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When we were attacked on September 11th, 2001 the rules of the game changed. We found that we are dealing with an enemy that is not representative of one country or political party, but rather radicalized groups of people that came together from all over the world. While all of the attackers were of a Muslim background, their home countries, such as Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks. This left President Bush in a very precarious spot. As someone who voted and supported President Bush in 2004, I deeply disagree with how his administration had handled our civil liberties.
When President Bush signed the USA Patriot Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) into law in October of 2001, he did so under the guise that we needed new tools to fight this new war. This act allowed law enforcement to detain immigrants indefinitely, search homes and businesses without warrants, and expanded the FBI’s ability to wiretap phones, e-mails and other communication devices. Civil liberty watch groups immediately made known their disapproval with the act and demanded it be struck down or changed. In 2004 a compromised was reached when renewing the act and certain aspects of the original were left off.
Whether or not these new tactics are needed to fight terrorism can be debated for days. However, secret prisons, warrant less wiretappings, and no habeas corpus, among other things, are visibly erosions of our civil liberties. Just this last year a German citizen named Khaled el-Masri lost his battle in the Supreme Court to sue the CIA. Khaled el-Masri was wrongfully abducted as a terrorism suspect in 2003. After being flown to Afghanistan and spending 4 months in a Kabul jail el-Masri was released on top of a hill in Albania.
At this very moment I could be picked up by some sort of law enforcement officer, sent to Gitmo (Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp), and be held there...