Bush accused of civil rights clampdown
" Cheney was at the centre of one of the most controversial clashes over secrecy, when he refused
to hand over records of the consultations behind the government
energy plan, which involved and benefited many of his personal
connections in the business and featured the disgraced Enron
corporation"
Ed Vulliamy in New York
Sunday January 5, 2003
The Observer
observer.co.uk
President George Bush is presiding over the most secretive
administration in 'living memory', according to American civil
rights groups and congressmen.
Critics accuse him of orchestrating an unprecedented
clampdown on freedom of information and the press. This has
resulted in a dramatic increase in documents and proceedings
being classified secret and an overall shutdown of the free flow of
information over the government's political and legal conduct.
They are also concerned over what they see as alarming
restrictions on the Freedom of Information Act.
Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy, first elected in 1974, said:
'Since I have been here, I have never known an administration
that it has been more difficult to get information from.'
The administration, under the aegis of Vice-President Dick
Cheney, has outlined a new philosophy of emphasis on
executive privileges and power.
Cheney was at the centre of one
of the most controversial clashes over secrecy, when he refused
to hand over records of the consultations behind the government
energy plan, which involved and benefited many of his personal
connections in the business and featured the disgraced Enron
corporation.
The Vice-President was subject to the first ever writ to be served
by Congress on the White House, which he fought on the
grounds that executive authority should be protected and
Congress had no right to sue. Cheney's argument was upheld
by Judge John Bates, himself a Bush appointment.
Most secretive measures are justified by mentioning 11
September, but US journalists have calculated that even in the
year up to 30 September 2001 - most of which was spent under
the Bush administration - the number of classified documents
totalled 260,978, up 18 per cent on the last year of the Clinton
administration.
Restrictions to the Freedom of Information Act were announced
after 11 September by Attorney General John Ashcroft but were
planned long before the attacks. They were the result of a
directive from Ashcroft that federal agencies should be
encouraged to reject requests for documents if there was any
legal reason for doing so. The directive ran counter to Bill
Clinton's, which told agencies to open up the record books
whenever possible.
The fallout from 11 September goes well beyond proposed
military tribunals for those accused of terrorism. It festers mainly
in the sweep of arrests and detentions of immigrants in the wake
of the attacks, the vast majority for ordinary visa violations.
While a handful have been held as 'material witnesses' to the
attacks, some 750 hearings that have nothing to do with
terrorism were held behind closed doors, shut to relatives,
friends, public and press alike. Even the names of the accused
were secret.
The secret trials followed a verdict by chief immigration judge
Michael Creppy covering what he called 'special interest cases'
involving alleged connections to terrorism. They were challenged
by families of the accused and two newspapers in New Jersey,
which argued that the closed-door policy should be considered
case-by-case.
'Deportation cases have always been open,' said Lee Gerlent of
the American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the
newspapers. 'The government did not provide any evidence to
the contrary.'
A book by Mary Graham of the Brookings Institution think-tank
in Washington, Democracy by Disclosure, reveals how after 11
September officials went about dismantling government
websites, and tinkered with those advising residents about the
dangers of nearby chemical or toxic plants.
The process dovetailed with what the chemical and energy
industries, for decades allied to the Bush family and political
machine in Texas, had argued for, insisting that disclosure was
unnecessary.
One of the most notorious cases of detention under seal is that
of Mohammed Atriss, said to have been the provider of fake
identification cards obtained by the hijack terrorists of 11
September.
The unofficial cards are ubiquitous in America, and are bought
over the counter for the price of a few dollars and a
passport-sized photograph. Atriss was arrested in a glare of
publicity by a squadron of assault weapon-wielding officers five
months ago. His lawyers say Atriss had no more idea who the
terrorists were than any of his other thousands of customers to
his ID card shop.
Atriss is still in jail and prosecutors refuse to say what the
evidence is, or if he represents a security threat. The bond of
half a million dollars is that usually posted for someone on a
murder charge. |
