William Fisher

Disclosure of a 75 percent increase in secret wiretaps and "sneak and peek" searches since 2000 is likely to provide ammunition for civil liberties groups determined to modify the USA PATRIOT Act when Congress begins two months of debate on the law Tuesday. The USA PATRIOT Act was hurriedly enacted shortly after the Sept. 11, … Continue reading “Cooler Heads Review PATRIOT Act in Congress”

As the U.S. State Department was unveiling its third annual report on "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy" this week, four of the country’s best-known legislators came together to introduce a bipartisan bill to boost the promotion of democracy throughout the world – and signal a fundamental change in U.S. foreign policy. The ADVANCE Democracy bill … Continue reading “Too Many Friends in Undemocratic Places?”

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is charging that U.S. Army documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the mistreatment of detainees in Iraq was much more widespread than the government has admitted. The advocacy group also accused the Army of failing to comply with a court order to release the documents … Continue reading “US Soldiers Told to ‘Beat the F**k Out of’ Detainees”

A major advocacy group charges that a Yemeni businessman captured in Egypt was handed over to U.S. authorities and "disappeared" for more than a year and a half before being sent to the Pentagon’s Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Human Rights Watch has released details of the previously unreported "reverse rendition" case of Abdul … Continue reading “‘Ghost Prisoner’ Resurfaces in Guantanamo”

Civil libertarians and opposition political leaders are stepping up their efforts to pull back the "veil of secrecy" they claim has characterized the George W. Bush administration. In separate developments, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought to obtain the records used by the government to deny U.S. entry to prominent foreign scholars, and four … Continue reading “Fresh Skirmishes in the Information Wars”

In a political environment more fractious than Washington has seen in over a decade, there are still signs that Left and Right can find common ground. A current example is a coalition of conservative interest groups that has joined forces with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and similar organizations to press for changes in … Continue reading “Left and Right vs. the PATRIOT Act”

President George W. Bush has taken a baby step toward fulfilling his pledge to spread democracy in the Middle East by giving grants totaling one million dollars to six civil society groups in Egypt, including perhaps the most controversial in the country – the organization whose leader spent a year behind bars on trumped-up charges. … Continue reading “US Grants $1 Million to Egyptian ‘Pro-Democracy’ Groups”

The nomination of one of President George W. Bush’s closest advisors to lead U.S. public diplomacy efforts has been met with both hope and skepticism by some leaders in the U.S. foreign policy community. "You need someone who knows something serious about the Middle East publics and is willing to engage them on their terms," … Continue reading “Propaganda War Gets a New General”

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is trying once again to discover who was rounded up by the Department of Homeland Security in the weeks preceding the November 2004 presidential election "to assure the Arab-American and Muslim communities that they are not being impacted on a disproportionate basis." But it is not very hopeful. The group … Continue reading “Tom Ridge’s October Surprise”

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a major advocacy group, has filed the first challenge to "rendition," known by critics as "outsourcing torture," a practice used by U.S. intelligence agencies to deliver detainees to prisons in countries known to practice abuse. "Torture is against the law in the United States," said Ron Daniels, CCRs’ executive … Continue reading “Rendition, or Outsourcing Torture?”