From: Faisal Jawdat Date: Sat Nov 17, 2001 02:37:25 PM US/Pacific To: letters@washpost.com Subject: End-Running the Bill of Rights To the Editor, Your editorial, "End-Running the Bill of Rights" (Friday, November 16, 2001; Page A46), states, "But the potential damage is so great, to U.S. credibility abroad as well as U.S. liberty at home, that such courts should be viewed as an absolutely last resort, particularly in domestic cases." If this is "potential" damage, I'd hate to see the real thing. When the "USA PATRIOT Act" sailed through both houses of congress with almost as few objections as instances of elected representatives actually knowing what they were approving, the message to the world was clear: the United States Government believes the safest place for liberty is in the garbage can. But we are fooling ourselves if we think the world isn't taking notes as we push for "unity" while eliminating 346 of the 462 words in the Bill of Rights for any government bureaucracy willing to yell "terrorist" in a crowded democracy. The passage of that act heralded mention in every foreign press from Egypt's Al-Ahram Weekly to Russia's Pravda. When the state press of the former Soviet Union can claim "The Tree of Freedom Has Faded Forever" without a trace of irony, the damage is already done. The only question is how to undo it. Regards, Faisal Jawdat