[JohnathanRGalt]

All he has to do is change the color code on the Homeland Security terror-alert from yellow to orange - that'll increase the panic level enough.

So, is this why are all the Islamist terrorist groups (Hamas, Hezbullah, Laskar Jehad, ...) given free reign to continue to operate in this country? To preserve a level and panic and fear that would induce a free people to surrender the rights so dearly won by their ancestors.

[headsonpikes]

I'm afraid you're right.

[RJCogburn]

I have repeatedly ad nauseum posted that Ashcroft is a sanctimonious fraud and a dangerous man.

He is becoming even more dangerous.

[Eternal_Bear]

I heard that they have "prison" trains ready. They have shackles built into cars. Guess they are going to haul away a lot of "enemies of the state". Whatever happened to "America, Land of the Free"? I guess that was just a dream we had.

[pabianice]

WAY behind the curve. Brainwashing camps for citizens have existed for 30 years. They're called public universities.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Turley said:
Of course, Ashcroft is not considering camps on the order of the internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese American citizens in World War II. But he can be credited only with thinking smaller; we have learned from painful experience that unchecked authority, once tasted, easily becomes insatiable.

Horse dung. Turley, while on the side of justice during Klintoon's impeachment, is absolutely wrong. When did the Supreme Court declare those camps unconstitutional? Anyone?

And for those of you who are blasting Ashcroft, you're off base, too. We have enemies within. WHATEVER IT TAKES to find them, and kill them, is the barometer in wartime.

History teaches us two things:
1. Enemies cannot be given leeway just because they've infiltrated our society: in fact, they must be weeded out.

2. Civil liberties "endangered" during wars (most notably, our Civil War and World War II) are restored immediately upon the cessation of hostilities. Abe Lincoln and FDR engaged in questionable practices regarding the Constitution...and once their wars were over, the Federal government stopped--citizens and the officials realized those extreme measures were temporary and necessary.

Take off the tin-foil, please, and keep an eye out for the Enemy. He is not US.

[mysterio]

I can only imagine what policy will come next. Ashcroft Youth, where kids learn the warning signs that their parents might be planning a terrorist attack or cheating on their taxes?


Attorney General John Ashcroft announces "Ashcroft Youth" as part of the War on Terror. Signup will be mandatory for all children ages 8-13. Children will engage in activities twice a month, including fishing, boating, and high tech listening devices. Ashcroft commented, "National security begins at home. It's just not fair that this country has no established system for kids to turn in their parents for unpatriotic remarks. We designed the best system we could to protect American liberty, while giving these kids a chance to participate and learn about how government works.

[JPJ1]

I quess the citizen militia would fall in this category if the need every occur for the people to take back their government for the socialist/marxist and globalist within our peoples houses....

[AppyPappy]

[rwfromkansas]

About time for Ashcroft to get serious about going after Islamic terrorists who are U.S. citizens.

Good plan.

[Sender]

Ashcroft may well be over the line and perhaps even dangerous, but dang, at least finally we have an AG with the balls to admit the most obvious assertion of our fundamental liberty to keep and bear arms. I don't know which is worse...a sudden fear of internment camps, or a slow demise of our rights by the former administration.

[Rome2000]

People like Jonathan Turley are subversive socialist menaces to society.

He needs to be locked up himself, the unpatriotic are hindering the war effort.

[elcaudillo]

This War On Terror will make many Americans (those who haven't shoved their stupid faces into the tv screen to watch the "new" lineup of trash) want to puke.

Muslim immigration to the US is up big time and will, surprise!, increase in spite of 911. The hinges on our nation's doors are greased by the arabs who flood the traitor congressrats with campaign dollars.

Mosques are springing up on our landscape like new Levittowns and the Arabs will be able to gird their children with explosives and let them play in our malls. Downtown Tel Aviv will have nothing on downtown Chicago, Columbus, etc.

Our leaders know nothing of history, because just a cursory review of Spanish history will show what the arabs can do to Christians and Jews once they gain a foothold.

The history of Islam makes even the accomplishments of Stalin look tame.

[neutrino]

I have considered the camp issue, and, frankly, I think they're a reasonable approach to the present crises. We have a substantial number of enemies within the borders. How many of us - not merely fellow Americans, but folks right here on Free Republic - are we willing to sacrifice? Are we willing to accept the consequences of radiological bombs? Of bio-terrorism? It doesn't take a genius, nor does it take a large organization to kill lots of innocent people. The tools are available (widely, easily available) right now in our society.

The reaction seems to be "Yeah, but what about when Hillary becomes President? You'll be sorry then! You, neutrino - YOU! - will be sent to the camps!"

I looked up some information on the Japanese camps. Frankly, they didn't sound much worse than a certain motel I stayed in on a business trip to the panhandle of Texas some years ago. If they want to send me to camp, I could use the time to catch up on my reading. Frankly, if they get down to me, they'll have about 3/4 of the population behind wire...so I won't lack for company, anyway.

An excerpt: "The engineers typically designed the fenced camps in block arrangements wherein each block contained 14 barracks, 1 mess hall and 1 recreation hall on the outer edges, and ironing, laundry, and men's and women's lavatories on the interior. Households were assigned space in the spartan 100 by 20 foot family structures of wood and tar paper according to the number of people in their household. Other structures in the camp were designated for dry and cold warehouses, car and equipment repair and storage, administration, schools, canteens, library, religious services, hospitals, and post office. Cooperatives purchased and distributed merchandise; efficient work groups formed around the manufacture of camouflage nets and ship models used as training aids for naval personnel; vegetables and fruit were cultivated for camp and commercial consumption; and livestock was bred and raised. At one camp, a honeymoon cottage was set aside for the exclusive use of newlyweds; at another, 662 babies were born while 221 adults spent their last day on earth behind the wires."

Here's the link, if you wish to see more: Camps

[seamus]

Turley writes: This week, the government refused to comply with a federal judge who ordered that he be given the underlying evidence justifying [suspected terrorist/enemy combantant Yaser Esam] Hamdi's treatment. The Justice Department has insisted that the judge must simply accept its declaration and cannot interfere with the president's absolute authority in "a time of war."

This is hogwash. The government is merely taking the legal steps necessary to ensure that potential threats to national security are not exposed if this trial is put in a regular, public court. The judge in this case originally ruled against the government, but then stayed her own decision upon hearing what a higher federal court has to say. The government is not running rampant, but acting within the law.

Turley is stirring up unwarranted fear. The lefties put the Bush administration in this position in the first place with its howling opposition to military tribunals. Well, if we can't put these enemy combatants in a military tribunal, we'll just hold them in a way that the Constitution allows until we determine we're safe. Happy now?

[Sandy]

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft's announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be "enemy combatants"

Where/when was this "desire" announced, and what are the specifics? A link would be helpful.

[pray4liberty]

Ashcroft's plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants.

Does he have Bill & Hill in mind to go first?

[DreamWeaver]

Bump

For later reading.

[#3Fan]

Is everyone on FR with the name John Galt in their handle a little bit touched? It seems like it. :^)