Report cites abuse under Patriot Act

By PHILIP SHENON
THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON -- A new report by internal investigators at the Justice Department has identified dozens of recent cases in which department employees have been accused of serious civil rights and civil liberties violations involving enforcement of the federal anti-terrorism law known as the USA Patriot Act.

The inspector general's report, which was presented to Congress last week and is awaiting public release, is likely to raise new concern among lawmakers about whether the Justice Department can police itself when its employees are accused of violating the rights of Muslim and Arab immigrants and others swept up in terrorism investigations under the 2001 law.

The report said that during the six-month period that ended June 15, the Inspector General's Office had received 34 complaints of civil rights and civil liberties violations by department employees that it considered credible, including accusations of beatings of Muslim and Arab immigrants in federal detention centers.

The accused workers are employed in several of the agencies that make up the Justice Department, with most of them assigned to the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees federal penitentiaries and detention centers.

The report said that credible accusations were also made against employees of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service; most of the immigration agency was consolidated earlier this year into the Department of Homeland Security.

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http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Patriot%20Act%20Abuse

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

This was funny.

Methinks Johnnie's gonna sweep this under the rug with a wave of his fascist claw?

Actually, this story seems like a trial balloon to see how people react to this news. If nobody seems to care, then the JD knows it's getting away with their unconstitutional bullshit for awhile more.