When they proposed the Patriot Act, Ashcroft claimed that they would only use their new, broader powers to go after the “bad guys”. Maybe someone should have asked for a definition of who the “bad guys”. Apparently, the bad guys include immigrants who are responsible citizens, see the NYTimes article, and anti-war activists, as the Commondreams article points out. While it may seem alarmist to compare the US to a third world country, one of the things that characterizes third world countries, along with the reduction of civil rights, is a reliance by the state on unofficial, paramilitary forces. The Article by Barry Yeoman points out that the government has been relying on private mercenaries more and more to fight the various wars the US is involved in.
