SECURITY & CIVIL LIBERTIES

Securing America and Protecting Civil Liberties

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Securing America and Protecting Civil Liberties

Introduction

One of the most horrifying days in the history of America was 9/11 and will be remembered always. This is an event that left the rest of the world in horror. It is harder to believe that human beings could be so brutal. As, a result in a war against terrorism and emerge as reality that the world has to face. The attack of 9/11 changed almost everything in the United States of America. Hence, America took several measures in order to safeguard its population and as a result, violated the civil liberty of its citizens.

Discussion

Civil liberties of a citizen refer to the personal freedom and guaranties, which cannot be abridge by interpretation of judicial, constitution or law by the federal government. Civil liberty includes the citizens' right of life, freedom from slavery, forced labor, fair trial, or torture. US Bill of Rights restricted the civil liberties to protect their citizens from terrorists. The first and fourth amendment of this bill is completely changed after the enforcement of USA Patriot Act. US Patriot Act increased the power of law enforcement agencies to fetch terrorists to justice. In view of Advocates, it is essential to take such measures because of new upcoming threats in the changing international politics of America to protect citizens with preventive measures. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a civil libertarian viewed this act as an unpatriotic mean of restricting civil rights of US citizens (Carter et. al., 2002).

Furthermore, freedom of speech of people and the press is restricted, and assaulting individual privacy rights; resulted in infringing the American democracy principles and restricting civil liberties of its citizens. The Bill made amendments in US constitution; explicitly the freedom of speech regarding religious views and press. The content American Government: Roots and Reform (2011) give details on the Bill of Rights, and was intended to restrict the national government power to violate on the liberties and rights of US citizens. With the passage of time, there have been several arguments between national security and civil liberties. One of the prominent arguments is Habeas Corpus that illustrated the policy of imprisoning a number of suspected who are associated with Iraqi and Afghan terrorist in the offshore of US jails and Guantanamo Bay without review of judicial or trail.

After the implementation ...