't let them out on bail. Set their trials for 18 months away, like we did with that professor in Florida, who won't see the sun shine until at least January 2005. Maybe when they have been locked up for a few months, without lawyers, mind you. I forgot to tell you that. No lawyers. They are a threat to national security. Terrorists will not have the benefit of my Constitution. And mark those you think have done something really bad--like speak out in favor of Palestinian rights, or human rights. I will get George to name them unlawful combatants. Then they can get shipped out of the country. Call Putin up. See if he will get some of those gulags out of mothballs for us.

This is not just a funny story from a blogger who has had too much caffeine. This week, Ashcroft told his prosecutors to start reviewing 25 years of telephone and e-mail wiretaps and results from secret searches--in files on 4.500 people-- and decide whether they can file criminal charges under anti-terrorist laws.

The wiretaps and searches were performed on "suspected" spies and terrorists-suspected, as in no probable cause, but mere suspicion-- under the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. With permission from a super-secret U.S. spy court, the FBI has used such warrants to break into homes, offices and hotel rooms to install hidden cameras, copy computer files and eavesdrop on telephones. Agents also have intercepted e-mails and pried into safe deposit boxes.

www.counterpunch.org...

And on that note:

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General John Ashcroft urged Congress on Thursday to expand the new anti-terror law to permit the government to hold more suspects indefinitely and extend the death penalty to more people accused of terrorist crimes.

He also said the current anti-terror law, which critics say is cramping citizens' legitimate rights, needs to be expanded to let prosecutors bring charges against anyone who helps or works with suspected terrorist groups as "material supporters."

Ashcroft held aloft copies of al-Qaida declarations of war against America and read aloud the names of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks as he defended the Justice Department's use so far of anti-terrorism powers granted after the 2001 hijack attacks.

The USA Patriot Act has led to more than 3,000 "footsoldiers of terror" being stopped, Ashcroft said. But he also told the House Judiciary Committee the law "has several weaknesses which terrorists could exploit, undermining our defenses."

The death penalty provision would allow for executions in cases where a terrorist caused "massive loss of life" by attacking a military base, nuclear plant or energy plant, the Justice Department said.

www.ajc.com...

Thats a formality, it means they have tapes from the echelon system incriminating them all.
They just need permission to use them against them in court...which would be a warrant for wire tapping.

Hear that whooshing noise? Thats out rights flying out the window...

And, as mentioned in the article, Ashcroft decides what is terrorism, and what to do with you.

Kinda makes you wonder what exactly he is after... maybe the core of those contemplating "subversive" ideas on ATS????

All hail glorious leader ashcroft, may his justice and good lead us forward on the glorious battle against terror.

What do we like more..Safety or Freedom?
Hrm...
Wheres the mountain men assassins when you need them?

Wheres the mountain men assassins when you need them? Posted by David

Coopted by the DHS

Originally posted by dragonrider
Hear that whooshing noise? Thats out rights flying out the window...

There is always a whooshing sound over my house. Oh well, I am not a terrorist, and I do nothing but complain about the lack of guts in the so-called 'War on Terrorism'. If they want me they can have me. I know where I am going. I fear not their claims. Call me Joan. You won't hear me moan.


Abraham

WASHINGTON - Attorney General John Ashcroft is pushing for enhanced law enforcement powers to conduct the nation's ongoing war on terrorism, but the White House is taking a cautious route in the face of some public and congressional reservations.

Ashcroft, the moving force behind the USA-PATRIOT Act, said the law he credited with helping to "save innocent lives" nonetheless contains "several weaknesses which terrorists could exploit, undermining our defenses."

With that in mind, the Justice Department continues to work on what is popularly referred to as PATRIOT II, which would further broaden law enforcement's mandate. Ashcroft already is publicly lobbying for three changes - making it unlawful to fight for a designated terrorist organization, imposing the death penalty for various terrorist actions and extending pre-trial detention for those arrested for terrorism-related offenses.

Several members of Congress, including Republicans like Rep. James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have expressed concerns about providing law enforcement with much more authority, raising questions about civil liberties.

"I believe the (Justice) Department and Congress must be vigilant toward short-term gains which ultimately may cause long-term harm to the spirit of liberty and equality which animate the American character," Sensenbrenner said.

www.knoxstudio.com...

Well, if anyone wanted to ever overthrow the government, it is now officially too late. Might as well throw out the rest of the Constitution as well. This is the on-ramp to global slavery.

A basic principle of American democracy is that members of government serve at the behest of the citizenry, and not vice-versa. The people, being sovereign, can use their votes to "throw the bastards out," even though the government has no reciprocal power to jettison disfavored citizens.

Our leadership may distrust or despise certain people, but it cannot strip them of their citizenship involuntarily. Murderers, child molesters, and tax evaders are subject to criminal punishment, not denationalization.

Yet with the Domestic Security Enhancement Act, informally known as Patriot II, this basic rule is under attack. The draft legislation, a proposed sequel to the 2001 USA Patriot Act drafted by the Justice Department, was recently made public after being leaked to the Center for Public Integrity. As commentators David Cole, Nat Hentoff, and Anita Ramasastry have suggested, the bill would go well beyond its predecessor in threatening essential civil liberties.

Among Patriot II's most worrying provisions are those affecting citizenship. Section 501 of the bill, deceptively titled "Expatriation of Terrorists," would allow the presumptive denationalization of American citizens who support the activities of organizations that the executive branch has deemed "terrorist." While it is already illegal to provide material support to such groups, even for their lawful activities, such support is grounds only for criminal prosecution, not for the loss of citizenship.

