Bush: We must have a mandatory National ID Card

------------

BUSH CONTEMPLATES NATIONAL ID CARD FOR ALL CITIZENS
By Matt Drudge
Sunday, September 23, 2001

http://www.drudgereport.com/id.htm

A highly controversial option has emerged for use in
fighting terrorism in the United States: A national ID
card which would be issued to every citizen.

A proposal for the creation of a national ID card was
presented to President Bush in recent days, top
government sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT.

The ID card plan was included in a classified briefing
outlining steps the nation can take to limit exposure
to terror attacks.

Bush briefly discussed the ID card option with British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to insiders.

"I can tell you this, the president is very reluctant
[to issue a national ID card]," a top White House
source said on Sunday. "But we must look at all
options."

Just as House Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt [D-MO]
says Congress should quickly move to open debate on
security measures such as a national ID card. "We are
in a new world," Gephardt said. "This event will change
the balance between freedom and security."

SAFETY FROM A CHIP

ORACLE Chairman and CEO Larry Ellison this weekend
called for the United States to create a national
identification system -- and offering to donate the
software to make it possible -- free-of-charge.

"We need a national ID card with our photograph and
thumbprint digitized and embedded in the ID card,"
Ellison said in an interview Friday night on the
evening news of KPIX-TV in San Francisco.

Blair has tentatively approved identity cards which
will be introduced for the first time in Britain.

Blair has opted for a voluntary scheme in issuing the
card, rejecting a compulsory "on demand" card because
of connotations with Nazi Germany, where lack of proper
identity cards could result in instant arrest,
according to reports.

However, it will be virtually impossible for anyone to
live a normal life without the new ID card in England
-- possession of a valid card will be necessary for
boarding an aircraft, buying gas, opening a bank
account, starting a job or claiming government
benefits.

UK. Home Secretary David Blunkett on Sunday questioned
the idea of a "voluntary card".

"It would not be a great deal of help" in the fight
against terrorism, Blunkett said on BBC1's On the
Record.

Blunkett stressed the need to balance the fight against
terrorism with the freedoms of a liberal society.

But he said that his "instincts" were that beating
terror must take priority and that politicians' ability
to act must not be hamstrung by an excessively
legalistic approach to human rights.

New laws are expected to be rushed through the U.K.'s
Parliament in coming weeks to allow for the legality of
a mandatory ID card.

In a nationwide poll released Sunday, a stunning 85% of
Brits would welcome a national ID card system in the
wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States,
with an overwhelming majority calling for the cards to
be packed with information to clearly identify the
holder: These include photograph (97%), date of birth
(96%) eye color (92%), a finger print (85%), DNA
details (75%), criminal records (74%) and religion
(67%).

Stateside, U.S. Rep. George Gekas [R-PA], chairman of
the House immigration subcommittee, told reporters last
week that Congress could no longer reject out of hand a
national ID card system for citizens.

In a survey released Wednesday by the Pew Research
Center for the People & the Press, seven of 10
Americans favored a requirement that citizens carry a
national identity card at all times. The proposal had
particularly strong support from women.

ORACLE's Ellison said in the electronic age, little
privacy is left anyway. "Well, this privacy you're
concerned about is largely an illusion," he told PIX's
anchorman Hank Plante. "All you have to give up is your
illusions, not any of your privacy. Right now, you can
go onto the Internet and get a credit report about your
neighbor and find out where your neighbor works, how
much they earn and if they had a late mortgage payment
and tons of other information."

Developing...