[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 35 (Thursday, March 14, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E368]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         FIGHT TERRORISM, BUT DON'T DAMAGE INDIVIDUAL LIBERTIES

                                 ______


                          HON. DAVID E. BONIOR

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 14, 1996

  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, we all have been shocked and horrified by 
the acts of terrorism in Oklahoma City, in New York City, in Israel, 
London, Tokyo, and elsewhere.
  The painful loss of innocent lives leaves us with a terrible sense of 
vulnerability that tears away at our peace of mind.
  There are laws on the books that prosecute terrorists for the violent 
acts they commit--the World Trade Center bombing trial and the trial 
that will soon get underway in Denver, CO, show us that. We should also 
carefully strengthen our ability to prevent these acts of terror. But 
this bill doesn't get us where we need to go.
  As Anthony Lewis wrote Monday in the New York Times:

       Terrorism has a cost beyond its menace to life and peace. A 
     democratic society, feeling threatened, may put aside legal 
     norms and adopt authoritarian measures. It may fear freedom.

  This approach doesn't take us forward. It takes us back to the now-
discredited ideas of the McCarthy Era, and even more recently, to the 
intimidating FBI interviews with Arab-American leaders during the gulf 
war about their supposed knowledge of possible terrorist activities, 
and to the ``LA 8'' case with its attendant revelation of secret 
Justice Department contingency plans for the mass roundup, internment, 
and deportation of Arab nationals.
  When this bill first came to the floor, it would have given us 
selective prosecution, more wiretaps, more domestic 
counterintelligence, deportation of political asylum seekers, and 
secret evidence to be used in secret trials. While some of these 
problems have been corrected, the bill is still fatally flawed.
  We are debating this issue in tense times, with the recent bombings 
in Israel still fresh in our minds. These were terrible tragedies, and 
we should respond, but we should do so with clear minds, with a view 
that values the liberties that so many have fought and died for over 
our history as a nation.
  Mr. Speaker, let us not cast freedom aside and allow fear to prevail. 
We can do better than this bill, and we must, for our liberty and our 
safety depend on it.

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