Civil liberties groups are demanding that the U.S. government disclose
information about hundreds of people detained after the Sep. 11 attacks:
http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47980,00.html
FOIA request on approximately 1,000 detainees:
http://www.aclu.org/congress/l102901a.html
Some detainees are people who made congratulatory telephone calls minutes
after attacks:
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/10/28/inv.attacks.calls.reut/index.html
Professors and other college staff members face censure for making
controversial comments or taking visibly symbolic positions in the
weeks following the terrorist attacks:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8688-2001Oct29.html
Rep. Rod Blagojevich (D-Ill.) apparently wants to ban .50 caliber rifles:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200110\POL20011030c.html
The anti-terrorism bill that President Bush signed Friday could
restrict free speech:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1089598
Phila. man hassled, detained, barred from flight because of book:
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02675.html
Federal police prohibiting photos of government buildings -- in Jan. 2001,
a far quieter time:
http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-5/capitol-police.html
http://www.mccullagh.org/image/d30-5/pennsylvania-ave-setup-cop.html
---
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2001-10-25/cover.asp
[...]
I'd purchased a roundtrip ticket from Sacramento International to LAX
to observe firsthand the unprecedented measures being taken to combat
terrorism. There'd been more than a little fear and paranoia in
Sacramento and I expected to find more of the same in Los Angeles.
I didn't expect to be ordered to destroy photographs by an irate
National Guardsman. I didn't expect the Los Angeles Police Department
to confiscate and read the notes I'd taken on my trip. I didn't expect
to be questioned by the FBI and detained for nearly three hours for no
probable cause.
[...]
---
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=102144
Tariq Ali: Karl Marx led to my arrest as a terrorist in Germany
30 October 2001
I was arrested at Munich airport at 7am yesterday. After one day of
interviews and book signings and two days spent at a Goethe Institute
seminar on "Islam and the Crisis", I was desperate for a cup of
coffee. I checked in and soon my hand luggage was wending its way
through the security machine.
No metal objects were detected, but they insisted on dumping the
contents of my bag onto a table. Newspapers, dirty underpants, shirts,
magazines and books tumbled out in full view. Since news always
reaches Germany a day after it has appeared in the US press, I thought
the locals might be looking for envelopes containing powder in
ignorance of FBI and CIA briefings that Osama bin Laden and Iraq were
considered unlikely to be involved in the anthrax scare.There were no
envelopes in my bag.
The machine-minder brushed aside the copies of the Sued-deutsche
Zeitung (SDZ), the International Herald Tribune and Le Monde
Diplomatique. He appeared to be very interested in The Times Literary
Supplement and was inspecting my scribbled notes on the margin of a
particular book review when his eyes fell on a slim volume in German
that had been handed to me by a local publisher. Since there had been
no time to flick through the volume, it was still wrapped in
cellophane. He grasped the text eagerly and then, in a state of some
excitement, rushed it over to the armed policeman.
The offending book was an essay by Karl Marx, On Suicide. It was the
reference to suicide that had got the policemen really excited. They
barely registered the author, though when they did real panic set in
and there were agitated exchanges. The way they began to watch me was
an indication of their state of mind. They really thought they had got
someone. My passport and boarding card were taken from me, I was
rudely instructed to re-pack my bag, minus the crucial "evidence" (the
SDZ, the TLS and the offending text by Marx), and I was escorted out
of the departure area and taken to the police headquarters at the
airport.
On the way there the arresting officer gave me a triumphant smile.
"After 11 September, you can't travel with books like this," he said.
[...]
---
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2001 12:28:01 -0500
From: Duncan Frissell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Praying for a Son to Be in Jail
Declan,
On the topic of the detentions:
There are those who hope their relatives are being held in secret by the
Feds:
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/29/nyregion/29MATT.html?searchpv=past7days&pagewanted=print
Note that in NYC, the block of West Houston street between Varick and
Hudson Sts is still blocked because it fronts the INS detention center
in the Federal building that occupies the block to the south.
http://www.mapquest.com/cgi-bin/ia_find?link=btwn/twn-map_results&aerial_photo_tab.x=1&aphoto=1&uid=u268p3p7u3mem2xd:tsgrrsgfr&SNVData=3mad3-96,hr%3br200y0%3d%3dt5u68x%24tw2%28%3aN%2bVB%10F%17BL%2bEJ%2b%13%17%2bH%13%14OXZ%2b%15M_WDN%2b%18BCZ%3d%11K_967nq%3a%10F%3dw7a1rz_%29zr2u4b_1.lq%286,qej%7cynbgmej,fwgf-d&pcat=
Also note that although circa 1K have been taken into custody, we don't
know how many are still in custody. We know that some have been
released since they have gotten some ink. The Saudi doctor from Texas
and Attorney Ron Kubie's local newstand owner have both been released.
Also, none of those being held have been charged with any crime so the
normal criminal procedure handling requirements have not come into
effect. Everyone has been held on material witness or INS holds which
are civil holds that have very different procedures. Civil procedure is
much slippier than criminal procedure.
Additionally, lots of those being held have been cleared of terrorism
"concerns" but are being held for the INS under some new zero tolerance
policy. Convenient that they (apparently) haven't arrested any US
citizens.
DCF
---
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