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Theft of Your Civil Liberties Comment by Larry Ross, July 25, 2007
This is a definitive account about how the Bush Administration has used the 9/11 attack to destroy freedom and democracy in America. They have systematically removed many civil rights and liberties of Americans and visitors and enacted a myriad of new laws and regulations. These repressive measures may well effect other governments some of whom may enact similar repressive measures. At the same time Bush has decreed and legislated greatly increased power for himself and his administration. In effect he has become a de facto dictator. All this has been made possible by the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and Bush's subsequent 'war on terrorism'. He includes any war such as that in Afghanistan and Iraq, that he decides to link to 'terrorism'. Protesting against such wars could itself be interpreted as 'aiding the terrorists' or even a terrorist act. Visitors to the US or emigrants should consider the new situation. There are many unanswered questions about the 9/11 attack, that the Bush Administration will not answer, and much that is covered up. Polls show that about one third of Americans think 9/11 was an inside job. If this were true then the Bush Administration is totally fraudulent, as is their wars, new laws and ongoing "wars on terror" and numerous other actions. However even assuming Bush's official 9/11 story is true, he has greatly magnified the threat and used it to justify illegal wars, the new dictatorial laws and his planned war on Iran. He has committed many war crimes and killed over 655,000 Iraqis in his war on Iraq , which was based completely on lies. American reparations to Iraqis would now be in the billions of dollars. The Bush Administration is on a wild imperial crusade of conquest and has lost its credibility and popularity with the American people. Many believe Bush will stage a covert 'false flag' attack on the US and blame Iran to provide excuses and justification for a war on Iran. His popularity would go up and the media would portray him as a hero leading Americans in a new war against Iranian terrorist attackers. He has the legal machinery in place to declare a 'State of Emergency' and Martial Law. Then conscription and harsh implementation of his new dictator laws may follow. Dissent and protest would soon disappear and the Bush Administration and its appointees would rule America indefinitely. As the democrats have been close allies of the Bush Administration and repeated or simply accepted his lies, including his lies and coming war with Iran, the 2008 elections would not significantly change the situation. Bush may postpone them indefinitely due to the 'State of Emergency'. Further wars and greater disasters would be likely to follow. Impeachment seems to be the only way the Bush/Chaney gang of criminals could be stopped from killing more people and wrecking more damage on the world.
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Five Ways Bush's Era of Repression by Matthew Rothschild, July 24, 2007
The following is an excerpt of Matthew Rothschild's "You Have No Rights: Stories of America in an Age of Repression" (The New Press, 2007).
Today's America is a much less free place than the America of 2000. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration has, by word and by deed, erected an edifice of repression here in the United States. We've been living in it ever since. And it's not a comfortable place. The government is monitoring your phone calls and can read your e-mails and open your snail mail. The government can access records of your large financial transactions, such as buying a house. Law enforcement officers can bust into your home when you're not there, riffle through your belongings, plant a recording device on your computer, and leave without notifying you for at least thirty days -- and maybe a lot more. You no longer have the right to protest where the president or vice president can see you, or at major public events when they aren't even present. Law enforcement officers can now monitor you in public if you are merely exercising your political rights. They can infiltrate your political organizations. And they can keep track of you at your place of worship. The government can find out from bookstores and libraries the material you've been reading, and the bookstore owner and the librarian can't talk about it, except to their lawyers, for a whole year -- or more. The government can hold you in preventive detention for months on end as a "material witness." If you're not a citizen the government can deport you on a technicality or for mere political association. If you're not a citizen the government can label you an "enemy combatant" and send you to secret prisons around the world, where you may never see the light of day again -- much less a lawyer or a judge. And even if you are a citizen, the government can label you an enemy combatant and hold you in solitary confinement here in the United States. Under George W. Bush's interpretation of the president's powers during the so-called war on terror he can do just about whatever he wants. He cites the Authorization for Use of Military Force bill, which Congress passed on September 18, 2001, as the justification for this enormous leeway. "Congress gave me the authority to use necessary force to protect the American people, but it didn't prescribe the tactics,"Bush said in a speech at Kansas State University on January 23, 2006. Those tactics, he presumes, are totally up to him. Under this rationale Bush could send F-16s to attack a residential area in, say, Indianapolis if he thought Al Qaeda suspects were there. Lest you think I'm exaggerating, check out the February 13, 2006, issue of Newsweek:
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