Saturday, January 20, 2007

DoD domestic spying included monitoring Austin peaceniks as "threats"

According to a new report (pdf) published this week by the national ACLU, at least two Texas anti-war organizations - Veterans for Peace, and Students for Peace and Justice - were among those about whom the US Department of Defense maintains secret files in their "TALON" anti-terrorism database of "threats," (see chart, p. 2). As evidence that Veterans for Peace might be a threat, DoD officials cited (p. 5) how at:
one protest in Austin, Texas, the document notes, “The Protesters blocked the entrance to the recruitment office with two coffins, one draped with an American flag and the other covered with an Iraqi flag, taped posters on the window of the office, and chanted, ‘No more war and occupation. You don’t have to die for an education.’”
I know I feel threatened, how about you? DoD doesn't have enough real threats to worry about, apparently, in Iraq and Afghanistan so they monitor these guys.

Via ACLU of Texas' Liberty Blog. See also this national ACLU press release with further information and links.

3 comments:

800 pound gorilla said...

It's the ole guilty by association scam redux. They were always accusing the KGB of bankrolling peace groups throughout the late 60s 70s and 80s. The Soviets had to bankroll these guys to weaken our resolve to stand up to them. The false association between our "enemies" and those protesting militarism is the bedrock of the conservative coalition since way back.
Since I actually joined a group headed by a Daniel Ortega fan club member, there is a small grain of truth in this false association. There are stupid liberals who think Chairman Mao and Fidel are the cat's pajamas - despite all the evidence of their behavior and statements available. You see Mao and Fidel use the exact same tactics and it's easy to deceive romantics when these pedagogues talk the talk. They just don't walk the walk of the true progressive.

Anonymous said...

DoD doesn't have enough real threats to worry about, apparently, in Iraq and Afghanistan so they monitor these guys.

Agree, priorities?

Hey, aint W from tex...oh thats right , he was born on the east coast.

Deb said...

Yeah, and APD continues to engage in illegal tactics to bolster their lame claims that us folks that don't like dropping bombs on babies in other countries are a threat to security (and dropping bombs doesn't increase security threats against those doing the dropping?).

Anyway--the open record requests continue to prove this...stay tuned from local ACLU.