By William Fisher, t r u t h o u t
Leading voices in the conservative movement are demanding that the Democrat-controlled Congress restore checks and balances within the government and rein in the power of President George W. Bush.
But their point of view is consistently being drowned out by the “Anne Coulter wing” of the Republican Party, fed by the “ignorance of members of Congress about the principles of a constitutional democracy.”
This is the view expressed by Bruce Fein in an exclusive Truthout interview. Fein served as associate deputy attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and is a founder of a conservative movement known as the Liberty Coalition. The Coalition has launched a new initiative, known as the American Freedom Agenda. The AFA’s ten-point action program calls on Congress to:
- End the use of military commissions to prosecute crimes.
- Prohibit the use of secret evidence or evidence obtained by torture.
- Prohibit the detention of American citizens as enemy combatants without proof.
- Restore habeas corpus for alleged alien combatants.
- End National Security Agency warrantless wiretapping.
- Challenge presidential signing statements.
- Bar executive use of the state-secret privilege to deny justice.
- Prohibit the president from collaborating with foreign governments to kidnap, detain or torture persons abroad.
- Amend the Espionage Act to permit journalists to report on classified national security matters without threat of persecution.
- Prohibit of the labeling of groups or individuals in the US as global terrorists based on secret evidence.
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