Patriot Act: A Poor Compromise On Civil Liberties by Nadeem A. Tusneem

20 March 2006

In October 2001, the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) in Pakistan was holding at 1100. On March 18, 2004, the index hit 5000, a gain of nearly 400% over a 30 month period. Karachi Stock Exchange was declared as the “best performing stock market of the world for the year 2002″. One of the catalyst for this remarkable performance was the passage of the Patriot Act in the United States after the tragic events of September 11, 2001.

The negative repercussions of the Patriot Act forced many Pakistanis in the United States to move back to Pakistan, taking back their wealth with them. Many who did not leave also moved their wealth out of the United States. As the markets in the US continued to drop, the markets in Pakistan enjoyed their best times ever. Much of it thanks to the Patriot Act.

The Patriot Act as it is today allows the FBI to order any person or organization to surrender “any tangible thing” - including library, medical and financial records - so long as the agency certified that the order was part of an investigation against terrorism or secret intelligence activities (Section 215). The FBI does not have to supply any reason for believing that the target of the investigation is a criminal. Section 213 of the same law authorizes government agents to sneak into a person’s home when the occupant is away, conduct a search and remove evidence, yet not have to inform the occupant until much later.

While these provisions provide a useful tool in the war against terrorism, they have the potential of being abused. According to one report, the Justice department has acknowledged regularly employing the Patriot Act powers in cases other than terrorism. Exactly what those cases are is a matter of anyone’s guess.

For the Pakistani community who was hugely impacted by some of the provisions in the Patriot Act, the Act was very much a reminder of conditions in Pakistan, where the government had complete access to everyone’s records and wiretapping by intelligence agencies on anyone who disagreed with the government is commonplace. The term democracy is meaningless if freedom and equality are compromised. Every Muslim community in the United States today is being targeted by the Patriot Act. But one can be sure that it will not stop there. Once the powers provided by the Patriot Act become a routine method, everyone else in the United States will be targeted with it as well.

However, all is not lost. Over 170 communities in 30 states, including New York City, have passed resolutions denouncing some of the provisions of the Patriot Act that threaten civil liberties. Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont have passed state-wide resolution. It is time for rest of the United States to join this group. The war on terrorism must be fought but not at the price of limiting our freedoms. As Benjamin Franklin said, “they that can give up essential liberty to obtain little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
About the AuthorNadeem Tusneem is a muslim American in the field of science. He runs a website, http://www.cafemuslim.com. The above article originally appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune.


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