US Attorney General John Ashcroft is at it again. The Patriot Act II, denounced as a “leaked draft” that was never intended to be taken seriously, has emerged in the form of the Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations (VICTORY) Act. I guess Ashcroft’s boys are getting a little punchy and that’s the best incomplete acronym they can come up with.
At any rate, according to James Gordon Meek’s piece in the New York Daily News, here’s what we have to look forward to when VICTORY is introduced next month by none other than Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah):
- Elimination of traditional Arab hawala transactions. These transactions are a simple and cheap way to move cash between different monetary systems. They’re mostly used by Arab immigrants to send money home to relatives. The American government doesn’t like hawala transactions because they’re unregulated, untaxable, don’t require bank accounts or exchange rates to complete, and are faster and more reliable than a bank transaction.
- Enabling of American law enforcement to seize business records without a court order.
- Roving wiretaps for all wireless communications.
- Increased sentences for individuals convicted of drug trafficking.
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Here we go again: VICTORY Act was originally published by ARTS & FARCES internet on Thursday, 7 August 2003 at 10:44 PM CDT. Copyright © ARTS & FARCES LLC. All rights reserved. | ISSN: 1535-8119 | OCLC: 48219498 | Digital fingerprint: 974a89ee1284e6e92dd256bbfbef3751 (64.237.45.114)