By permitting denationalization as a punishment for illegal conduct, the Patriot II bill attempts to push the legal rules backward to a time that Ashcroft and his ilk no doubt remember fondly: the McCarthy era.

www.counterpunch.org...

The Cabal is legitimizing themselves publicy.

TOTAL POLICE STATE TAKEOVER
The Secret Patriot Act II Destroys What Is Left of American Liberty



A Brief Analysis of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act 2003, Also Known as Patriot Act II
By Alex Jones
www.infowars.com
(Posted Feb 10, 2003)

Congressman Ron Paul (R-Tex) told the Washington Times that no member of Congress was allowed to read the first Patriot Act that was passed by the House on October 27, 2001. The first Patriot Act was universally decried by civil libertarians and Constitutional scholars from across the political spectrum. William Safire, while writing for the New York Times, described the first Patriot Act's powers by saying that President Bush was seizing dictatorial control.

On February 7, 2003 the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan public interest think-tank in DC, revealed the full text of the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003. The classified document had been leaked to them by an unnamed source inside the Federal government. The document consisted of a 33-page section by section analysis of the accompanying 87-page bill.


*Note: On February 10, 2003 I discovered that not only was there a house version that had been covertly brought to Hastert, but that many provisions of the now public Patriot Act II had already been introduced as pork barrel riders on Senate Bill S. 22. Dozens of subsections and even the titles of the subsections are identical to those in the House version. This is very important because it catches the Justice Department in a bald-faced lie. The Justice Department claimed that the secret legislation brought into the House was only for study, and that at this time there was no intention to try and pass it. Now upon reading S. 22, it is clear that the leadership of the Senate is fully aware of the Patriot Act II, and have passed these riders out of their committees into the full bill. I spent two hours scanning through S. 22 and, let me tell you, it is a nightmare for anyone who loves liberty. It even contains the Our Lady of Peace Act that registers all gun owners. It bans the private sale of all firearms, creates a Federal ballistics database, and much more.

www.infowars.com...

If you have any questions about how Patriot II will be misused, just look at how Patriot I has ALREADY been misused.

Long-sought details have begun to emerge from the Justice Department on how anti-terrorist provisions of the USA Patriot Act were applied in nonterror investigations, just as battle lines are being drawn on proposed new powers in a Patriot Act II.
Overall, the policy now allows evidence to be used for prosecuting common criminals even when obtained under extraordinary anti-terrorism powers and information-sharing between intelligence agencies and the FBI.
"We would use whatever tools are available to us, within reason, to prosecute violations of any law," Justice Department spokesman Bryan Sierra said in the wake of his department's massive report to Congress describing how the USA Patriot Act is being implemented.
The information was a response to doubts, not from outspoken civil liberties groups, but from Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and the House Judiciary Committee chairman who publicly pushed for its speedy 337-79 House passage.

www.washtimes.com...

Originally posted by dragonrider
Hear that whooshing noise? Thats out rights flying out the window...

I don't hear it.
You know why?
Because those rights went out the window years before I was even born. That's if they were ever there in the first place.

As I mentioned then, it must be wonderful to live in a country where you are conditioned to surrender your personal rights.

Your right, hard to miss something you never had.

If you HAD ever tasted personal freedom and rights, I promise you would have a bit harder time dealing with things like this.

as sad as it is, we have no one to blame but ourselves for not standing up to this tyranny.

Originally posted by dragonrider
As I mentioned then, it must be wonderful to live in a country where you are conditioned to surrender your personal rights.

Your right, hard to miss something you never had.

If you HAD ever tasted personal freedom and rights, I promise you would have a bit harder time dealing with things like this.

Dude. Don't kid yourself. You in the US have never tasted personal freedom either.

As for conditioned? You underestimate me. I believe I understand fully what is going on in the world today.
By cracking down now, hopefully we are on the road to gaining those freedoms. You can't just expect them to fall into our laps. I feel no different than you. I yearn for my right to do whatever I want as long as I cause no harm to others but I recognise that there are outside forces rather than my government and my society which place restrictions on the amount of liberty I can be given.

Our societies have been at war with outside forces for hundreds of years. Personal freedom was the first casualty years ago. We are still in a state of war and those freedoms will not be given to us until we are strong enough to keep hold of them.

I believe a lot of you Americans hold an illogical concept of freedom. You expect it as a right but you can't see that freedom won't work in the society that you live in. This isn't just down to US administrations but due to the world political climate as a whole.

My hope is that these crackdowns on our rights will only last for a few more years. Hopefully we can win peace and with that will come freedom.

My hope is that these crackdowns on our rights will only last for a few more years. Hopefully we can win peace and with that will come freedom Posted by Leveller

Reality Check:

Once you surrender rights, you DONT get them back. Thinking otherwise is either foolish or through a haze of bong smoke.

DR is right, do you actually think at the end of their terms they're going to say 'ohh yeah...here's your right's back!'

It's a little off subject, but I'm the king of off subject matter. But has anyone been paying attention to the gun ban in Iraq? When is it due? what are the details of it? Are the troops actually going to have to confiscate guns? It just occurred to me that that could be practice for our troops in disarming us!, what better way to get them prepared for the upcomming police state. More terror is on it's way, Bush will declare Martial Law, deem it too unsafe to hold elections, and then it's over my friends!

ok...beginning of Police State rant over, you can all relax now

[Edited on 15-6-2003 by Grommer]