Rep. Kucinich Questions

'USA Patriot Act'

    by DENNIS KUCINICH(D-OHIIO)

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,

& 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 & 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