It seems like they could have just kept tabs on those at the picnic until their info gathering was complete.  A restaurant owner and his family were held capture briefly after 9/11 (they are Egyptians), because his American wife was pissed off at him and made a foolish call to the FBI.  After the FBI did their homework, they were released.  The community (a medium-sized Midwestern city) supported them and their restaurant.

Of course it was wrong.  But the Justice Department did it because it could.  That is why the Patriot Act is so dangerous.  Because it allows the Justice Dept.  to run roughshod over the Civil Liberties that are enumerated in the Constitution, on the grounds that we're in an emergency.  

Like they say, if YOU don't speak up when they come to get someone else, don't be surprised if there's nobody left to speak up when they come to get you.

because the timing seems to suggest that it occurred well before the Patriot Act was passed.  But sdstud never lets facts get in the way of a good rant.

It'd be nice if sdstud could get as worked up over the actions of the Clinton Justice Department w/Elian Gonzales, or at Waco, or the Bush 41 JD at Ruby Ridge.

My friend was detained in late December of 2001, and held under the material witness provisions of the Patriot Act.  He was released in April of 2002 on a writ of Habeas Corpus.  As for the original post - you are welcome to scroll down to the next page and read it - that shouldn't be too daunting a task for someone of your intellectual gifts.

And as for those OTHER issues you cite:

1) I DID get worked up about Elian Gonzales - I believe that his rescue from crazy relatives who had no custodial rights was the finest hour of Janet Reno's tenure

2) As for Waco, all Koresh needed to do was OBEY the commands of Law Enforcement attempting to make an arrest, and nothing would have happened to them.  The fact that the Branch Dividians were under the sway of a lunatic, and wanted to become martyrs, and did so, was unfortunate, but at least Reno gave them the opportunity for them to meet their god as they wished to.

3) And as for Ruby Ridge, Law Enforcement over-reacted, plain and simple, and someone should have been found guilty of criminally negligent homicide.



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with his usual cynicism and "you're an idiot if you don't agree with me" post.  Judge for yourselves, guys and gals.

Because your "reasonable view" was a naive reply to my earlier post.  And my reply to this was NOT a cynical reply, it was simply a statement that your reply was patently obvious and didn't add anything to my initial post, in terms of furthering the dialog.  And then James86 launched one of his typical attacks, which I parried back in kind.