and I did not speak out

First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out--
because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me--
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Martin Niemoeller wrote this warning about the consequences of not resisting tyranny after WWII. It is still an important warning in this age of Patriot Acts, warrantless wiretaps, and torture being declared legal. Here are some of the better-known examples of how our liberty is being protected by the US government.

Jose Padilla is an American citizen of Puerto Rican descent. He was accused of being a terrorist and arrested on May 8, 2002. On June 9, 2002, President Bush issued an order to Secretary Rumsfeld to detain him as an enemy combatant. Without bothering to notify his attorney or family, he was transferred to a military brig in South Carolina. He was there for three years before he was charged with a crime. He still hasn't had a trial.

Sibel Edmonds is a Turkish-American who was working for the FBI as a translator. In March 2002, she was fired after reporting security breaches and poorly translated documents related to the 9-11 attacks. Court action on her whistleblower claims have been blocked by the assertion of the State Secrets Privilege.

Maher Arar is a Canadian software engineer who was born in Syria. On September 26, 2002, while returning from Tunis with his wife and children, he was detained during a stopover in New York. The United States Immigration and Naturalization Service were acting on false and misleading information supplied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Despite being a Canadian citizen, he was deported to Syria under the extraordinary rendition policy. While in Syria, he was held in solitary confinement, tortured, and forced to sign a false confession. He was finally returned to Canada in October 2003. There was a public inquiry in Canada into the actions of Canadian officials.

In January 2004, Arar announced that he would be suing then Attorney-General John Ashcroft over his treatment. The US government used the State Secrets Privilege to dismiss the suit. The final report of the Canadian inquiry was released on September 18, 2006. It categorically states that there is no evidence linking Arar to any terrorist activity.

Perhaps this explains why the Hallibuton subsidiary, KBR, was awarded a contract to build detention centers for "an unexpected influx of immigrants or to house people after a natural disaster or for new programs that require additional detention space."

Read the January 24, 2006 press release at:
http://www.halliburton.com