2002 or 1984: Terrorism war jeopardizes civil liberties

By Logan Gee

We've all noticed the small things: the sudden burst of American flags all over cars, homes and televised news programs. And who hasn't sat in one of the ridiculously long lines at airline security? But these are just a couple of the ripples in the wake of the Sept. 11 murders. There exist many deeper changes in contemporary society. The most significant of these changes is the launching of the multi-faceted War on Terror.

What is the War on Terror? Put in simple terms, it is the polarization of all nations. You are either fighting the terrorists or you are one. Thus any government that can somehow be linked with what the U.S. defines as terror is a potential target. The declaration of this new war is blank check with far wider scope than the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. With a record-toppling military budget (almost $400 billion, more then the combined military spending of the remaineder of the world) and a multitude of possible countries to invade, the U.S. is ready for battle, with or without United Nations support.

I feel it is as though George W. Bush likens the War on Terror to the latter half of Tombstone, where Wyatt Earp and his marshalls are rooting out every last bad guy in the "cowboy gang." Picture it: Donald Rumsfeld as Doc Holiday, fingering his six-shooter and muttering behind a smirk, "I'm your huckleberry" to the cowardly Osama bin Laden in the last gunfight.

Besides the global campaign of the U.S. military, the War on Terror has yet another front. This is the gradual degradation of civil liberties worldwide, clouded in noble-sounding rhetoric and patriotic one-liners.

The President has declared the War on Terror to be a war for freedom. But certainly not the freedom of non-citizens living in the United States. Human Rights Watch reported that some 1,200 non-citizens have been secretly arrested, incarcerated and in most cases deported. And what about the freedom of those captured in other countries with suspected links to terrorist groups? They are taken to places like Egypt, Jordan and Cuba. There, the government's hands aren't tied by American civil rights laws, and they can be subjected to coercive torture reminiscent of medieval Europe (only with better technology). They can also be tried under military tribunals without the annoyances of "due process" and the assumption of innocence until proven guilty.

This kind of witch hunt isn't a new drill: early in the 20th century there was the post-WWI anarchist/communist roundup, then came the sending of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans to internment camps that weren't anything close to the cozy, humane environment that contemporary propaganda led people to envision. This was followed by another red scare in the '50s spearheaded by Sen. Joe McCarthy, and this sentiment echoed through the Vietnam War of the '60s and '70s, gradually fading by the '90s.

Even more exciting is the proposed Terrorist Information and Prevention System, or TIPS. This is a central database for the gossip queens and kings of America. It's similar to the neighborhood watch that you grew up with, but instead of sniffing out prowlers and ne'er-do-well teenagers, the target is international terrorists. Furthermore, now it's organized into a national network.

That's not all: the police (and other authorities) can demand records from any business about any person, including medical records from hospitals, educational records from universities, even the reading tastes of shoppers in bookshops and borrowers from libraries, according to The Economist, a London-based political magazine. Might make you think twice before filling out that registration for your local grocery's savings card.

This new era of Big Brother actually directly affected my big brother (no pun intended). It was during the brief period last fall when the FBI was interrogating anyone with possible ties to Middle East terrorist cells. The Feds decided to give my bro a buzz to chat it up a bit. Why? They had obtained academic records from the University of Washington that showed he had partaken in a study abroad program in Turkey during the summer of 2001. That's all it took. They probably would have asked him to pass the phone to me, too, had they known that I was in India that same summer, just a heartbeat away from the Muslim extremists fighting over Kashmir. Maybe they just tapped my phone and figured that was enough.

America is not alone. Other countries, too, are banging the drum in the war on civil liberties. They are gradually being sucked away, disguised as "Anti-Terror Laws" that are passing all over the world. France allows police greater freedom to sop and search cars. In the public eye this is used to find terrorists while it is actually just used to find drugs. Germany is monitoring emails and website addresses more rampantly. Moving east, Indian police can now accept evidence from unidentified witnesses and detain suspects for 90 days without trial.

That's not all: Hong Kong's chief executive can freeze the assets of anyone he deems to be a terrorist. Many countries, Syria and China to name a couple, have used anti-terrorist legislation to detain any political dissidents. When will all of this subside? Both Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld have been adamant about the fact that we are still closer to the beginning of this war than we are to its end.

And, as The Economist put it, restrictions, once in place, are always difficult to dislodge, and governments are usually loathe to give power back to the people from whom they have taken it. Maybe it's time we all seriously asked ourselves if that star-spangled banner still waves o'er the land of the free.

Logan Gee, a junior combined sciences major, coordinates a tutoring program at Sacred Heart Nativity School in San Jose and is a member of the men's water polo team. His views do not necessarily represent those of the organizations to which he belongs.