PETA, Greenpeace, ACLU, Others Being Spied Upon
The confirmation that the right of free assembly is swirling down the crapper comes via a release of documents to the ACLU as part of a lawsuit against the government. These papers show that the FBI has been watching demonstrations and other peaceful gatherings since at least the year 2000. Since 9-11, however the Bureau and Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) have opened "terrorism" investigations against anti-war, environmental, and civil and human rights groups.
The spying goes beyond the standard overtly intimidating video-taping and photographing of demonstrations and protesters, to include the penetration of some groups by agents and informants.
The FBI claims that it is looking for ties between these groups and other groups that engage in property destruction such as the Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and others. They also stress that evildoers cannot expect to find cover by associating with unpatriotic groups whose activities have not yet been declared illegal, like the ACLU, Greenpeace, etc.:
FBI officials said that the agency is not using the threat of terrorism to suppress domestic dissent and that is has no alternative but to investigate if a group or its members have ties to others that are guilty or suspected of violence* or illegal conduct.
"As a matter of policy, the FBI does not target individuals or organizations for investigation because of any political belief. Somewhere, there has to be a crime attached," FBI spokesman John Miller said. "At the same time, the fact that you have ties to an organization or political beliefs does not make you immune from ending up in FBI files when you go and commit a crime."
(...)
John Lewis, the FBI's deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, told a Senate panel in May that environmental and animal rights militants posed the biggest terrorist threats in the United States, citing more than 150 pending investigations.
At least Americans can take comfort that the terror fighters have their priorities straight.
*The government attempts to classify property destruction as "violence." The proper term is "vandalism." Their semantic confusion comes not from a lack of brain cells, but from their real job as protectors of the property of their bosses, the corporations.
posted by Effwit at 11:16 AM
6 Comments:
All corners of the government seem to be doing their part to trample the rights of Americans. The White House, NSA, DoD, FBI. It seems that just about anything goes in the age of the "war on terror".
9/11 certainly was a convenient tool for this to take place. Coinicidence? I think not.
Drew L:
The revelations are coming fast and furious. Which federal agency will be next to have taken it upon itself to snoop outside their legal purview?
On the issue of 9-11, I had always figured that, at worst, it was LIHOP (the government Let It Happen On Purpose).
With each successive way the administration has capitalized upon that day, it is looking more and more like MIHOP (the government Made It Happen On Purpose).
I know you are probably familiar with the LIHOP/MIHOP acronyms, but I spelled it out to avoid answering the inevitable queries to my e-mail box from those who don't like to openly post to the page.
"...environmental and animal rights militants posed the biggest terrorist threats in the United States, citing more than 150 pending investigations..."
I don't know whether to ROTFLMAO, or to hang my head in shame.
But I guess the FBI is right. After all, we do have to be on the lookout for those vegans who climb trees, in order to prevent them from being cut down. We gotta be on the lookout for those PETA activists and their paint cans and cream pies. If we don't keep those wiretaps in place, then those Greenpeace terrorists will win!
Let's face facts: Bush and his sycophants are driving the U.S. on cruise control, directly on the highway to hell.
But I guess the FBI is right. After all, we do have to be on the lookout for those vegans who climb trees, in order to prevent them from being cut down. We gotta be on the lookout for those PETA activists and their paint cans and cream pies. If we don't keep those wiretaps in place, then those Greenpeace terrorists will win!
vcthree:
Now it my turn to ROTFLMAO, from the way you phrase the sad facts of the matter.
With any luck, soon the administration's hands will no longer be on the wheel, but rather in handcuffs for some of these crimes.
But with Repub control of Congress and the Supreme Court, this may be an idle wish.
One can still be hopeful for change as long as we don't invest too much emotional energy in the idea of these crooks getting their comeuppance.
I think what we're seeing is the fact that the "war on terror" may not be as focused on the Islamist terrorists as it is on the "corporate terrorists". That is, those elements that may pose a risk to the corporate world. That's where the PETAs, Greenpeaces and ACLUs of the world pose the greatest "risk", if you will, at least in the minds of the Bush administration and its corporate supporters.
And now that they have succeeded in lumping these groups under the vaunted "terrorist" umbrella, apparently they're fair game to engage in surveillance and other counter-measures. So, while everyone else's attention is on the Islamists, the government is carrying out its "other war" on the groups it really would like to neutralize.
Maybe a bit of a stretch, but at this point, anything's possible.
Drew L:
Some people get greatly offended when I bring up in polite conversation the fact that the United States has become a Fascist country.
These fools don't understand that Fascism is the name for a political system in which the corporations have an unduly large influence upon the government.
This brings to mind the old saying: "Communism is where the government owns the corporations, Fascism is where the corporations own the government."
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