Casualties of war.

• Position: Comment

Oh, it was too easy for a nation to turn its back on 1,200 detainees, mostly Muslim, rounded up since September 11 and held in secret. The terrorist attack was so shocking that many Americans were able to condone this violation of due process, thinking perhaps that the government would stop there. But now the government of the people has turned its attention to the rest of the people, and the war on terrorism goes from murky to muddy.

Welcome to the era of Total Information Awareness and other tomfoolery.

We're now at a time of perhaps unprecedented spying and secrecy. Richard Nixon could only dream of such powers. More than a year after the events of September 11, 2001, we are seeing the best of America--the Constitution and Bill of Rights--shredded by President George Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft. To comprehend this breathtaking assault, we need to look back at how it all began.

The Ashcroft confirmation hearing was a bitter fight for the soul of the Justice Department. Amidst the cantankerous rhetoric and blow-hard posturing from both sides of the narrow fence, there was some plainspoken eloquence from Senator Richard Durbin, Democrat of Illinois.

"The Attorney General, more than any other Cabinet officer, is entrusted with protecting the civil rights of Americans," Durbin said. "We know from our history that defending those rights can often be controversial and unpopular. I find no evidence in the public career or voting record of Senator Ashcroft that he has ever risked any political capital to defend the rights of those who suffer in our society from prejudice and discrimination."

How right Durbin was.

Since 9/11, our top law enforcement officer has gone to great lengths to rewrite and dismantle civil liberties in this country. For all the Attorney General's singing about patriotism and love of country, his odious record demonstrates that he does not respect the fundamental tenets of our democracy.

The opening act in this wretched tragedy started two nights after the 9/11 attack when the Senate swiftly voted, by voice, to approve an attachment to an appropriations bill that made it easier for the government to wiretap the computers of terrorism suspects without having to go through due process. That was just the beginning of what would eventually become the USA Patriot Act, an omnibus anti-terrorism law that was supposed to pacify Americans so they would return to shopping malls and sporting events.

The USA Patriot Act is...