"Karsten M. Self" wrote:
on Thu, Oct 25, 2001 at 02:31:42PM -0400, Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) wrote:
Attorney General John Ashcroft Prepared Remarks for the US Mayors Conference October 25, 2001
<...>
Within days of the September 11 attacks, we launched this anti_terrorism offensive to prevent new attacks on our homeland. To date, our anti_terrorism offensive has arrested or detained nearly 1,000 individuals as part of the September 11 terrorism investigation. Those who violated the law remain in
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custody. Taking suspected terrorists in violation of the law off ^^^^^^^^ the streets and keeping them locked up is our clear strategy to prevent terrorism within our borders.
Conviction without trial?
Deliberate vagueness on Asscruft's part, I suspect. As I understand it, most of the Arab-looking men in custody are being held on technical immigration charges. Thanks to changes in the law a couple of years ago, immigrants in violation can be held indefinitely without trial or legal representation, or even deported based on secret evidence. And immigration laws are like traffic laws: it's virtually impossible to go through life without an occasional technical violation. INS's motto: Habeus corpus is for citizens. -- Steve Furlong Computer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel 617-670-3793 "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly while bad people will find a way around the laws." -- Plato