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So… what changed?It's not like

by Prometheus 6
June 13, 2003 - 7:39am.
on Old Site Archive

So… what changed?

It's not like the rules of ethics or morality changed. It's not that the suggested changes are all that clever. It's not even that these cases are more visible.

The civil rights community warned everyone about Ashcroft before Mr. Bush was sworn in. The fact that he and his staff has no apologies about problems that the rest of the government feels the need to respond to this quickly shows how totally wrong his is for the job of chief law enforcement officer. He's supposed to manage the overall process, and the atmosphere he created was such that these abuses were seen as justifiable…desireable…expected. Just as when Justin Volpe tortured Abner Louima and ran around the precinct with a bloody, stool-covered stick bragging about what he did, that there is an atmosphere where officers expect an actual pat on the back for these actions is troubling in the extreme. As in that case, the managers who either fomented or allowed through negligence the development of such an atmsophere should be held accountable. And as the particular manager in this case was known and hand-picked, the picker has much to answer for as well.

from the NY Times

U.S. Will Tighten Rules on Holding Terror Suspects
By ERIC LICHTBLAU

WASHINGTON, June 12 ? Federal authorities said today that they planned to use stricter standards for identifying and locking up terrorist suspects in light of concerns raised in a recent report that hundreds of illegal immigrants were mistreated after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

… The move to embrace the bulk of the changes appeared to signal a greater acknowledgment of shortcomings in antiterrorism and detention policies than Justice Department officials had publicly admitted.

… Inspector General Glenn A. Fine's report found that few of the 762 illegal immigrants arrested after Sept. 11 had clear ties to terrorism, but that many were held for months in what the report characterized as harsh conditions, often without access to lawyers. Inmates in Brooklyn were subjected to physical and verbal abuse, the report found.

Attorney General John Ashcroft and his aides defended the department's conduct after the report was released, saying they "make no apologies" for doing everything in their legal power to aggressively deter another attack on American soil.

… Among the 12 recommendations that officials said they were ready to adopt are developing clearer criteria for determining which illegal immigrants are terrorist suspects, improving lockup conditions and policies for those in custody and giving immigration officials ? rather than the F.B.I. ? more authority to remove a suspect from custody.

… Immigrant rights advocates cautioned, however, that even if all the recommendations were adopted, they might not go far enough to ensure that illegal immigrants suspected of terrorism were given proper access to lawyers, judicial review and adequate conditions of confinement.

… The inspector general found that the F.B.I., particularly in New York City, made little attempt to determine whether the illegal immigrants arrested after the Sept. 11 attacks had true connections to terrorism.

The report suggested that the authorities arrested many illegal immigrants ? most of them Middle Eastern ? who became entangled in the terrorism investigation by chance through traffic stops, anonymous tips and other means. Investigators found that many suspects were simply grouped into categories "of interest" to the terrorism investigations and subjected to restrictive and sometimes abusive conditions of confinement as a result of that classification.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 6/13/2003 07:39:36 AM |

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