Establishing A “New Normal:” ACLU Issues Critique of the Obama Administration
Eighteen months into President Barack Obama’s administration, the ACLU issued a strong critique of its record on national security, civil liberties, and human rights.
The ACLU argued that the Obama administration had embraced many of the assumptions and practices of the George W. Bush administration, and as a result was continuing many of Bush’s violations of civil liberties, including spying on Americans.
On the abuses of the George W. Bush administration in the war on terrorism, see the books listed below.
Read the report: ACLU, Establishing a New Normal: National Security, Civil Liberties, and Human Rights Under the Obama Administration. An 18-Month Review (July 29, 2010).
Read: Susan Herman, Taking Liberties: The War on Terror and the Erosion of American Democracy (2011)
Learn more: Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals (2008)
Read about the Bush administration and torture: Karen Greenberg and Joshua Dratel, eds, The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib (2005)
Learn about “extraordinary renditions” under the Bush administration: Stephen Grey, Ghost Plane: The True Story of the CIA Torture Program (2006)