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."
Yes, Mohammedans are known to disagree with Bush policies.
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???
no, bit it's 2006..midterm elections are 10mos away...the rats want the house so they can bring impeachment charges against Bush
"Spying" on domestic terrorists has paid off big time. Recently in Flagstaff, AZ we've had the kiddie porn collecting Hitler-like "mastermind" of an arsonous ELF cell top himself in jail, plus one of his stooges out-on-bail, presumably after having ratted out a few former associates. One erstwhile ELF turns out to have been wearing a wire for a long time so there are a number of liberal pinks in Flagstaff and Prescott who are now spending their midnight hours mulling over the compromising remarks they spouted so bravely at cocktail parties. All in all, a good thing. Let them stew in their own bloodless weak vegan juices.
The reason they have no new ideas is because they're still explaining what LBJ meant by the "Great Society."
"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???"
Oh, the Democrats are showing more than a healthy paranoia (acute awareness) - they're suffering from a *grand delusion syndrome*. Like communist Harry Belafonte, who is compelled by a gripping perception of becoming irrelevant and powerless, likens U S security measures to a New Gestapo takeover. Of course, Belafonte speaks about this stuff while traveling South America where all the old Nazis SS and Gestapo members, and Third Reich bureaucrats fled, bred and live. South America is VIBRANT with old Nazis!
Anti-administration = anti-American = pro terrorism. If they don't want to be under survelance they should shut up.
Threats against the military do get investigated.
Good. They should be monitored.
Just who is this group accusing? The Bush administration is rather vague. I'm sure Karl Rove doesn't have time to go through their trash!!
wat = war, and other typos you can figure out. Sorry!
800+ FBI files in her bedroom and the perp has still to do any jail time...
Yes, well, I think you have a good question there in light of such circumstances, though I am not privvy to any such facts!
And the Quaker "church" has really descended into this. It's little better than the UU church as far as beliefs. With their professed pacifism, they end up being little more than a vessel for "peace" protests.
Where did you find this link, and who edited the report?
I thought you might be interested in this thread.
"Sure. Some nutbag leftist group says they've been "infiltrated and spied upon." The proof? They "know" that meeting lists have disappeared."
And even if somehow this group has been targeted it might be under a warrant from the FISA courts - that would be secret anyway.
and 800 FBI files!
That's what it's going to be like, one thing or the other from whichever political party depending on whose views you're reading. However, I must say I was surprised to see Dem activists telling their Dem leaders to walk out during GW's upcoming State of the Union address.
Check out this other thread which contains the language of the Espionage Act of 1917. I think reading that will shed LOTS of light on this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1563497/posts?page=1
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