Posted on 01/22/2006 12:43:16 PM PST by summer
WASHINGTON - While the White House defended domestic surveillance as a safeguard against terrorism, a Florida peace activist and several Democrats in Congress accused the Bush administration on Friday of spying on Americans who disagree with President Bush's policies.
Richard Hersh, of Boca Raton, Fla., director of Truth Project Inc. of Palm Beach County, told an ad hoc panel of House Democrats that his group and others in South Florida have been infiltrated and spied upon despite having no connections to terrorists.
"Agents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed Web sites and listened in on phone conversations," Hersh charged. "We know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared."
The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported last month that it was described as a "credible threat" in a database of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon's Talon program. The listing cited the group's gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military recruitment at high schools.
Talon is separate from the controversial domestic-surveillance program conducted by the National Security Agency. Bush has acknowledged signing orders that allow the NSA to eavesdrop without the usual court warrants, prompting an outcry from many in Congress.
Bush plans to tour the NSA on Wednesday as part of a campaign to defend his handling of the program.
"This is a critical tool that helps us save lives and prevent attacks," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday. "It is limited and targeted to al-Qaida communications, with the focus being on detection and prevention."
The Defense Department's Talon program collects data from a wide variety of sources, including military personnel and private citizens, Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said.
"They are unfiltered dots of information about perceived threats," Hicks said. "An analyst will look at that information. And what we are trying to do is connect the dots before the next major attack."
To Hersh and some members of Congress, the warrant-less surveillance and Talon are all a part of domestic-spying operations that threaten civil liberties of average Americans and put dissenters under a cloud of suspicion.
"Neither you nor anybody in that (Quaker) church had anything to do with terrorism," said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. "The fact is, the Truth Project may have a philosophy that is adverse to the political philosophy and goals of the president of the United States. And as a result of that different philosophy, the president and the secretary of defense ordered that your group be spied upon.
"There should not be a single American who today remains confident that it couldn't happen to them."
But the reason I ask is because these Dem sites are really hitting hysterical notes lately, at a fevor pitch, claiming the entire US of A is basically ending, with GW spying on them. It's not 2008 yet, so I am guessing this is not election campaign talk. Or is it? Are they paranoid? What is the deal here???
Well, that's true -- they really ARE sounding desperate! Is this what they're going to use and point to when they have to explain to voters why they have no new ideas?
Aren't they confusing him with Clintoon, who used the IRS against political opponents.
Just my speculation:
Either this is all paranoia on the activists' part OR if this group is anything like Code Pink who gave money to insurgents then perhaps they were looked into, not for being anti-Bush but for possibly communicating with and/or aiding/abetting the enemy.
Does thousands of FBI files stolen by the Clinton's come to mind?????
I think that is what the average voter will conclude from all this -- Clinton's administration did such and such, and this administration is now accused of so and so, and on it goes in the world of politics.
Maybe it was an inside job of someone that will sell the list to the KGB?
So let me get this straight...
You have an open public meeting to talk about derailing military recruiting, and are shocked when the Feds show up?
You throw out your trash, but are shocked when some of it goes to Uncle Sam instead of that trash-diggin collie next door?
The ironic thing about these activists is that they are not fulfilled... happy, if you will... unless they are getting arrested, drug into court, sprayed with water hoses, etc. If they simply protested while people waved at them then they'd come home, light up some weed, and talk about how they weren't doing anything meaningful.
Man - that is a moonbat face that could stop a thread.
Too funny.
Well. If this group knows everything these "agents" are doing, they must be pretty poor "agents".
Or the Truth Project is paranoid. Or out for phony PR. Or a combination of all three.
Yeah, how low could Clinton go? Well, sicking the IRS on conservatives is close enough for me : )
LBJ spied on Americans –Martin King Jr., many anti-war groups, assorted hippies and politicians …
If spies are after anyone who disagrees with President Bush’s policies, I better watch what I post – I don’t agree with his police on illegal immigrants.
Oh, puh-leeze!!! Several missing activist email lists, etc. Um, they could be deleted in an attempt to say that Bush stole them. Listening into phone conversations (where's your proof, you only said that they supposedly do), going through garbage cans (how the hell would you know if they were going through the garbage?).
Please, this is as laced with B.S. as Dan Rather.
The leftwingnut sites are going nuts over this story. So far no one can find any facts to support it, but they do love the story.
They love to be miscreants. It's their goal in life.
They're not paranoid. They just think everybody's out to get them.
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