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U.S. Senate Approves Anti-Terrorism Bill Despite Concerns Over Civil Liberties
WASHINGTON, Oct 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Concerned about the possibility of further terror strikes, the U.S. administration and the Senate have reached an agreement on anti-terrorism measures that will boost security in the country, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) said Thursday, news agencies reported.
"We have reached a tentative agreement on counter-terrorism late last night," Daschle told reporters. "We will expedite consideration of that bill next week."
The compromise bill, passed by a 96-to-1 vote in the full Senate, gives U.S. President George W. Bush most of what he asked for after weeks of negotiations to address concerns the bill infringes upon civil liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday unanimously passed, by a 36-0 vote, the anti-terrorism legislation to "provide the administration the appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism."
The "Patriot Act" will now move to the full House, with a vote likely early next week.
Attorney General John Ashcroft has urged quick passage of the legislation in the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist strikes, arguing that more attacks were likely being planned and federal agencies needed broader powers to deal with the threats.
"These weeks have underscored for all Americans the degree to which we look to law enforcement for our safety and security," he emphasized Thursday.
"They have worked literally night and day" to hammer out a compromise, Daschle said, referring to the Senate Judiciary Committee and White House officials.
Details of the agreement were not released.
There were, however, concerns that the bill, as presented to Congress by the Justice Department, threatened many of the nation's constitutionally-protected civil rights.
Civil rights leaders are gravely concerned that an already threatened American Muslim and Arab community would bear the greatest brunt of the bill, as they did after the passage of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which came in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing - citing the increasing anti-Muslim and Arab sentiment on the street both before and after the attacks on September 11th.
Despite the fact that it was American dissident Timothy McVeigh who masterminded the deadly attack in Oklahoma, Muslims and Arabs were unequivocally the main victims of the secret evidence clause imbedded in the act, which allowed for the Department of Justice to imprison them, some for over 4 years, without ever charging them with a crime and without disclosing the evidence against them, denying them their constitutionally granted right of due process.
Of the roughly 30 people held on secret evidence, at least 25 were Arab and/or Muslim.
Upon immigration court demands that the evidence be disclosed to Immigration Judges (IJ), almost all of the detainees were set free, with some IJs calling the evidence "laughable".
The secret evidence clause, however, allowed for then Attorney General Janet Reno to overturn the IJ's rulings and continue holding detainees indefinitely, forcing a Congressional member to call for Reno's resignation.
But Ashcroft has insisted his anti-terror judicial arsenal would not target individual liberties.
"We will propose no change in the law that damages constitutional rights and protections that Americans hold dear," he said at a news conference.
He said the measures would be applied with the "same careful respect" for constitutionally protected individual rights law enforcement agents demonstrate in battling illegal drugs and organized crime "without violating the rights and the freedoms of Americans..."
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said in a statement the deal was "based on our views on the proper balance between the role of law enforcement and our civil liberties," AFP reported.
The bill, formally known as the Mobilization Against Terrorism Act (MATA), would expand the power of the Justice Department to detain immigrants and would speed up expulsion procedures that would not require court approval. The definition of "terrorists" who would be affected under these immigration laws would also expand to include those who "support terrorists or terrorist organizations".
It would also scale back appeal possibilities and ease restrictions on wiretapping of persons "suspected of having engaged in terrorist activities", allowing agents to tap a person, follow cell phone calls and intercept emails, as well as tap regular telephones in order to facilitate eavesdropping.
"I'm pleased and heartened to hear that progress is being made ... to the needs of law enforcement for the right tools to fight terrorism," Ashcroft said, but insisted that he wanted more.
"Our laws need to reflect the new war, a kind of responsibility and effort that we must wage. It must provide us with tools on a continuing basis to do so," he said.
Congressman Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-GA) told the Washington Post last month that he was concerned that proponents of the new laws may be trying to take advantage of the nation's emergency situation to push through legislation they had been trying to pass before September 11th.
"Why is it necessary to rush this through?" he said in the Post article.
Barr wrote a letter to Ashcroft and other government officials on September 18th, advocating caution in suggesting changes to legislation.
"I urge you to not move hastily in recommending wholesale changes to search and seizure laws," he said.
Barr worried that granting such enhanced authorities without careful examination and public debate would be "dismantling carefully crafted, constitutionally protected safeguards and diminishing fundamental rights to privacy."
"Broad investigative and surveillance authority invites abuse… Let us not rush into a vast expansion of government power in a misguided attempt to protect freedom. In doing so, we will inevitably erode the very freedoms we seek to protect," the letter concluded.
According to the Post, concerns about threats to those freedoms have arisen among not only civil liberties groups and liberals, but among conservative libertarians as well.
In a statement, U.S. President George W. Bush praised the passage of the bill, saying that the Senate has given law enforcement "these essential, additional tools to combat terrorism and safeguard America against future terrorist attacks."
"This important legislation respects our Constitution while allowing us to treat terrorist acts the same as serious drug crimes and organized crime, and strengthens our ability to share information to disrupt, weaken and eliminate global terrorist networks," the president's statement said, adding that he hopes he can sign the bill into law soon.
In the Senate version, the measures do not expire, but if passed, the House bill "sunsets" the provisions - or lets them lapse - after two years.
With additional reporting by Neveen A. Salem
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