DoJ finds

June 5, 2003 10:50 AM

Department of Justice finds "significant problems" in the detainment of aliens after Sept. 11.Among the findings in the report by Glenn Fine, DoJ Inspector General: The FBI failed to distinguish between aliens arrested on suspicion of terrorist activities and those with no connection to terrorism. Some detainees did not receive notice of why they were being detained for more than a month. Many detainees were held for weeks and months without the FBI taking any action on their cases. Detainees were frequently subject to harsh conditions of confinement and many were not allowed adequate legal consultation. (Full report available here - link via Tom Tomorrow.)
posted by UKnowForKids (16 comments total)

I just KNEW that, sooner or later, the government would have to deal with the whole Area 51 situation.
posted by bradth27 at 11:52 AM on June 5, 2003

Wait a minute....is that...is that logic and reason I'm sensing? From the DoJ? No...that can't be it...
posted by fishbulb at 12:30 PM on June 5, 2003

Maybe it's guilt?
posted by shadow45 at 12:41 PM on June 5, 2003

It's the swing of the pendulum. It swung too far out of balance on security vs civil rights. Historically, this pendulum has swung many times. And now the swing to correct it has begun.

Or so I hope.
posted by Lafe at 12:53 PM on June 5, 2003

I don't get it... what's the problem? We're fighting TERRORISTS here, not a bunch of panty wastes. I have no problem with the government taking steps to defend us. Anyways, these guys weren't Americans.
posted by johnnydark at 1:12 PM on June 5, 2003

And yet, "Attorney General John Ashcroft asked Congress Thursday for expanded powers to hold suspected terrorists indefinitely before trials and to let him seek the death penalty or life imprisonment for any terrorist act."
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:15 PM on June 5, 2003

Is there a way to put someone in a kill file so I don't have to even see his or her posts?
posted by notsnot at 1:26 PM on June 5, 2003

Anyways, these guys weren't Americans.

No, but this guy is, and his case sets a disturbing precedent.

"While Jose Padilla, a violent ex-con, may not inspire much empathy, his predicament matters to everyone. If he never gets his day in court, it will mean any American could be jailed for life, without the chance to defend himself, on the president's say-so."
posted by homunculus at 1:52 PM on June 5, 2003

um....what exactly is a panty waste?
posted by graventy at 2:19 PM on June 5, 2003

Pantywaist. That was dark humor from johnnydark, wasn't it? Please tell me it was.
posted by win_k at 3:20 PM on June 5, 2003

From mr_crash_davis's link: "Ashcroft, who held up copies of al-Qaida's declarations of war against America and read aloud some of the names of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks..."

It's too bad there's not an appropriate emoticon for banging your head on your desk repeatedly, because that's exactly what I need to express how this makes me feel.

It's also unfortunate that this report will likely lead to no changes whatsoever in the way the "war" on terrorism is being conducted. Run in fear, brown people, for you have no rights.
posted by UKnowForKids at 3:33 PM on June 5, 2003

"Significant problems" is an understatement roughly on a par with "The Titanic had flotation issues". Really, I think the current American Administration has taken the place of the Marketing Division of the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation...
posted by kaemaril at 4:31 PM on June 5, 2003

UKnowForKids: Not just brown people. Accuse anybody of terrorism, and it seems they magically lose any and all rights. That's how Ashcroft would like it, anyway.
posted by kaemaril at 4:37 PM on June 5, 2003

That was dark humor from johnnydark, wasn't it?

That would require it to be funny. The comment itself was simply a restatement of "hey, everybody, look at me"
posted by Space Coyote at 5:23 PM on June 5, 2003

Who cares how the terrorists are treated? They hate freedom, and that's enough to take their rights away, along with those of the rest of us God-fearin', cornpone Uh-mur-kuns.
posted by drstrangelove at 5:34 PM on June 5, 2003

...
posted by dhoyt at 3:49 PM on June 6, 2003