Action Alert
Oppose Military Tribunals and Preserve Civil Liberties
"We're at a terrible stage when we confuse dissent with disloyalty and we view every protester as a traitor."
--- Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Much of the government's domestic response to the September terrorist
attacks springs from the dangerous notion that granting law enforcement
virtually unlimited power will ensure our security.
While some federal actions, such as increasing security in airports, are
necessary, commonsense precautions, others erode the Bill of Rights and will
ultimately undermine our strength as a nation. In recent weeks, the Bush
administration has:
* Issued orders that create special military tribunals to try
non-citizens charged with terrorism and that allow federal agents to listen
in on conversations between a suspect and his attorney.
* Signed into law the USA-PATRIOT Act (passed by Congress with almost no
debate), which dramatically decreases the power of our judicial system to
protect citizens' constitutional rights.
* Continued to fight public requests for basic information about an
estimated 1,100 non-citizens who have been detained since September 11.
The impact of these measures is extraordinarily far-reaching and will
inflict serious damage to the healthy functioning of our democracy. Civil
liberties are the essence of America. We must ensure that the measures used
to protect our country don't destroy what it stands for.
Urge President Bush to immediately release the names of the non-citizens who
have been detained since September 11, and rescind the dangerous proposal to
create special military tribunals to try non-citizens charged with
terrorism.
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