Fenian Notes

By our Washington correspondent

A DEFINING chapter in American history was written on September 11, 2001 when depraved dedicated fanatics attacked the United States of America, thrusting death and destruction on thousands of innocent civilians.

The late Afro-American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall said: “This is a country which stands tallest in troubled times, a country that clings to fundamental principles, cherishes its constitutional heritage and rejects simple solutions that compromise the values that lie at the roots of our democratic system”. This latest terror attack has been a challenge to this belief of Justice Marshall.

The New York attack was an attack on the freedom, equality and tolerance that are the hall marks of the American Republic. This unique essence has a worldwide appeal to those not brainwashed by domineering fanatical leaders.

Terror, by its very nature, is intended not only to destroy but also to intimidate a people, to coerce them into taking actions that undermine who they are and what they stand for out of fear for their own safety and the security of the nation.

We must join with groups who will not be intimidated into sacrificing vital elements of freedom, equality and tolerance in the name of some understandable, but misguided, notions of national security.

National security and individual civil liberties do not have to be at odds. There needs to be a calculated realistic balance tilted to the rights of the people who are supposed to be given security.

As the US proceeds in its further response to the terror crisis it must take extreme care to ensure that policies adopted increase real safety while strictly protecting basic freedoms and liberties.

Certainly the task will not be easy because the all too gullible ‘majority’ live in fear of terror from the likes of Al Queda and fear of retribution from the US Government for being unpatriotic.

Unfortunately, we know all too well that the nation and its people have given into intimidation and fear before and the victim was civil liberties. It’s time to fight back.
Fortunately, there are people and organisations dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals. They are speaking out now and we should heed their advice.

True Irish Republican supporters in the US are considered suspect and will have some form of monitoring. It is best to be cautious assuming big brother is listening.
Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Lawyers Committee on Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are voices of liberty in troubling times for America. There are others as well.

When Irish and German Americans were persecuted for anti-British activity in WW1 the Civil Liberties Union was there to assist. They also spoke out about the mistreatment of Japanese and Italian Americans during WW11.

The ACLU and other Civil Liberties watchdogs are on the job today to protect the rights of citizens and non-citizens alike. The US Immigration Service has made up a list of 314,000 people subject to immediate deportation.

This list is predominantly made up of people from Arab countries but includes hundreds of Irish people as well to diffuse criticism that only Arab/Muslims are being profiled.
 

DETERMINED

We as US residents must realise what is at stake and fight back with every legal means at our disposal and embrace other groups and individuals such as the ACLU who are dedicated to the rights of all. Bush’s war is not only against terror but is also against the rights of those in the USA.

Reasonable and necessary security can and must be balanced with the absolute rights of the individual. Our freedoms are being undermined by Bush and his flunkies and those who blindly support his war. American values are rooted in freedom, equality and tolerance and we must teach Mr Bush et al what America was meant to be.

Bush and his Attorney General Ashcroft propose measures that offend the Constitution. What they intend to do would permanently alter what people want to believe what America is supposed to be about.

We are well aware of the measures to reduce the courts to a rubber stamp in the Governments efforts to monitor all communications should they so desire. This would put US Courts in a similar position to the courts in Germany in the WW11 era.

Congress adopted unconstitutional search and wiretap measures and other draconian means in a vote in the middle of the night without debate. Is this the way of democracy?

We must not be silenced by fear and allow our rights to dissipate on the whim of Mr Bush. We must fight.

The ACLU “insists that everyone in this country be accorded the full protection of the Fourth Amendment and Due Process of Law”; and the Government increase its efforts to prevent and punish bigoted attacks “on any group of people; evaluate existing security measures before creating new ones; require leaders to set guidelines for proposals that affect basic liberties and any proposed changes to restrict liberty to be debated in the public eye and proven necessary and to be applied in a non-discriminatory way”.

Experience shows that we can never be so secure as to let our guard down in the area of protecting rights such as privacy, freedom of speech, assembly, religion and equal rights for all.

Begin writing letters to Senators and Congressmen to let them know that we will not stand for the abridgement of our rights otherwise they will see constituents as sheep afraid to speak out in rage. The polls reflecting favourably toward Bush policies are premised on people living in fear.

Politicians need to realise that they must submit to the will of the people. When people have their rights denied or privacy invaded they will go ballistic but it only happens to someone else. We are now someone else.

There now appears to be additional hope beyond the civil liberties sources and the source is quite unexpected. There is dissention in Mr Bush’s supporters on the
issue of individual rights.

Mr Bush’s core support is among the conservative element in his own party and the American electorate generally. That support is divided and has to make him cautious.

