Federal Judge Refuses to Dismiss PATRIOT Act Case (Finally!)

October 04, 2006

After a wait of nearly three years, Judge Hood in the Eastern District of Michigan finally ruled yesterday on the government's request that the court dismiss a lawsuit brought by a group of Muslim and Arab-American associations challenging the constitutionality of PATRIOT Act Section 215. As you may recall, Section 215 authorizes the government to obtain a secret order from the FISA court demanding business records or any other information that investigators think is relevant to a terrorism investigation. The court's decision? Motion denied!

Says the court:

Plaintiffs have alleged that they and their members’ right to speech and association are being threatened by Section 215. They fear that the Government has already obtained information or will be obtaining information by way of a Section 215 order. Plaintiffs and their members fear that the information contained in Plaintiffs’ records are subject to a 215 order. Plaintiffs have alleged that their members are afraid to attend mosque, practice their religion, and express their opinions on religion and political issues. Plaintiffs’ members are afraid to obtain services from the human services organizations for fear that any information obtained by the organization can be obtained by the Government. Plaintiffs have shown threats of present injury sufficient to satisfy constitutional standing requirements on their First Amendment claims. Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss based on lack of standing on Plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims is denied.

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Administration will push Congress to change visa program

By BEVERLEY LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will ask Congress to change and expand a program that allows citizens of some countries to enter the U.S. without visas, but in exchange would require visitors to provide more data about themselves before they board planes.

During stops Tuesday in Latvia and Estonia, President Bush told officials of those countries he would try persuading Congress to add more countries to the program.

In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the program should be changed to increase security while also expanding the program to include new countries. For example, participating nations would be asked to quickly provide information on lost or stolen passports.

Officials did not say which other countries the administration might try adding to the program. Countries from Central and Eastern Europe have expressed interest in entering the program, which lets travelers enter the U.S. with only a passport.

The visa waiver program was created in 1988 and was originally focused on preventing illegal immigration into the country. But since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the focus has shifted to security, and the program has been altered several times in hopes of strengthening the government's ability to detect and deter terrorists.

The new standards would apply to new member countries immediately and be phased in for current members, said Homeland Security spokesman Jarrod Agen.

Agen said the program applies to citizens of 27 countries traveling to the United States for 90 days or less for tourism or business. About 15 million people visit the country under the program each year.

The 27 countries currently participating are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, San Marino, Singapore, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

AP- CIA SECRET PRISON

By CONSTANT BRAND
Associated Press Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Eleven European Union governments _ including Britain, Poland and Germany _ knew about secret CIA prisons operating in Europe, a draft European Parliament report concluded Tuesday.

The report presented to the EU assembly's special committee investigating allegations about the detention centers and CIA kidnappings in Europe called on governments to launch their own inquiries to determine whether human rights laws were violated. It criticized top EU officials, including foreign policy chief Javier Solana and anti-terror coordinator Gijs de Vries of "omissions and denials" during testimony to the committee.

The draft also said there were more than a thousand CIA flights in the European region.

No EU governments have admitted that the claimed anti-terror operations were carried out on their territory. Governments have been warned by EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Franco Frattini that if they knew about the CIA renditions and secret flights they could be found in violation of EU law.

While thin on proof to back up the allegations, the committee report claimed it got information from secret documents and information from several sources in the United States and from national authorities in the 25-nation bloc.

"At least 1,245 flights operated by the CIA have flown into the European airspace or stopped over at European airports," the draft said.

The report said 11 EU nations _ Britain, Poland, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Cyprus _ had knowledge of the alleged U.S. secret anti-terrorism measures taking place on European soil.

Germany topped the list with 336 flight stopovers, while Britain had 170, according to the report. Others include: Ireland, 147; Portugal, 91; Greece, 64; Italy, 47; Cyprus, 57; Romania, 21; Poland, 11.

It said the committee had obtained "serious circumstantial evidence" showing that Poland may have hosted a temporary secret detention center for the CIA.

The British government denies knowing about secret CIA prisons or colluding in a secret program to transfer CIA prisoners.

A Foreign Office spokesman said there was nothing unusual about CIA flights using British airports.

"The U.K. is an international hub for refueling to and from the United States," he said on the government's customary condition of anonymity. "Under the Chicago Convention, we can't investigate the aircraft unless we think that a crime is being committed at that time."

Polish officials in Warsaw also rejected the allegations made by the report.

"The committee's report, from what we know so far, is not based on any strong proof, but only commonly repeated assumptions, suspicions and probabilities," said Krzysztof Lapinski, spokesman for Poland's minister for special services. "We stand by our earlier stated stance that there were no secret CIA prisons in Poland."

The report also criticized most of the 25 EU governments for lack of cooperation in their probe, which was launched in January and is expected to last until January.

The draft report will be voted upon by the special committee after the EU assembly's Christmas break, officials said.

Allegations that CIA agents shipped prisoners through European airports to secret detention centers, including compounds in Eastern Europe, were first reported in November 2005. Human Rights Watch later identified Poland and Romania as possible locations of the alleged secret prisons. Both countries have repeatedly denied involvement.

An investigator for the Council of Europe, a leading human rights group, said evidence pointed to the likelihood that planes linked to the CIA carrying terror suspects stopped in Romania and Poland and likely dropped off detainees there.

In September, President Bush acknowledged for the first time that terrorism suspects have been held in CIA-run prisons overseas, but did not specify where.

Judge strikes President Bush's authority to designate terrorist groups, saying order was vague

By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP Special Correspondent

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutionally vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."

The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups.

Both groups consider the Nov. 21 ruling a victory; both had been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.

