The War On Our Freedoms Civil Liberties In An Age Of Terrorism

by Leone, Richard C; Anrig, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9781586482107
• ISBN10: 1586482106
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-06-19
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

In each generation, for different reasons, America witnesses a tug of war between the instinct to suppress and the instinct for openness. Today, with the perception of a mortal threat from terrorists, the instinct to suppress is in the ascendancy. Part of the reason for this is the trauma that our country experienced on September 11, 2001, and part of the reason is that the people who are in charge of our government are inclined to use the suppression of information as a management strategy. Rather than waiting ten or fifteen years to point out what's wrong with the current rush to limit civil liberties in the name of "national security," these essays by top thinkers, scholars, journalists, and historians lift the veil on what is happening and why the implications are dangerous and disturbing and ultimately destructive of American values and ideals. Without our even being aware, the judiciary is being undermined, the press is being intimidated, racial profiling is rampant, and our privacy is being invaded. The "war on our freedoms " is just as real as the "war on terror "-and, in the end, just as dangerous.

Author Biography

Richard C.Leone is president of The Century Foundation and has served as chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, president of the New York Mercantile Exchange, and a faculty member at Princeton University. Greg Anrig, Jr. is vice president of programs at The Century Foundation and the former Washington bureau chief of Money magazine.

Table of Contents

Foreword	ix
Introduction The Quiet Republic: The Missing Debate About Civil Liberties After 9/11	1	(22)
Richard C. Leone
A Familiar Story: Lessons from Past Assaults on Freedoms	23	(24)
Alan Brinkley
Security and Liberty: Preserving the Values of Freedom	47	(27)
Anthony Lewis
No Checks, No Balances: Discarding Bedrock Constitutional Principles	74	(26)
Stephen J. Schulhofer
``The Least Worst Place'': Life in Guantanamo	100	(28)
Joseph Lelyveld
Under a Watchful Eye: Incursions on Personal Privacy	128	(19)
Kathleen Sullivan
Who Are ``We'' Now? The Collateral Damage to Immigration	147	(23)
Roberto Suro
The New American Dilemma: Racial Profiling Post--9/11	170	(23)
Christopher Edley, Jr.
From Saviors to Suspects: New Threats to Infectious Disease Research	193	(27)
Patricia Thomas
Need to Know: Governing in Secret	220	(17)
John Podesta
Watchdogs on a Leash: Closing Doors on the Media	237	(19)
John F. Stacks
The Fog of War: Covering the War on Terrorism	256	(20)
Stanley Cloud
The Go-for-Broke Presidency: Can National Unity and Partisanship Coexist?	276	(19)
E. J. Dionne, Jr.
On the Home Front: A Lawyer's Struggle to Defend Rights After 9/11	295	(18)
Ann Beeson
Contributors	313	(4)
Acknowledgments	317