The right wing element in Mr Bush’s party do not stay away from the polls so they have to be appeased otherwise they may vote against him as a punishment they exacted on his own father.

David Keene, Chairman of the American Conservative Union and a strong supporter of Bush, wrote an article recently called Privacy: an Emerging Front Burner Issue. In that piece he made an argument that today rings rather strange.

Keene accused the Clinton Administration of being so obsessed with the threat of terrorism and crime that he trampled upon civil liberties. Then Vice-President Gore said that when someone suspicious tries to purchase an airline ticket the Government should have the immediate right to look into their banking and other records without a warrant.

In this abuse of the left, Keene saw a conservative opportunity to put privacy at the top of their political agenda. Keene saw an ideological battle that could reshape American politics for years to come. He said: “We are not so far down the road to trading freedom for security and the trend cannot be stopped or even reversed”.

Here is the irony. Conservatives, outraged by the Clinton Administration’s abuse of civil liberties and intrigued by the political opportunities they created, were preparing to try to claim the civil liberties mantle for Bush and his party.

Because of people like Keene writing columns such as the above there might be some hope of stopping Bush and his Attorney General John Ashcroft from committing far greater abuses today.

Conservative Keene declared freedom more important than security and now feels betrayed by the Bush Administration.

In 1994 conservatives began to question whether Washington’s police and military powers – powers no longer verified by the non-existent cold war – might violate personal freedom as well. Their intent was to sequester this issue from the left-leaning Democrats.

During his Presidential campaign, George W Bush denounced the use of secret evidence in immigration and other proceedings and during the Congressional Hearings on John Ashcroft’s nomination to be Attorney General, Ashcroft portrayed a strong record on privacy.

Now, the two have contradicted their principles and sought legislation that destroys privacy and civil liberties. Liberals and their supportive organisations have condemned the draconian course of Bush and Ashcroft but they will be ignored.

What Bush cannot ignore is the campaign of his supporters in the right wing of his party. The respect for due process that has been born in conservative Washington since the cold war’s end hopefully may yet overcome the Bush Administration’s self-righteous disregard of it.

PEOPLE have to admit that when  it comes to reining in a reckless Attorney General and an ignorant President support from unlikely sources is most assuredly welcome.

In wars, Governments assume greater powers than are necessary in peacetime, but to punish the innocent by witch hunts and fishing expeditions is an abomination.
Congressman Bob Barr of Georgia is leading a stiff conservative resistance to Government actions that clearly impinge upon civil liberties and this is a pleasant surprise. Bob Barr and John Ashcroft used to be soul mates now they are at each others’ throats.

We should write to Congressman Barr and encourage his efforts as well as those of Russell Feingold, a US Senator who cast the lone vote against Bush’s emergency laws.

These two men are as far apart philosophically as any two people can be yet to their credit they are endorsing the freedoms Americans have as a birthright.
Innocent people are being harassed and recently two extreme cases came to the fore which shows that Bush considers true Irish Republicans as supporters of terrorism. These cases show the extent of Mr Bush’s paranoia.

In the first an 80 year old woman from Ireland was asked what she thought was going to become of the Irish peace process. She replied in all truth and innocence that she believed it would not work because the British were still in charge. Her visa has been revoked.

In the second case a 92-year-old former IRA courier (circa 1916-1922) came to America to celebrate his birthday on January 1, 2002 with his children and grandchildren who live in the USA.

He told them stories of their fight for freedom against the British and the pride he had for all who participated in that struggle.
 

SEARCH

He was removed from his wheelchair and told in the battle against terrorism there were no exceptions. The search was carried out by embarrassed clerks under Bush’s orders and all that was found were the families Christmas gifts of this old unrepentant ‘terrorist’.

There is something un-American about the treatment of people since September 11, 2001. Innocent people have been targeted by law enforcement agencies in this great terror scare.

We who believe in freedom must resist these diabolical methods of the Bush campaign against basic rights. The El Qaeda murdered innocent people in a solitary act of treachery but the Bushies have an on-going terror scare against their own people.

The Government have no right to trade the rights of people for the security of the rest of the population even in a national emergency. Politicians do not like bad publicity so let us make public at every turn our displeasure.

Bush has taken his lesson in emergency powers from the British. Powers we know too well. Every time there is a political opportunity we must strike. In some cases we need to create our own opportunities.

Bush has said you are with us or them. We say back to him you are for freedom or tyranny and Mr Bush has chosen tyranny. Let’s show this poor excuse for a leader what America is supposed to be.

He has to lose his war against civil liberties and we must help defeat him by supporting any person or group that truly believes in the US Bill of Rights.
 

-- Peadar Mac Fhínín
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