Cato Daily Dispatch for November 10, 2003
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via PDA (AvantGo)
(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)
Supreme Court to Consider Guantanamo DetaineesWTO Says U.S. Steel Import Duties Violate Trade Rules
U.S. Envoy Praises Saudi Offensive on Terror
Supreme Court to Consider Guantanamo Detainees
"The Supreme Court will hear its first case arising from the government's anti-terrorism campaign following the Sept. 11 attacks, agreeing Monday to consider whether foreigners held at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba should have access to American courts," The Associated Press reports.
"The appeals came from British, Australian and Kuwaiti citizens held with more than 600 others suspected of being Taliban or al-Qaeda foot soldiers. Most were picked up in U.S. anti-terrorism sweeps in Afghanistan following the attacks of two years ago."
In "Breaking the Vicious Cycle: Protecting Our Liberties While Fighting Terrorism," Timothy Lynch, associate director of Cato's Center for Constitutional Studies, argues that government officials have typically responded to terrorist attacks by enacting "antiterrorism" legislation designed to assuage public fears by making "the dubious claim that they can prevent terrorism by curtailing the privacy and civil liberties of the people."
WTO Says U.S. Steel Import Duties Violate Trade Rules
"The World Trade Organization, in a final verdict, on Monday confirmed hefty U.S. steel import duties violate trade rules, piling pressure on Washington to withdraw them, diplomats said," Reuters reports.
"In response to the trade court decision, President Bush must quickly withdraw the tariffs or face retaliation from the European Union, which is threatening to hit back with some $2.2 billion in duties on U.S. goods."
In "Steel Trap: How Subsidies and Protectionism Weaken the U.S. Steel Industry", Trade Policy Analyst Daniel Ikenson writes: "Protection will only prolong crippling overcapacity in the domestic steel market. Over the past three decades, U.S. steel producers have been shielded from foreign competition by quotas, voluntary export restraints, minimum price undertakings, and hundreds of antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard measures. Federally subsidized loan guarantees, pension bailouts, and 'Buy American' preferences have likewise fostered uneconomic excess capacity within the industry and discouraged unsuccessful firms from the otherwise rational decision to exit the market."
U.S. Envoy Praises Saudi Offensive on Terror
"A top US envoy hailed the Saudi authorities for being 'very offensive' in fighting Islamic militancy, but warned the weekend bombing in Riyadh shows the global war on terrorism will be a long struggle," Agence France-Presse reports.
"The envoy, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, told reporters in Cairo after arriving from Riyadh that the Saudis have scored many successes since their country was hit by a first wave of bombings in May."
Cato Senior Fellow Doug Bandow says that it's the United States that should rethink its relationship with the Saudis. In "Befriending Saudi Princes: A High Price for a Dubious Alliance," he writes: "The United States must not retreat from the world. But it should stop intervening militarily and supporting illegitimate and unpopular regimes where its vital interests are not involved, as in Saudi Arabia."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org