-- Francois Guagni, a French national who made the mistake of illegally crossing the Canadian border on Sept. 14, 2001, with box cutters in his possession. It turned out that Guagni used the knives in his job as a drywall installer. He was deported in March 2003 after pleading guilty to unlawfully entering the country.
Yes, these people were breaking the law. Yes, they should have been punished. But why does Bush include them when he implies that the Patriot Act has led to 200 terrorism convictions?
Is the truth not good enough?
***
Barry M. Sabin, chief of the Justice Department's counterterrorism section, told the Post that prosecutors frequently turn to lesser charges when they are not confident they can prove crimes such as committing or supporting terrorism. Many defendants also have been prosecuted for relatively minor crimes in exchange for information that is not public but has proved valuable in other terrorism probes, he said.
"A person could not have been put on this list if there was not a concern about national security, at least initially," he said. "Are all these people an ongoing threat presently? Arguably not."
Apparently, what Sabin knows to be true doesn't play well in Columbus, or anywhere else that Bush, Gonzales and the rest speak about the Patriot Act. Sabin's facts don't mesh well with the conservatives in Congress pushing for the act's renewal. You probably won't find Sabin being quoted by Rush or Sean or Joe.
Thirty-nine terrorism convictions, including 14 with ties to Al Qaeda, is an accomplshment. Too bad Bush and the rest don't trust the American people with the truth.
***
This article first appeared on Journalists Against Bush's B.S. (JABBS)
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Bush talks out of both sides of his mouth; always has. His take on 'whatever' depends on what he's pushing at the moment: at 9 a.m. we're "safer than we ever have been because of the war on terror"; by 10, we're beseiged by the unrelenting enemies of democracy, blah blah blah. I got a bumper sticker that shows W in a typical pose: with his big mouth wide open, and the legend, "If he's talking, he's lying". That pretty much says it all. What is astounding is that he will literally push both contradictory messages almost at the same time, and apparently expect us to have forgotten what he said just a few hours ago, thereby demonstrating the utter contempt by him and his admin buddies for the public he's supposed to be serving instead of conning.
2 - gonzo marx
remember the Boy Scout official that was busted using parts of the Patriot Act for having illegal porn on his home computer?
that was a Warning, folks
once Big Brother gets his hands on tools to enlarge the perogatives of a police state, he very rarely lets it go
the fact that it is a GOP Administration that is touting all this should make any decent "small government" conservative, or any Libertarian, cringe...
our civil Liberties are under assault, and most folks either don't care, or don't notice...let your elected Representatives KNOW how you feel...call, fax, send carrier pigeons
trivia Question...who said the following..
"those who would sacrifice Liberty for Security, deserve neither"
"contemplate that upon the Tree of Woe"
Thulsa Doom
Excelsior!
3 - Dave Nalle
I believe that if you look closely at Bush's specific statement he said that over half of the 400 people charged under the act had been convicted. He did not specify if the conviction was in a regular trial, or just in an immigration hearing, and he didn't specify that those charged and convicted were actual terrorists. If the act's designed to get rid of foreign undesirables it's at least marginally successful and what he said isn't incorrect.
Fortunately it may all be moot, since it looks like Congress isn't going to renew the retarded act, or is at least going to let various provisions expire.
Dave
4 - david r. mark
The quote is accurate. Bush is implying that half of the 400 alleged terrorists were convicted as alleged terrorists. The Justice Department database says otherwise.
I stand by my presentation of the facts.
5 - Dave Nalle
'Implying' is a good word. By putting the word 'terrorist' in close proximity to the information about arrests, he makes it sound like he's talking about terrorists, when what he explicitly says isn't actually about terrorists.
Dave
6 - David R. Mark
It's similar to when he talks about how Social Security is going to be "bankrupt" unless we make changes, then talks about privatization. The only conclusion that people listening can make is that privatization will provide solvency.
But the White House has admitted that's not the case. Privatization is "revenue net neutral" for 75 years. But that won't stop Bush from making his presentation, with its obvious implications.
7 - Dave Nalle
Wouldn't it be nice if the administration could just come out and say "social security is like throwing your money in a dark well. we're just going to keep that money and let you start all over again with an actual fair private system so you won't continue to be screwed in the future."
Wouldn't the AARP have a field days with that.
Dave