| |
 |
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 |
Under Bush, one nation, on the one hand the winners - the chosen few, on the other the losers - the majority.
12:02:48 PM 
|
|
Guardian: "A British man who was held in Guantánamo Bay has begun a civil action against MI5 and MI6 over the tactics that they use to gather intelligence.
The Foreign Office said: 'The UK unreservedly condemns the use of torture. The British government, including its intelligence and security agencies, never use torture for any purpose, including obtaining information, nor would we instigate actions by others to do so.' It said it could not comment on ongoing legal proceedings."
Nestmann: "Could you be the subject of a FBI inquiry because you checked out a biography of Osama bin Laden at your local library? Or if you requested a copy of Mao Tse Tung's Little Red Book (an infamous paean to the alleged glories of Communism) through an inter-library loan?
That's exactly the type of inquiries undertaken by the FBI under authority of the 'national security letters' (NSL) provision of the USA PATRIOT Act. This law, enacted by a panicked Congress only a few weeks after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has numerous arguably unconstitutional components.
Among the most objectionable of these are the NSL provisions, which permit the FBI to demand virtually any record from a U.S. business or organization, without obtaining a warrant based on probable cause of wrongdoing.
However, on Sept. 6, a U.S. District Court ruled that the section of the Patriot Act that authorizes NSLs violates the free speech provisions of the U.S. Constitution and unreasonably curbs the authority of the judiciary. The court barred the FBI from issuing NSLs, but delayed the effective date of the prohibition until Dec. 6, 2007 to give the Bush administration a chance to appeal."
11:58:44 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2007 Hetty Litjens.
|
|
|
|
|
