Now showing
A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That the New Anti-terror Bill Is Good for Americans (1995-08-10)
About this film
In June the Senate had passed a sweeping anti-terrorism bill in reaction to the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City by disaffected Americans, which had followed by two years the bombing of the World Trade Center by Muslim terrorists. But a similar bill was stalled in the House through the efforts, Mr. Kinsley tells us, of "an unusual coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats ... concerned about the effect on civil liberties and constitutional rights." The bill would, among other things, expand penalties for terrorist crimes, including the death penalty; would create a special court to deport aliens suspected of terrorism; would broaden the permissible use of wiretaps; and would limit appeals of death sentences not just for terrorism but for all crimes. This sizzling debate covers some old territory (like the right to privacy and the right to bear arms) but also some new, like Mr. Zogby's statistics on the number of terrorist crimes committed by non-Arab, non-Muslim groups, such as Puerto Rican activists, anti-Castro Cubans, environmental and animal-rights groups, and Jewish extremists.
Directors & creators
Southern Educational Communications Association
Subjects
public broadcasting, AAPB, William F. Buckley Jr., Michael Kinsley, James Zogby, Oklahoma City bombing, 1993 World Trade Center bombing, anti-terrorism legislation, civil liberties, constitutional rights, wiretapping, death penalty, privacy rights, Second Amendment, terrorism, immigration policy
More from this pool