Your civil liberties: in grave danger

Dear Friend,

The extraneous provisions threaten privacy, due process, freedom of
association, freedom of _expression, equal protection, freedom of religion,
and universal human rights. In addition, they authorize increased use of
the death penalty and transfer of captives to countries known for use of
torture. The pressure on individual members of Congress to pass
legislation to implement the 9/11 Commissions recommendations is
enormous, so these harmful provisions must be defeated by public
condemnation.

Heres the message we must send to Congress immediately: Legislation
implementing The 9/11 Commission Report must be limited to the core
recommendations of the report. All extraneous law enforcement and
immigration provisions must be stripped from any such legislation prior to
final passage by Congress.

To contact your members of Congress, please follow the link below. We have
posted a sample on our web site to help you write your message at
<http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/CEDWDWJRGP/IUOGDWJRMF/>http://capwiz.com/fconl/issues/alert/?alertid=6500701&type=CO

For additional information please see the "Background" section toward the
end of this email.

Thank you for your support.

Kathy Guthrie
Field Program Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
800-630-1330

----------
Scenario: A lengthy, complex, and confusing bill is introduced in response
to public pressure for improved national security. Congressional leaders
warn that the legislation is the only way to protect against terrorism and
that it must be passed within days. The measure does include some
provisions addressing national security, but it is loaded with, or amended
by, sections that severely reduce precious constitutional protections.
Changes to the legislation occur rapidly behind closed doors without
public knowledge, discussion, or input. Both houses of Congress are under
intense leadership and political pressure for quick and decisive passage
of the bill. Sound familiar? Sound like the USA PATRIOT Act, passed in
the fall of 2001? Yes, it does. But this terrible scenario is being
repeated this week in Washington, D.C.

The 9/11 Commission Report, posted on the FCNL web site at
<http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/CEDWDWJRGP/DOZADWJRMG/>http://www.fcnl.org/issues/issue.php?issue_id=67,
was released in July 22, 2004. It includes a thorough description of the
circumstances leading to the attack of September 11, 2001, an unflinching
review of the governmental failures that made the U.S. vulnerable, and a
listing of the commissions 41 recommendations to rectify these
shortcomings. (See
<http://capwiz.com/fconl/utr/1/CEDWDWJRGP/OIBHDWJRMH/>http://www.fcnl.org/smith/comm_report.htm
for an overview of the 41 recommendations.) The report instantly became a
national best seller, ratcheting up political pressure to pass
legislation implementing the 9/11 Commissions recommendations. In the
election season pressure cooker of the 108th Congress, when legislative
votes are primarily intended to support re-election, majority and
minority parties have been engaged for the past week in frenetic
jockeying for introduction and amendment of measures to implement the
9/11 Commissions recommendations.

Some of the legislative measures and amendments, particularly S. 2845, a
measure introduced in the Senate by Sen. Collins (ME) and Sen. Lieberman
(CT), have been bi-partisan efforts, carefully drafted to respond to the
commissions recommendations. Others, most dramatically HR 10, introduced
by Speaker Hastert (IL) in the House, and amendments to S. 2845
introduced by Sen. Kyl (AZ) in the Senate, do not follow the 9/11
Commissions
recommendations about security and are freighted with provisions that
diminish civil liberties protections. Taken together, these provisions
include (but are not limited to):
* establishment of a national ID card, disguised as national
standardization of drivers licensing;
* establishment of a national electronic database for birth and death
certificates, with permanent identifying information assigned to each
individual, such as a national ID number;
* biometric identifiers including fingerprints, face recognition
software photos, iris or retinal scans, and other private physical
identification for travel documents which would be used for security in
domestic air travel as well as overseas travel;
* expanded secret eavesdropping and search powers to be used against
individuals suspected of terrorist activity, whether or not the individual
is associated with a foreign power;
* further weakening of individual privacy rights in library, medical,
and other personal records, removing all federal court oversight;
* enhanced "material support" provisions, allowing guilt by association
with a group targeted by the administration; removal of habeas corpus
relief for those detained under repressive immigration measures;
* approval of automatic detention without bail in immigration matters
at the governments request;
* increased secrecy in immigration court matters;
* approval of the use of secret evidence in immigration courts secret
even to the immigrant being examined;
* deportation of immigrants before final appeal;
* allowing the death penalty in terrorism cases (with "terrorism" as
defined in the USA PATRIOT Act);
* explicit approval of transfer of prisoners suspected of terrorism to
nations known to practice torture; and
* failure to provide for a cross-agency civil liberties board for
oversight and investigation of civil liberties practices and procedures in
the executive branch of the federal government.

The message to Congress should be straightforward: Legislation responding
to The 9/11 Commission Report must be limited to the core recommendations
of the report. All extraneous law enforcement and immigration provisions
must be stripped from any such legislation prior to final passage by the
House and the Senate.