Patriot Act takes hard hits from the right and left

She said one example, identified only as "Mr. H," worked at a hospital and was detained because a co-worker "was concerned with his wearing a surgical mask more than necessary." He was held without charges six months before finally being cleared.

She said Altin Elezi has virtually disappeared after his arrest by the FBI at his home in Kearney, N.J., two years ago. His family cannot find him, and he is not in the detention facility that federal officials said he was in — leading to suspicions he was killed.

James J. Zogby, president of the American Arab Institute, said such abuses are widely reported in the Arab world, and it is hurting American credibility abroad.

"We've become another one of the guys who have abused human rights," he said.

However, Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department official who negotiated the Patriot Act for the Bush administration, said with the act's help, "The American homeland has not suffered another terrorist attack in the last 26 months."

He said some activists focus on the right issues but ask the wrong questions — such as when they complain about the detainment of U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, who allegedly plotted to detonate a "dirty" radiological bomb, without charges because the administration proclaimed him an "enemy combatant."

"Many have decried the president's military authority to detain Padilla. But surely a military commander should have the power to incapacitate enemy combatants," he said. "The more difficult question . . . is whether the executive branch can hold these unlawful combatants without any process."

One who is unhappy with what he says are excesses by the Bush administration after 9/11 in the name of antiterrorism is Sen. Patrick Leahy, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.

"Their own actions threaten to erode the very liberty and democracy that the terrorists are attacking," he said.

U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft has called for Congress not only to renew some sunsetting provisions of the Patriot Act but to widen them. Hatch said he plans a hearing early next year for Ashcroft and other officials to address the topic.

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