U.S. Uses Terror Law to Pursue Crimes from Drugs to Swindling

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27 — The Bush administration, which calls the USA Patriot Act perhaps its most essential tool in fighting terrorists, has begun using the law with increasing frequency in many criminal investigations that have little or no connection to terrorism.

The government is using its expanded authority under the far-reaching law to investigate suspected drug traffickers, white-collar criminals, blackmailers, child pornographers, money launderers, spies and even corrupt foreign leaders, federal officials said.

Justice Department officials say they are simply using all the tools now available to them to pursue criminals — terrorists or otherwise. But critics of the administration's antiterrorism tactics assert that such use of the law is evidence the administration is using terrorism as a guise to pursue a broader law enforcement agenda.

(snip)

Elliot Mincberg, legal director for People for the American Way, a liberal group that has been critical of Mr. Ashcroft, said the Justice Department's public assertions had struck him as misleading and perhaps dishonest.

"What the Justice Department has really done," he said, "is to get things put into the law that have been on prosecutors' wish lists for years. They've used terrorism as a guise to expand law enforcement powers in areas that are totally unrelated to terrorism."


more…
http://nytimes.com/2003/09/28/politics/28LEGA.html?hp

[bluestateguy]

1. I knew it

and this is why the whole damn law should be repealed. This Administration cannot be trusted with these powers, and I suspect that many conservatives would not trust a liberal Democratic president with these kinds of powers either.

[psychopomp]

3. Not just this Administration

No administration can be trusted with these powers.

[moondust]

2. I figure

they are probably also using it to "legally" ransack personal records for political gain as they accused Hillary of doing in Filegate. Nixon's dream.

[kwolf68]

4. Geezus

If ANYONE has learned ANYTHING about Europeon history (ohh, circa 1920-140 Italy and Germany) none of this is new.

There is no way we can re-elect Bush in 2004. NO WAY.

[AndyTiedye]

5. Going by That bit of History...

...there won't be any elections in 2004 anyway, so you would be correct. :-(

[Paschall]

6. This is pretty astounding

<snip> The authorities have also used toughened penalties under the law to press charges against a lovesick 20-year-old woman from Orange County, Calif., who planted threatening notes aboard a Hawaii-bound cruise ship she was traveling on with her family in May. The woman, who said she made the threats to try to return home to her boyfriend, was sentenced this week to two years in federal prison because of a provision in the Patriot Act on the threat of terrorism against mass transportation systems. </snip>

Yeah, the DoJ's "terrorism" arrest numbers do seem to need checking.