Then again...

Right after posting the post below, I came across this article.

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to radically overhaul controversial Bush administration intelligence policies, advisers say, an approach that is almost certain to create tension within the Democratic Party.

Civil-liberties groups were among those outraged that the White House sanctioned the use of harsh intelligence techniques -- which some consider torture -- by the Central Intelligence Agency, and expanded domestic spy powers. These groups are demanding quick action to reverse these policies.

Mr. Obama is being advised largely by a group of intelligence professionals, including some who have supported Republicans, and centrist former officials in the Clinton administration. They say he is likely to fill key intelligence posts with pragmatists.

Apparently our constitutional rights aren't "pragmatic". Why don't we just be honest and upfront and introduce legislation to repeal the Fourth Amendment?

I promise you that this will not be the last word on this subject.



Andy in Harrisburg

A Promising Start?

"On Day One, with the stroke of a pen, you can restore America's moral leadership in the World," says the full-page ACLU ad (PDF). The open-letter campaign calls for President-elect Barack Obama to issue an executive order that closes Guantanamo Bay prison on Jan. 20. (Check out our new website, www.closegitmo.com.)

While Obama said throughout his presidential run that he believes the indefinite imprisonment of the detainees "a sad chapter in American history," and would work to close it (as did his opponent Sen. John McCain) yesterday's news reports indicate that the new administration intends to make it a top and immediate goal.

According to a hopeful article Monday from the Associated Press:

President-elect Obama's advisers are crafting plans to close the Guantanamo Bay prison and prosecute terrorism suspects in the U.S., a plan that the Bush administration said Monday was easier said than done.

Under the plan being crafted inside Obama's camp, some prisoners would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials. But, underscoring the difficult decisions Obama must make to fulfill his pledge of shutting down Guantanamo, the plan could require the creation of a new legal system to handle the classified information inherent in some of the most sensitive cases.

The article goes on to say:

Laurence Tribe, a Harvard law professor and Obama legal adviser, said discussions about plans for Guantánamo had been "theoretical" before the election but would quickly become very focused because closing the prison is a top priority.

However, before we permit too much unbridled optimism to cloud our judgment, another breaking story in the Chicago Tribune last night cautioned readers that a lot of work yet remains in closing this international disgrace.

"President-elect Obama said throughout his campaign that the legal framework at Guantanamo has failed to successfully and swiftly prosecute terrorists, and he shares the broad bipartisan belief that Guantanamo should be closed," McDonough said in a statement.

Obama isn't perfect. I'm still irked over his FISA vote. But this, to all the cynics out there, should give us hope that, perhaps, he means business and that the worst abuses of civil liberties over the past eight years may be rectified.

Lauri in York

Will the new president defend the Constitution?

So the clouds have opened and all will be well since the Democrats won, right? Ha! Yeah, right. We've been warning our friends that civil liberties will still need defended at the local, state, and, yes, federal level after the election. Remember Bill Clinton with the Defense of Marriage Act, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the massive ballooning of the prison industrial complex, and the original proposal of the PATRIOT Act?

National is all over what needs to be done by President-elect Obama. Click here for the ACLU's transition plan for the new president. Here's Day One.

Day One: Stop Torture, Close Guantanamo, End Extraordinary Renditions
The next president will have a historic opportunity -- on day one -- to take very important steps to restore the rule of law in the interrogation and detention of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Afghanistan, and in secret prisons around the globe. Every action taken pursuant to an executive order of President Bush can be reversed by executive order of the next president.

Therefore, on the first day in office, the next president should issue an executive order directing all agencies to modify their policies and practices immediately to:

• Cease and prohibit the use of torture and abuse, without exception, and direct the Attorney General immediately after his or her confirmation to appoint an outside special counsel to investigate and, if warranted, prosecute any violations of federal criminal laws prohibiting torture and abuse;
• Close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and either charge and try detainees under criminal law in federal criminal courts or before military courts-martial or transfer them to countries where they will not be tortured or detained without charge;
• Cease and prohibit the practice of extraordinary rendition, which is the transfer of persons, outside of the judicial process, to other countries, including countries that torture or abuse prisoners.

Andy in Harrisburg