It Can't Happen Here?
Must be a Kafka novel or an oppressive regime. Couldn't happen here.
But it did.
In the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. authorities arrested 762 foreign nationals -- mostly men of Middle Eastern descent -- and kept them confined, sometimes under harsh conditions. Most detainees were found not to have any terrorism connections. But many were held for weeks or months, even after officials concluded that their only offense was an immigration violation for which they should be deported.
These were the findings of the Justice Department's own inspector general, whose office didn't flinch from criticizing where criticism was due.
What's evident from the report is that many individuals unduly got swept into the terrorism investigation, but when they proved not to be potential terrorists, the FBI was in no hurry to move them through the system. Faulty communication among agencies, inadequate staffing and excess caution all contributed to breakdowns in timely due process.
Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday, Attorney General John Ashcroft not only defended his department's handling of the terrorism investigation -- he asked for even more tools to hold suspected terrorists before trial and punish those convicted. Ashcroft, according to the Fox News Web site, told the committee that "our challenge in this war against terrorists is to adapt, to anticipate, to out-think, out-maneuver our enemies while honoring our Constitution."
But it does the Constitution no honor to disregard basic legal rules and principles of fair treatment.
The Justice Department showed in its handling of an alleged terror cell in New York state that it can move efficiently against credible threats. That isn't what happened with most of the detainees who were the subject of the inspector general's report.
Individuals who are in the United States illegally, as most of the detainees were, may not enjoy all the same rights as citizens. But mistreating prisoners with no terrorist ties does little to make the nation safer -- or to build confidence that enhanced law enforcement powers won't be abused.
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