[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]Obama supports FISA and even reversed his position during the campaign on the issue. Do you think that the Patriot Act will be going away during his tenure? I don’t.
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This is my biggest disappointment in Obama so far. My only consolation is the belief that the Patriot Act will be slowly dismantled in the same way the right is trying to take down Roe. Death by a thousand cuts. A more transparent and open administration is a good first step, even if it doesn’t yet directly apply to things like FISA and rendition. My hope is that we’ll see a domino effect where some of the bigger things like FISA begin to weaken as a result of some of these initial orders.
[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]While I applaud his decision to close Gitmo, he will undoubtedly continue the policy of extraordinary rendition (started during the Clinton Administration, by the way), and continue to prosecute the War on Terror following the same guidelines as set down during the Bush Administration.[/quote]
I don’t quite agree with you here. The order to close Gitmo also included wording to shut down additional “secret overseas CIA prisons,” whatever that means. Of course this could only apply to the prisons that we actually know about — but then again, those wouldn’t be “secret” then, would they? Who knows if this also includes a ban on “outsourcing” to torture-friendly states. I guess we’ll just have to see, but at least it’s a good first step.
