BUSH PLANS MASSIVE ATTACK ON RIGHTS OF ARRESTED CITIZENS

ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY, ASSOCIATED PRESS - U.S. citizens suspected of
terror ties might be detained indefinitely and barred from access to
civilian courts under legislation proposed by the Bush administration,
say legal experts reviewing an early version of the bill. A 32-page
draft measure is intended to authorize the Pentagon's tribunal system,
established shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks to detain and
prosecute detainees captured in the war on terror. The tribunal system
was thrown out last month by the Supreme Court. Administration
officials, who declined to comment on the draft, said the proposal was
still under discussion and no final decisions had been made. . .

According to the draft, the military would be allowed to detain all
"enemy combatants" until hostilities cease. The bill defines enemy
combatants as anyone "engaged in hostilities against the United States
or its coalition partners who has committed an act that violates the law
of war and this statute." Legal experts said Friday that such language
is dangerously broad and could authorize the military to detain
indefinitely U.S. citizens who had only tenuous ties to terror networks
like al Qaeda. . .

The administration's proposal, as considered at one point during
discussions, would toss out several legal rights common in civilian and
military courts, including barring hearsay evidence, guaranteeing
"speedy trials" and granting a defendant access to evidence. The
proposal also would allow defendants to be barred from their own trial
and likely allow the submission of coerced testimony.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060728/ap_on_go_pr_wh/
detainee_rights;_ylt=AiIAIyD_2N_3tlfisNBk9uqyFz4D;_ylu=
X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-


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U.S. TURNING INTO SPY STATE AS SNOOP CAMERAS SPREAD

LISA HOFFMAN SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE - In an unprecedented
proliferation of public spying, government is casting its watchful eye
on millions of ordinary Americans through largely unregulated
surveillance cameras trained on public spaces throughout the nation. A
Scripps Howard News Service tally found that at least 200 towns and
cities in 37 states now employ video cameras - or are in the process of
doing so - to watch sidewalks, parks, schools, buses, buildings and
similar community locales. That number excludes the approximately 110
other municipalities that use traffic cameras to catch speeders and
red-light runners. But despite their proliferation and potential for
altering the very tenor of public life in America, virtually no one is
keeping track of the use of these security devices long associated with
authoritarian regimes.

In many cases, the increasingly sophisticated general surveillance
systems - a growing number of which are capable of networking to compile
and share information about those under view - are deployed
unaccompanied by written policies or other strictures to limit abuse.

More troubling to civil liberties and camera-use proponents alike is the
even greater absence of local, state or federal laws that specifically
govern police-video surveillance of Americans, suspected of no crime, as
they go about their daily business.

Equally rare are enforceable regulations on such matters as who or what
can be watched, how long images can be kept, who can see and share them,
where a person's "zone of privacy" begins, and what recourse and
punishments exist if that privacy is abused.

http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=SURVEILLANCE-06-22-06


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BUSH REGIME CLASSIFIED INFORMATION ON TOXIC EFFECTS OF 9/11

CORKY SIEMASZKO, NY DAILY NEWS - With New Yorkers already fuming about
reports that the feds downplayed the danger of Ground Zero dust, the
White House gave EPA chief Christie Whitman the power to bury
embarrassing documents by classifying them "secret.". . .

Although the stated reason for Bush's directive is to keep "national
security information" from falling into enemy hands, advocates for
thousands of ailing Ground Zero heroes are convinced there's a more
sinister motive. "I think the rationale behind this was to not let
people know what they were potentially exposed to," said Joel Kupferman
of the New York Environmental Law and Justice Project. "They're using
the secrecy thing to cover up their malfeasance and past deceptions.". .
.

Whitman, who resigned as EPA chief in May 2003, could not be reached for
comment yesterday. In a Newsweek interview that year, she said the White
House never told her to lie about the air quality. However, Whitman
conceded that she did not object when words of caution were edited out
of her public statements. "We didn't want to scare people," she said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/07-28-2006/news/local/story/438649p-369566c.html