Reply #43: "Many civil liberties activists were critical of the ...

[struggle4progress]

... of the Justice Department's round-up of immigrants suspected of terrorist links in the wake of the 2001 attacks.

Judge Chertoff defended the detentions during a Washington forum on terrorism laws in 2003.

'Even if it were true that only a fraction of the people picked up under this lawful process actually posed a danger, would it have been responsible for the administration to take the opposite position? To let them all go on bail because you do not have enough to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt? And then, if one or two decided to blow up the Lincoln Tunnel and a couple of thousand people were killed, would the next 9/11 commission say that is a great choice,' he said. 'Let us keep it up? Or would people say the government was not behaving appropriately' "

Bush Homeland Security Nominee Known as Legal Architect of War on Terror Jim Malone
Washington
11-January-2005 2001
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-01-11-voa70.cfm