CONGRESSMAN KUNICH QUESTIONS SEVERE BLOW TO OUR FREEDOMS FROM THE PATRIOT ACT
2-25-2002
"How Can We Justify This?
Let us pray that our nation will remember that the unfolding of the promise
of democracy in our nation paralleled the striving for civil rights. That
is why we must challenge the rationale of the Patriot Act. We must ask why
should America put aside guarantees of constitutional justice?
How can we justify in effect canceling the First Amendment and the right of
free speech, the right to peaceably assemble?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fourth Amendment, probable cause,
the prohibitions against unreasonable search and seizure?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Fifth Amendment, nullifying due
process, and allowing for indefinite incarceration without a trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Sixth Amendment, the right to prompt
and public trial?
How can we justify in effect canceling the Eighth Amendment which protects
against cruel and unusual punishment?
We cannot justify widespread wiretaps and internet surveillance without judicial
supervision, let alone with it. We cannot justify secret searches without
a warrant. We cannot justify giving the Attorney general the ability to designate
domestic terror groups. We cannot justify giving the FBI total access to any
type of data which may exist in any system anywhere such as medical records
and financial records.
We cannot justify giving the CIA the ability to target people in this country
for intelligence surveillance. We cannot justify a government which takes
from the people our right to privacy and then assumes for its own operations
a right to total secrecy. The Attorney General recently covered up a statue
of Lady Justice showing her bosom as if to underscore there is no danger of
justice exposing herself at this time, before this administration.
Let us pray that our nation's leaders will not be overcome with fear. Because
today there is great fear in our great Capitol. And this must be understood
before we can ask about the shortcomings of congress in the current environment.
The great fear began when we had to evacuate the Capitol on September 11.
It continued when we had to leave the Capitol again when a bomb scare occurred
as members were pressing the CIA during a secret briefing. It continued when
we abandoned Washington when anthrax, possibly from a government lab, arrived
in the mail. It continued when the Attorney General declared a nationwide
terror alert and then the Administration brought the destructive Patriot Bill
to the floor of the House. It continued in the release of the Bin Laden tapes
at the same time the President was announcing the withdrawal from the ABM
treaty. It remains present in the cordoning off of the Capitol. It is present
in the camouflaged armed national guardsmen who greet members of Congress
each day we enter the Capitol campus. It is present in the labyrinth of concrete
barriers through which we must pass each time we go to vote. The trappings
of a state of siege trap us in a state of fear, ill equipped to deal with
the Patriot Games, the Mind Games, the War Games of an unelected President
and his unelected Vice President.
Let us pray that our country will stop this war. "To promote the common
defense" is one of the formational principles of America. Our Congress
gave the President the ability to respond to the tragedy of September the
Eleventh. We licensed a response to those who helped bring the terror of September
the Eleventh. But we the people and our elected representatives must reserve
the right to measure the response, to proportion the response, to challenge
the response, and to correct the response.
Because we did not authorize the invasion of Iraq.
We did not authorize the invasion of Iran.
We did not authorize the invasion of North Korea.
We did not authorize the bombing of civilians in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize permanent detainees in Guantanamo Bay.
We did not authorize the withdrawal from the Geneva Convention.
We did not authorize military tribunals suspending due process and habeas
corpus.
We did not authorize assassination squads.
We did not authorize the resurrection of COINTELPRO.
We did not authorize the repeal of the Bill of Rights.
We did not authorize the revocation of the constitution.
We did not authorize national identity cards.
We did not authorize the eye of Big Brother to peer from cameras throughout
our cities.
We did not authorize an eye for an eye.
Nor did we ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September
11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan.
We did not authorize the administration to wage war anytime, anywhere, anyhow
it pleases.
We did not authorize war without end.
We did not authorize a permanent war economy.
Yet we are upon the threshold of a permanent war economy. The President has
requested a $45.6 billion increase in military spending. All defense-related
programs will cost close to $400 billion. Consider that the Department of
Defense has never passed an independent audit. Consider that the Inspector
General has notified Congress that the Pentagon cannot properly account for
$1.2 trillion in transactions. Consider that in recent years the Dept. of
Defense could not match $22 billion worth of expenditures to the items it
purchased, wrote off, as lost, billions of dollars worth of in-transit inventory
and stored nearly $30 billion worth of spare parts it did not need.
Yet the defense budget grows with more money for weapons systems to fight
a cold war which ended, weapon systems in search of new enemies to create
new wars. This has nothing to do with fighting terror. This has everything
to do with fueling a military industrial machine with the treasure of our
nation, risking the future of our nation, risking democracy itself with the
militarization of thought which follows the militarization of the budget.
United States Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio)
Email responses to Dkucinich@aol.com
http://www.rense.com/general20/repKucinich.htm