Section 802 of the USA PATRIOT Act creates a federal crime of “domestic terrorism” that broadly extends to “acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws” if they “appear to be intended…to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion,” and if they “occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.” [10] Because this crime is couched in such vague and expansive terms, it may well be read by federal law enforcement agencies as licensing the investigation and surveillance of political activists and organizations based on their opposition to government policies. It also may be read by prosecutors as licensing the criminalization of legitimate political dissent. Vigorous protest activities, by their very nature, could be construed as acts that “appear to be intended…to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion.” Further, clashes between demonstrators and police officers and acts of civil disobedience — even those that do not result in injuries and are entirely non-violent — could be construed as “dangerous to human life” and in “violation of the criminal laws.” Environmental activists, anti-globalization activists, and anti-abortion activists who use direct action to further their political agendas are particularly vulnerable to prosecution as “domestic terrorists.”
However, to prevent 9-11 type incidents, I fully support waterboarding or dipping bullets in pig fat or other ways of eliciting cooperation. I am pragmatic that way. I do not want this country destroyed because we are weak or perceived as weak by our enemies. They shot the Nazis they captured in WWII in a very perfunctory fashion and I do not believe terrorists or other enemy combatants deserve Miranda, a free attorney, bail and any other legal consideration applied to criminals. War is war and criminal laws are designed to ensure those arrested are innocent until proven quilty. These terrorists caught in the act or in the battlefield do not deserve Constitutional protections. I think a lot of them deserve a firing squad. So I must not be a true libertarian….
Jefferson believed in freedom, but not for the Barbary pirates.