Cole said the judge's ruling does not invalidate the hundreds of other designated terrorist groups on the list but "calls them into question."

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said, "We are currently reviewing the decision and we have made no determination what the government's next step will be."

A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment. At the time of his order creating the list, Bush declared that the "grave acts of terrorism" and the "continuing and immediate threat of future attacks" constituted a national emergency.

The judge's 45-page ruling was a reversal of her own tentative findings last July in which she indicated she would uphold wide powers asserted by Bush under an anti-terror financing law. She delayed her ruling then to allow more legal briefs to be filed.

She also struck down the provision in which Bush had authorized the secretary of the treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group.

However, she let stand sections of the order that penalize those who provide "services" to designated terrorist groups. She said such services would include the humanitarian aid and rights training proposed by the plaintiffs.

The Humanitarian Law Project planned to appeal that part of the ruling, Cole said.

"We are pleased the court rejected many of the constitutional arguments raised by the plaintiffs, including their challenge to the government's ban on providing services to terrorist organizations," Miller said Tuesday. "However, we believe the court erred in finding that certain other aspects of the executive order were unconstitutional."

The ruling was still considered a victory, Cole said.

"Even in fighting terrorism the president cannot be given a blank check to blacklist anyone he considers a bad guy or a bad group and you can't imply guilt by association," Cole said.

TRUTH UNCOVERED

MAY 4 2006: Ray McGovern, featured in this film, publicly confronts Donald Rumsfeld on his claims to know where the (non-existent) WMD's were in Iraq. Watch the video. It is incredible.


WATCH VIDEO
WEBSITE

WHAT WASN'T FOUND IN AFFRICA

What I Didn't Find in Africa: "Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq? "

EFF: EFF Analysis of USA PATRIOT Act (Oct. 31, 2001)

EFF: EFF Analysis of USA PATRIOT Act (Oct. 31, 2001): "On October 26, 2001, President Bush signed the USA PATRIOT Act (PATRIOT) into law. PATRIOT gave sweeping new powers to both domestic law enforcement and international intelligence agencies and eliminated the checks and balances that previously gave courts the opportunity to ensure that such powers were not abused. Most of these checks and balances were put into place after previous misuse of surveillance powers by these agencies were uncovered including the revelation in 1974 that the FBI and foreign intelligence agencies had spied on over 10,000 U.S. citizens, including Martin Luther King. "

U.S. Homeland Security Bill (Human Rights Watch Press release, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002

U.S. Homeland Security Bill (Human Rights Watch Press release, Washington, D.C., November 21, 2002): "'In trying to protect America, Congress gave short shrift to protecting civil rights. Much better safeguards are needed to ensure that this new and very powerful agency respects rights while carrying out its mission.' "

Scientia Est Potentia

You Are a Suspect: "The Latin motto over Poindexter's new Pentagon office reads 'Scientia Est Potentia' � 'knowledge is power.' Exactly: the government's infinite knowledge about you is its power over you. 'We're just as concerned as the next person with protecting privacy,' this brilliant mind blandly assured The Post. A jury found he spoke falsely before."

EPIC INDEED

EPIC Terrorism (Total) Information Awareness Page: "The Total Information Awareness project is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Awareness Office. The office is headed by Admiral (retired) John Poindexter who is responsible for conceiving the project. TIA purports to capture the 'information signature' of people so that the government can track potential terrorists and criminals involved in 'low-intensity/low-density' forms of warfare and crime. The goal is to track individuals through collecting as much information about them as possible and using computer algorithms and human analysis to detect potential activity."

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY

The US military has signed on Halliburton to do nearly $5 billion in new work in Iraq under a giant logistics contract that has so far earned the Texas-based firm $9.1 billion.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/49DE55BF-FF64-4588-A2CB-33B401107787.htm

WHO IS ABOVE THE LAW?

It is our conviction that no Member State of the United Nations is above international human rights law. Due to the seriousness of the allegations, the lack of cooperation and given the responsibilities to our respective mandates, we will jointly conduct an investigation based on all credible sources regarding the situation of the detainees in Guantanamo Bay. In the meantime, should the Government of the United States extend a visit to Guantanamo Bay we would welcome this development and would incorporate the findings from our mission into our other investigations".

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ANIT-PEACE SIGN

Colo. subdivision bans Christmas wreath with peace sign, says it could be 'divisive' By ROBERT WELLER Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) - A homeowners association in southwestern Colorado has threatened to fine a resident $25 a day until she removes a Christmas wreath with a peace sign that some say is an anti-Iraq war protest or a symbol of Satan.

Some residents who have complained have children serving in Iraq, said Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs. He said some residents have also believed it was a symbol of Satan. Three or four residents complained, he said.
"Somebody could put up signs that say drop bombs on Iraq. If you let one go up you have to let them all go up," he said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Lisa Jensen said she wasn't thinking of the war when she hung the wreath. She said, "Peace is way bigger than not being at war. This is a spiritual thing."

Jensen, a past association president, calculates the fines will cost her about $1,000, and doubts they will be able to make her pay. But she said she's not going to take it down until after Christmas.

"Now that it has come to this I feel I can't get bullied," she said. "What if they don't like my Santa Claus."

The association in this 200-home subdivision 270 miles southwest of Denver has sent a letter to her saying that residents were offended by the sign and the board "will not allow signs, flags etc. that can be considered divisive."

The subdivision's rules say no signs, billboards or advertising are permitted without the consent of the architectural control committee.

Kearns ordered the committee to require Jensen to remove the wreath, but members refused after concluding that it was merely a seasonal symbol that didn't say anything. Kearns fired all five committee members.