Terrorism and civil liberties after September 11

Terrorism and Loss of Civil Liberties

Terrorism and Civil Liberties

The aftermath of September 11 has been a controversial and challenging period for the U.S. Ethnic profiling and speculation without any accountability have undermined the rule of law and overridden civil and constitutional rights of thousands of citizens. The former president's acceptance that Iraqi invasion was a 'terrible mistake' is enough proof of the strategic misadventure of a failed intelligence system backed by emergency terror legislation.

The new millennium brought with it strange developments. On the one side we witnessed unthinkable terrorist plots killing thousands of innocent people on our homeland. On the other hand we saw the adoption of new anti-terror regulations granting unprecedented powers to law enforcers. The new 'preventive paradigm' strategy endorsed by the Bush administration included drastic changes in the form of the 'patriot act' that has placed security at a higher pedestal than civic liberties. Proactive profiling has created much furor among the minority population while privacy violations have evoked outcry among the public. Are the anti-terror initiatives overextended and highhanded? Has the new 'preventive paradigm' been successful in controlling terrorism or has it undermined the democratic society, which it seeks to protect? A brief discussion would provide us better insight into the issue.

Paradigm of Prevention

One of the arguments of the Bush administration is that highhanded measures against the 'rogue states' has helped them contain attacks by these rogue states in the U.S. In the Bush administrations "paradigm of prevention," hundreds of minority Muslims have been detained and tortured in prisions in Syria. In the name of security, freedom and the privacy of people are totally invaded. The case of canadian Maher Arar, who was deported to and tortured in Syria while he was returning from his holiday in Tunis in Sep 2002 is now a well-known case of violation of constitutional and international human rights. He was tortured in syria for a whole year only to be acquitted and awarded $10.5 million compensation by the canadian government. However, the U.S. government still lists him on its watchlist without having any evidence that relates him to alqueda, the original premise on which he was arrested in Sep 2002. Based on such speculation alone, thousands of Muslims have been detained and interviewed by FBI and asked to complete mandatory registration. [David Cole, 2007] This is a clear violation of the madisonian principles, "In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself " [Russell Hardin, 2004]

Not to mention the guantanomo debacle and the horrible treatment of hundreds of prisoners in utter disregard of both international and U.S. laws, The Bush administration tried to justify these atrocities saying 'unlawful enemy combatants' did not deserve any measure of law. [Karen J. Greenberg, 2007] This was a serious infringement of the civic rights of the detainees, the majority of whom had nothing to do with terrorism. It makes sense to reiterate justice Goldberg famous 1963 ruling in the Kennedy v. Mendoza Martinez case, "The imperative necessity for safeguarding these rights to procedural due process under the gravest of emergencies has existed throughout our constitutional history, for it is then, under the pressing exigencies of crisis, that there is the greatest temptation to dispense with fundamental constitutional guarantees which, it is feared, will inhibit governmental action." [Theresa H. Nguyen, 2002]

Has this alienating attitude helped in managing the terrorist problem better? Quoting 'The Economist', "The whole point of the terrorist act is to provoke a reaction disproportionate to the act itself." [Barnet RJ, 1996] There is always retaliation round the corner waiting only for opportunistic moment to explode. It just falls into the terrorists' hands of creating more panic and tension. Retrospectively speaking, the use of force and violence to create political change has largely failed as can be witnessed by the continued violence by these rogue states or organizations that seem to have gained in sympathy and support in what has now become an ideological battle. There is reason to believe that alienating attitudes against minorities would only play into the terrorists' hands and help them establish 'recruitment networks' and 'logistic bases' across the world. [Anja Dalgaard, 2004]

Conclusion

The aftermath of September 11 has been a controversial and challenging period for the U.S. Violence as a way of attaining peace and security has proved to be a paradoxical attempt. The overreaching foreign policy of the United States, which donned the robe of international police, has given the small pockets of terrorists groups a new identity. They now work together in what has become an ideological battle against the U.S. In this vicious battle against the terror outfits, our people have been robbed of their cherished freedom, which has always been the cornerstone of our constitution.

As history has time and again illustrated, 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. This can be extended to the patriot act, which has given absolute power to the law enforcers at the cost of the freedom and privacy of its citizens. Ethnic profiling and 'speculation without any accountability' have undermined the rule of law and overridden civil and constitutional rights of thousands of citizens. The much-touted 'preventive paradigm' of which the patriot act is an important tool has resulted in much wrongdoing. The former president's acceptance that Iraqi invasion was a 'terrible mistake' is enough proof of the strategic misadventure of a failed intelligence system backed by emergency terror legislation.