ACLU Says Key Torture Documents Are Being Withheld

Documents released today by the American Civil Liberties Union show that an FBI investigation into the use of "aggressive" interrogation techniques at Guantanamo was sharply scaled back, and that records related to the FBI’s investigation are still being withheld. Veterans for Common Sense is part of the the on-going suit to force the release of torture-related documents.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/?Page=Article&ID=2626

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

Do you want FBI agents following you or your neighbors into your churches, synagogues or mosques and documenting what goes on there? Recently released documents indicate that FBI agents have been spying on innocent people under guidelines relaxed by Attorney General John Ashcroft. Ashcroft restructured these guidelines -- without consultation with Congress -- to allow FBI agents to spy on religious and political activity even if there was no suspicion of criminal activity.

Ashcroft's new guidelines revoked long-standing protections from government abuse and there is evidence that the FBI and local police are using this opportunity to spy on environmental, political and faith-based groups. This spying is not only unnecessary but also invasive of personal privacy. The police should not spy on individuals because they attended a rally supporting better funding for their child’s school or they expressed discontent with the government’s policy toward Sudan.

In recent days, thanks to your hard work, many of the most grievous parts of the intelligence reform bill were stripped out. While the final bill has several problems, without the outcry against several of its dangerous provisions by concerned people like you, it would have been much worse. We now need to build on this momentum and reign in excessive FBI spying powers.

Take Action! Urge Congress to support proper checks and balances on FBI spying.

Click here for more information and to take action:

http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=17205&c=42

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

To: ACLU Action Network Members

Subject: Urge the Administration to Release all Torture-Related Documents

1) Urge the Administration to Release all Torture-Related Documents
2) You can shape the future of the Action Network!

For months now, the Bush White House has refused to release dozens of documents related to the Administration's policies on the detention, interrogation and torture of foreign prisoners. But President Bush's nomination of Alberto Gonzales, who is widely regarded as one of the key architects of those policies, to be the nation's top law enforcement officer should finally allow the Senate to insist on receiving these crucial documents.

Despite requests in congressional hearings and a lawsuit filed by the ACLU, the Bush Administration continues to refuse to release dozens of documents that reportedly show how policy changes that Gonzales recommended be made at the White House and at top levels of government trickled down to decisions by the military and the CIA for holding prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The American people deserve to know the truth about these policies. Unless senators receive these documents, they cannot know the true story of how Gonzales’ actions relate to some of the worst violations of human rights committed by our country against foreign prisoners.

Take Action! Urge your Senators to demand that Gonzales and the Bush Administration release all of the torture-related documents before considering Gonzales as Attorney General.

Click here for more information and to take action:

http://www.aclu.org/NationalSecurity/NationalSecurity.cfm?ID=17083&c=108


2) You can shape the future of the Action Network!

In the coming months, the ACLU will launch a significant renovation of our online advocacy system. Our goal is to provide you with the tools and information you need to be even more active in the fight for civil liberties.

We're looking for your ideas and suggestions. What kind of improvements would help you become more involved? What kind of information do you need, but do not currently receive? How could we enhance our program and our site?

Click here to complete the survey and give your suggestions:

https://www.aclu.org/surveys/surveyQuestions.cfm?surveyID=16

Good news..here's a toll free number.they want folks to call them..look they're admitting it now..the fraud..they weren't saying a thing earlier today and said they hadn't heard of any...c

ACLU Continues the Fight for Voting Rights

The ACLU monitored polls nationally and is responding to incidents of voter intimidation, vote suppression or election foul-ups, including in Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island and Virginia, and in Florida. Voters with complaints are encouraged to call our toll-free voter hotline 1-877-523-2792.

http://www.johnkerry.com/index.html


Informant: ItalysBadBoy

From: Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU

Oppose Using Intelligence Reform to Cloak Worst Immigration Legislation in a Decade

Congress continues to use the proposed intelligence reform legislation to provide cover for some of the worst anti-immigrant provisions in the last decade. These repressive provisions attack the courts’ ability to provide oversight over immigrant proceedings, allow the government to work with oppressive foreign governments against asylum seekers and stipulate new ID requirements that limit even legal immigrants’ ability to get driver's licenses.

Although the 9-11 Commission did not say the government needed to target immigrants, this bill would expand the government's ability to deport more people without a hearing. It would also allow the government to seize people who may have entered the United States outside the system in the last five years and throw them into a so-called expedited deportation process without the right to a lawyer or to at least make their case in court.

The government would -- with no check or balance on its powers -- be allowed to decide whether an individual is allowed to stay or be sent to another country, even ones like Libya, North Korea or Iran, as long as those governments **promise** not to engage in torture. And if for some reason the government cannot deport you, this Republican legislation would allow the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to put you in jail for the rest of your life without any ability to go to court to appeal your imprisonment.

Take Action! Urge Congress to oppose these radical and mean-spirited provisions.

Click here for more information and to take action:
http://www.aclu.org/ImmigrantsRights/ImmigrantsRights.cfm?ID=16842&c=22