Coalition for Civil Rights and Democratic Liberties (CRADL)

In responding to terrorism, we must adhere to the principles of political freedom, free association, due process and privacy that constitute the core of a free and democratic society.

The Coalition for Civil Rights and Democratic Liberties (cradl) was formed to register the discontent of ordinary Americans with the infringement of their civil rights and liberties in the name of fighting terrorism. Using the lullaby as a metaphor, for our children are the ones who will bear the consequences, the words are poignant. When the political winds blow, the cradle of our cherished civil rights and liberties is rocked.

When the balance is broken, our personal rights diminish, and it will bring down our country, freedom and all.

With frightening ease, our government has, in the name of protecting national security, subverted the very rights and liberties that make the defense of our country worthwhile.

Indefinite detention, imprisonment without charge, secret deportation proceedings, ethnic profiling, surreptitious blackbag searches and wiretaps, military tribunals, and citizens denied counsel and judicial review . . . these things sound a lot like the hallmarks of the rogue nations and backward regimes we are trying to defeat. In responding to terrorism, we must not trample upon the very freedoms for which we are fighting.

Please sign your name to this petition if you feel that the United States anti-terrorism effort is unduly sacrificing civil rights and democratic liberties in the name of national security.