HOSS
11-10-2003, 06:31 AM
National News
Gore Challenges Bush Policy on Civil Liberties, Homeland Security Top Stories
November 10 2003 04:05:03 AM EST
Former Vice President Al Gore denounced the Bush administration's policies which he says erodes civil liberties.
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore called Sunday for the repeal of the USA Patriot Act and accused the Bush administration of exploiting Americans' fear of terrorism for political gain.
In an hour-long speech to a raucous, supportive crowd of 3,000, Gore said the Bush administration has been preoccupied with an "assault on civil liberties" since the Sept. 11 attacks and has not done enough to make the nation safer.
"I want to challenge the Bush administration's implicit assumption that we have to give up many of our traditional freedoms in order to be safe from terrorists," Gore told the cheering crowd at Washington's DAR-Constitution Hall. "It makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden."
"In both cases the administration has fostered false impressions and misled the nation with superficial, emotional and manipulative presentations that are not worthy of American democracy," Gore said.
Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush, has said he will not seek the Democratic nomination in 2004. But that didn't stop some supporters on Sunday from urging him to reconsider.
Cries of "run Al run!" and "Gore in `04" came from the audience of about 3,000. Gore smiled and put his hand up in mock protest but did not address the issue directly. Since losing to Bush, Gore has made only a handful of policy speeches. In explaining why he chose to speak out on civil liberties, Gore said he was "just a recovering politician," but some issues are important enough "that all of us should be dealing with them."
Gore said a steady series of civil liberties violations have created a false impression that America is safer. In fact, he contended, the administration is skimping on security at nuclear-storage facilities, failing to screen airliner cargo and still has no serious plan to protect domestic infrastructure, like electric power lines.
Gore was particularly critical of the administration's detention of American citizens as enemy combatants, its treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the rounding up of hundreds of illegal immigrants after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Gore called the detention of immigrants - most of them Arab men who had overstayed their visas - "a cheap and cruel political stunt by (Attorney General) John Ashcroft."
"They have taken us much further down the road toward an intrusive `big brother' style of government than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States," Gore said.
Gore drew his most sustained applause when he attacked the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law that expanded police investigative and surveillance powers. Gore said while the Patriot Act made some needed changes, it has "turned out to be, on balance, a terrible mistake."
The Justice Department has said the Patriot Act is the cornerstone of its battle against terrorism and that it has not been abused.
Gore's speech was sponsored by MoveOn.org, a liberal web-based advocacy group, and the American Constitution Society, a left-leaning national organization of lawyers and students.
Gore Challenges Bush Policy on Civil Liberties, Homeland Security Top Stories
November 10 2003 04:05:03 AM EST
Former Vice President Al Gore denounced the Bush administration's policies which he says erodes civil liberties.
WASHINGTON - Former Vice President Al Gore called Sunday for the repeal of the USA Patriot Act and accused the Bush administration of exploiting Americans' fear of terrorism for political gain.
In an hour-long speech to a raucous, supportive crowd of 3,000, Gore said the Bush administration has been preoccupied with an "assault on civil liberties" since the Sept. 11 attacks and has not done enough to make the nation safer.
"I want to challenge the Bush administration's implicit assumption that we have to give up many of our traditional freedoms in order to be safe from terrorists," Gore told the cheering crowd at Washington's DAR-Constitution Hall. "It makes no more sense to launch an assault on our civil liberties as the best way to get at terrorists than it did to launch an invasion of Iraq as the best way to get at Osama bin Laden."
"In both cases the administration has fostered false impressions and misled the nation with superficial, emotional and manipulative presentations that are not worthy of American democracy," Gore said.
Gore, who lost the disputed 2000 election to George W. Bush, has said he will not seek the Democratic nomination in 2004. But that didn't stop some supporters on Sunday from urging him to reconsider.
Cries of "run Al run!" and "Gore in `04" came from the audience of about 3,000. Gore smiled and put his hand up in mock protest but did not address the issue directly. Since losing to Bush, Gore has made only a handful of policy speeches. In explaining why he chose to speak out on civil liberties, Gore said he was "just a recovering politician," but some issues are important enough "that all of us should be dealing with them."
Gore said a steady series of civil liberties violations have created a false impression that America is safer. In fact, he contended, the administration is skimping on security at nuclear-storage facilities, failing to screen airliner cargo and still has no serious plan to protect domestic infrastructure, like electric power lines.
Gore was particularly critical of the administration's detention of American citizens as enemy combatants, its treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and the rounding up of hundreds of illegal immigrants after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Gore called the detention of immigrants - most of them Arab men who had overstayed their visas - "a cheap and cruel political stunt by (Attorney General) John Ashcroft."
"They have taken us much further down the road toward an intrusive `big brother' style of government than anyone ever thought would be possible in the United States," Gore said.
Gore drew his most sustained applause when he attacked the Patriot Act, the anti-terrorism law that expanded police investigative and surveillance powers. Gore said while the Patriot Act made some needed changes, it has "turned out to be, on balance, a terrible mistake."
The Justice Department has said the Patriot Act is the cornerstone of its battle against terrorism and that it has not been abused.
Gore's speech was sponsored by MoveOn.org, a liberal web-based advocacy group, and the American Constitution Society, a left-leaning national organization of lawyers and students.