Is the Total Information Blackout Necessary?
On its face, the blackout may sound reasonable and even necessary. But consider this: having a “connection to” or “information about” 9/11 does not make one a suspect – just a witness, and a potential one at that. One might, for instance, be an unwitting coworker or neighbor, or simply someone who attended the same mosque. After all, wouldn’t any serious 9/11 suspect be dealt with criminally or through military tribunals – not kicked out of the country so they could potentially operate abroad? The Bush Administration has shown no aversion towards indefinite detention of those it considers a true risk. Moreover, it has asserted broad authority to suspend the rights of detained aliens. For this reason, it seems likely that the immigration proceedings do not generally deal with suspects the Administration considers truly culpable or threatening. And this likelihood, in turn, ought to cause us to question the Administration’s assertion that the proceedings, if public, would leak informatio
