Bush pushes Congress to renew anti-terrorism law

COLUMBUS, Ohio - President George W Bush has urged the US Congress to renew major provisions of the USA Patriot Act and rejected critics who have complained the post-September 11 anti-terrorism law erodes civil liberties.

Sixteen sections of the Patriot Act are scheduled to expire at the end of the year, and the Bush administration fears their expiration will weaken law-enforcement tools needed to search for potential terrorists on American soil.

"My message to Congress is clear: The terrorist threats against us will not expire at the end of the year, and neither should the protections of the Patriot Act," Bush said during a visit to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy.

The Patriot Act was approved by overwhelming margins in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the tense weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks, but civil liberties groups and some members of Congress say the law has gone too far and American freedoms are in danger as a result.

Bush dismissed that view, and quoted a frequent Bush administration critic, California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, as saying she had found no reported abuses.

"Remember that the next time you hear someone make an unfair criticism of this important good law. The Patriot Act has not diminished American liberties. The Patriot Act has helped defend American liberties," Bush said.

The American Civil Liberties Union said on its website that the Patriot Act needs to be changed "if Americans are to preserve our basic freedoms and protect ourselves from broad government searches of our personal records and information". Among the provisions opposed by civil-liberties advocates is one allowing authorities to seize library and bookstore records, which the Bush administration has defended.

Bush paid particular attention to sections of the law that permit law-enforcement and intelligence officials to work together; that permit roving wiretaps to keep up with suspects who change mobile phones to elude surveillance; and that allow internet providers to give information to law enforcement without fear of being sued.

Bush said breaking down the barrier between law enforcement and the intelligence community permitted a joint effort that led to the FBI's arrest two years ago of a Pakistani-born Ohio truck driver, Iyman Faris, in what was described as an al Qaeda plot to blow up New York's Brooklyn Bridge.

"Today, instead of planning terror attacks against the American people, Iyman Faris is sitting in an American prison," Bush said. Faris was sentenced to 20 years in prison for providing al Qaeda with material support, resources and information about possible targets for attack.

A move is under way on Capitol Hill to approve the provisions in the Patriot Act that are set to expire.

Just this week the US Senate intelligence committee sided with the White House, by proposing broad new subpoena powers for the FBI to use in counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

After hours of secret deliberations, the oversight panel voted 11-4 to send to the full Senate a proposal that would give the FBI the power to subpoena without judicial approval a wide range of personal documents ranging from health and library records to tax statements.

The legislation approved by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence also would make permanent intelligence-related sections of the Patriot Act.

- REUTERS