A Victory for Terrorists

Jihad!
From the Washington Post:

House Votes To Curb Patriot Act

38 Republicans Join Liberal Democrats

The House handed President Bush the first defeat in his effort to preserve the broad powers of the USA Patriot Act, voting yesterday to curtail the FBI's ability to seize library, bookstore and hotel records for terrorism investigations.

Bush has threatened to veto any measure that weakens those powers. The surprise 238 to 187 rebuke to the White House was produced when a handful of conservative Republicans, worried about government intrusion, joined with liberal Democrats who are concerned about personal privacy.

One provision of the Patriot Act makes it possible for the FBI to obtain a wide variety of personal records about a suspected terrorist -- including library transactions -- with an order from a secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, where the government must meet a lower threshold of proof than in criminal courts.

Under the House change, officials would have to get search warrants from a judge or subpoenas from a grand jury to seize records about a suspect's reading habits.

Some libraries have said they are disposing of patrons' records more quickly because of the provision, which opponents view as a license for fishing expeditions.

...The Justice Department said in a letter to Congress this week that the provision has been used only 35 times and has never been used to obtain bookstore, library, medical or gun-sale records. It has been used to obtain records of hotel stays, driver's licenses, apartment leases and credit cards, the letter said.

"Bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as safe havens for terrorists and spies, who have, in fact, used public libraries to do research and communicate with their co-conspirators," Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella wrote in the letter.

...Democrats contend that the reversal was the first sign of growing wariness about some of the more intrusive elements of the Patriot Act, which was swiftly passed just weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a leader in the drive to curtail the act's reach, said in an interview that the original measure had passed "in an atmosphere of panic" and that a wide spectrum of lawmakers is beginning to conclude it went too far.

"If some terrorist checks out a book about how to make an atomic bomb, that might be legitimate for the government to know, and they can get a search warrant or a subpoena the way we've done it throughout American history," Nadler said. "Otherwise, what you're reading is none of the government's business."

Hey! Nadler! The "way we've done it throughout American history" resulted in 3000 deaths on American soil!!!

So, it was that atmosphere of panic after 9/11 that caused lawmakers to pass the Patriot Act.

In other words, now that the "panic" has subsided, Congress thinks it's acceptable to let down our guard.

Those images of the planes crashing into the towers and the Pentagon just aren't fresh enough anymore. The sight of people jumping out of windows to escape the flames and the smoke and the heat has faded into memory. The sound of their bodies crashing down has softened.

Yes, the panic is over. Let's loosen up!