Beware Patriotic Acronyms

The newly drafted Vital Interdiction of Criminal Terrorist Organizations Act of 2003--cleverly acronymized as VICTORY--is really just a rehashing of elements of the USA PATRIOT ACT II, according to Wired News. But there's a twist:

The Victory Act also seems to be an attempt to merge the war on terrorism and the war on drugs into a single campaign. It includes a raft of provisions increasing the government's ability to investigate, wiretap, prosecute and incarcerate money launderers, fugitives, "narco-terrorists" and nonviolent drug dealers. The bill also outlaws hawalas, the informal and documentless money transferring systems widely used in the Middle East, India and parts of Asia.

Timothy Edgar, ACLU legislative counsel, says, "It's cleverly packaged as an antiterrorism package, when really it's just a grab bag of changes the Justice Department wants."

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