Posted on 11/24/2006 5:59:33 PM PST by TexKat
New details tonight about a secret Pentagon database used to monitor anti-war protests and activists. Recently-disclosed documents reveal that some of the surveillance targets include an organization with ties to the Central Coast.
Secret Pentagon documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union provide details of how the organization called "Veterans for Peace" was considered a threat.
Every Sunday for the past three years, members of the Santa Barbara Chapter of Veterans for Peace place a cross in the sand near Stearns Wharf for every American soldier killed in Iraq.
First started in Santa Barbara, the "Arlington West" display has been copied by other chapters of Veterans for Peace in communities all across the country. It's intended to honor and acknowledge those who have lost their lives and to reflect upon the costs of war.
The actions of this veterans organization have not gone unnoticed at the Pentagon. A previously secret intelligence report calls the group a "threat to military installations." The report lists the group's upcoming events and warns that while it's a "peaceful organization," "there is potential that future protests could become violent."
"As to attacking any base or anything else, that is ridiculous," says Veterans for Peace group member Ron Dexter. "We support the troops one hundred percent."
Ron Dexter isn't surprised by the revelations that the Department of Homeland Security is checking up on his organization.
"If we aren't investigated by the government, we probably aren't doing our job," says Dexter. "That is pretty radical, but anybody who has been a real threat to what government wants to do, they are going to check on them and try to stop them."
The documents also suggest for the first time that agents of the Department of Homeland Security played a role in monitoring anti-war activities.
The Pentagon admits it made a mistake in collecting information on anti-war protests, but claims the problem has been fixed.
At least one Senate Democrat wants to investigate not just what data was collected by the Pentagon, but why and how it was used.
.
The Words
http://www.Freerepublic.com/~ALOHARONNIE
The Pictures
http://www.RickRescorla.com/The%20Statue.htm
The Heroism
http://www.ArmchairGeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24361
.
aI would hope groups are being watched. Some have given money to teerorists (eg CodePink gave $600,000 to Fallujah). Some have shut down military sites (recruiting offices, wharfs).
I would not be surprised if others are as treacherous.
.
Our ABANDONMENT of Vietnam =
Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp
http://Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts
Our ABANDONMENT of Iraq & Afhganistan = ?????
.
Might be a good idea to keep our eyes on this group and see if anyone starts taking pot shots at them. You know doggone well the ACLU will blame others.
Maybe this time we can get a headstart on the problem ~ different from what happened in OK City.
[Mr] T
As a veteran myself, I also consider "Veterans" for Peace" as a threat. They are just a bunch of useful idiots used by the DemocRATs to grab control of the U.S. Government. Dumbass cowards of very little intelligence. My humble opinion.
There are many ways to show support of our troops. I do not consider this group as one that truly does.
More like skunks and bogus veterans for Pelosi. Would love to check the background on these characters and see how many are really Honorably Discharged veterans. Less than half in my opinion.
This is the reason why the Dims were so upset with the Patriot Act. They knew about half of their supporters would be on a "watch "list.
"Erriely familiar, a flashback to the 70's VVAW days. I wonder if the group has any radical and dangerous 'peace activits' like Scott Camil (Gainesville 8). After all, he was a decorated Vietnam vet who, to this day, admits to being serious about his plan to assassinate pro-war Senators, but never spent a day in jail for it.
"Another source is an October 20,1992, oral history interview of Scott Camil on file at the University of Florida Oral History Archive. In it, Mr.Camil speaks of his plan for an alternative to Mr. Kerry’s idea of symbolically throwing veterans’ medals over the fence onto the steps of the Capitol during the Dewey Canyon III demonstration in Washington in April of 1971.
“My plan was that, on the last day we would go into the [congressional] offices we would schedule the most hardcore hawks for last and we would shoot them all,” Mr. Camil told the Oral History interviewer. “I was serious.”
OOOPS, THERE IT IS:
"In 1990, (Scott Camil) represented the Veterans for Peace organization on a fact-findingtrip to the Middle East."
"Veterans Day: Pro-Peace Films
Presented by Veterans for Peace Tampa Bay 119
Two highly acclaimed pro-peace films, "Winter Soldier" and "Sir No Sir" will be shown. Scott Camil will appear, the founder of VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War) and VFP (Veterans for Peace)."
Hmm, the left, er west coast, California - has the group known as the "Weathermen" ever truly become disbanded?
Well gosh. Maybe it was there for Sandinista support , or support for North Korea, or support for Saddam. Take your pick.
I hope the ACLU is on the list of terrorist groups to watch! http://sacredscoop.com
How can we know whether any group's intentions are benign or not, without conducting at least minimal surveillance and investigation?
The ACLU, and some (many?) in the U. S. Congress desire that Americans do absolutely nothing to prevent hostile acts against our nation, and about the same in after-the-fact defense.
So that really means nothing, has the Veterans for Peace organization ever really been "stopped" they have been "watched on" supposedly by the Pentagon and the Department for Homeland Security, yet nothing has happened. I guess that President Bush is responsible for every member of those two parts of government to spy on them "sarcasm." Not only that but they call the organization a peaceful one, but one that could turn hostile. In that way, they are complimenting Veterans for Peace. The only thing that matters is watch and paranoia "sarcasm". If anybody was unlawfully jailed in the hundreds and the IRS or FBI were sent after them, that would be different, but this doesn't hold water. Only the fact that it is Super Seekrrit and proves the watching, stirs up paranoia.
I hope they are being watched. I hope the ACLU is also being watched.
Veterans for Peace (VFP), an outgrowth of American Veterans for Peace (AVP), an antiwar group which the Communist Party had originally formed in 1951 to protest the Korean War.81 Barry joined Vietnam veterans among the VFP marchers and inquired about a banner some of them were carrying which read “Vietnam Veterans Against the War”. When Barry learned the phrase was just a slogan and there was no formal group by that name, he decided to form one. After talking with the older VFP members and studying their tactics, he recruited five Vietnam veterans from a Memorial Day VFP rally, and on June 1, 1967 the six of them held the first VVAW meeting in his apartment.82----------Hanoi John: Kerry and the Antiwar Movement’s Communist Connections Posted by Fedora On News/Activism 04/04/2005 12:20:55 AM PDT · 40 of 113
That's interesting.
Thank you piasa.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.