1981 May 18

A Prophetic Warning: ACLU Official Warns that Fear of “Terrorism” May Become Greatest Threat to Civil Liberties

 

John Shattuck, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Washington Legislative Office, issued a warning that the rubric of “terrorism” could become the greatest threat to civil liberties.

He issued the prophetic warning 20 years before the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the abuses of civil liberties by President George W. Bush’s war on terrorism.

See the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, and the massive violations of civil liberties that resulted. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, continued embraced much of the rationale developed by President Bush and continued many of the Bush administration’s policies and practices. See the blistering ACLU report on the “New Normal,” released on July 29, 2010.

Learn more about the war on terrorism threat to civil liberties today: https://www.aclu.org/keep-america-safe-and-free-0

Watch ACLU Director Anthony Romero discuss the ACLU and the war on terrorism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txyLtkYyylE

Read: Susan Herman. Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (2011)

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