C-Span Washington Journal Schedule for November 12, 2005

7:45am Eastern - The Patriot Act with Nadine Strossen , American Civil Liberties Union

8:30am Eastern - Riots in France with Robert Leiken

9:15am Eastern - US Policy in Iraq with John Smathers , U.S. Army Reserve

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***** Nadine Strossen ********
of the American Civil Liberties Union working to reform the Patriot Act

Related Articles:

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The guest talks about the Patriot Act and its reauthorization by Congress. A House-Senate conference committee held their first meeting this week to reconcile differences between their two bills to reauthorize provisions in the 2001 antiterrorism law. If completed, the House may vote on the final version next week. The House version would make permanent 14 of the 16 expiring provisions with the other two, allowing roving wiretaps and allowing the FBI to seize business records, to be extended by 10 years to 2015. The Senate version would have those two provisions expire in four years in 2009. The American Civil Liberties Union opposes making the Patriot Act permanent and opposes its surveillance and search provisions. House bill (HR 3199) Senate bill: (S. 1389)

ACLU:Key Patriot Act Vote Rebukes White House

The ACLU noted that calls for reforms have come from a politically diverse chorus, including the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform and Gun Owners of America. Leading business organizations have also spoken out in favor of the Senate reforms to the secret record search powers expanded by the Patriot Act. Those groups include the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Association of Realtors, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the Financial Services Roundtable and Business Civil Liberties, Inc

ACLU: Reports Show 30,000 Secret Records Demands

Opposing Views:

ACLJ:The Patriot Act: Wise Beyond its Years

Armed with these tools, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agents have pursued and captured operatives in the war on terrorism from Florida to New York, from Virginia to Oregon and points in between. Since Sept. 11, 2001, 368 individuals have been charged and 194 have been convicted.

Despite the documented successes in keeping Americans safe from terrorism, the Patriot Act rarely receives its due, and indeed is often portrayed in an outright false light.

Stop the ACLU: Patriot Act

It’s all good and fine to be concerned about civil liberties – especially in the context of emergency situations, which could be used as a pretext by those with evil on their minds to unnecessarily strip us of our freedoms. However, it is during emergency management in particular that sometimes, you just have to trust that legislators have written laws that, if judged constitutional by State and Federal Supreme Courts and enforced fairly, will contribute to the general welfare. We saw this with the Patriot Act, where not merely national security but our nation’s very existence is at stake in the face of the global war on terrorism. As regards natural disasters and possible deadly epidemics, similar considerations should apply.

***** Robert Leiken ********

Director of the Immigration and National Security Programs at The Nixon Center


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The guest talks about the cause of the riots in France and Germany. He believes “second generation” immigrants are the source of the riots because they have the most potential to be influenced by jihadists. On July 2005 in an article in Foreign Affairs titled “Europe’s Angry Muslims,” he predicted riots might happen.

Foreign Affairs: Europe's Angry Muslims

Indeed, the fissure between liberalism and multiculturalism is opening just as the continent undergoes its most momentous population shift since Asian tribes pushed westward in the first Christian millennium. Immigration obviously hits a national security nerve, but it also raises economic and demographic questions: how to cope with a demonstrably aging population; how to maintain social cohesion as Christianity declines and both secularism and Islam climb; whether the EU should exercise sovereignty over borders and citizenship; and what the accession of Turkey, with its 70 million Muslims, would mean for the EU. Moreover, European mujahideen do not threaten only the Old World; they also pose an immediate danger to the United States.

***** John Smathers ********

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The guest talks about U.S. policy toward Iraq and about life while serving in Iraq from a reservist soldier’s point of view. His “real” job is as a partner in a law firm.

Washington Post:A War Dog's Faithful Friend

Laurel lawyer John E. Smathers, a captain in the Army Reserve, returned from a year in Iraq with a broken arm, a wrecked knee and a chest full of medals.

During his tour, Smathers helped thwart a bank robbery and assisted in recovering stolen Iraqi artwork. He survived an ambush and a high-speed auto crash.

But when he got back in March 2004, he was determined to complete a final mission: to rescue Scout, a dog he and other soldiers had adopted, from the increasingly bloody streets of Baghdad and bring him to his Howard County home. Scout was resolute, loyal. So was Smathers.