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Newly Released Files Reveal FBI Spied on PA Peace Group Because
of Antiwar Views
Military Jailing Vietnam War Resisters 40 Years After They
Refused to Serve
Iraq War Resisters Stage 241-Mile Peace March Across U.S.-Mexico
Border
Sunshine Week: Newspapers and Broadcasters Challenge Government
Secrecy
Newly Released Files Reveal FBI Spied on PA Peace
Group Because of Antiwar Views
Newly released files show the FBI has been monitoring and
possibly infiltrating a Pittsburgh peace group because of
its opposition to the war in Iraq. We speak with the former
head of the Thomas Merton Center, who was personally named
in the FBI spy files as well as the New York Civil Liberties
Union which has filed FOIA requests to determine whether the
FBI is spying on the ACLU and other prominent political and
religious groups in the city. [includes rush
transcript]
Newly released files show the FBI has been monitoring and
possibly infiltrating a Pittsburgh peace group because of
its opposition to the war in Iraq.
On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union released a
series of once secret FBI files that show the FBI's Joint
Terrorism Task Force conducted a secret investigation into
the activities of the Thomas Merton Center beginning as early
as November 2002, and continuing up until at least last March.
According to the ACLU these documents are the first to show
conclusively that the rationale for FBI targeting is the group's
opposition to the war.
One memo describes the Merton Center as a "left-wing
organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism."
It notes that the center hands out leaflets on a daily basis
opposing the war in Iraq.
The FBI files also notes that one of the peace activists
monitored handling out fliers "appeared to be of Middle
Easter descent."
Another file on the peace center is titled "International
Terrorism Matters" and it includes information on a series
of anti-war rallies taking place in Pittsburgh and around
the country.
The documents raise new questions about the extent of the
government's domestic surveillance operations. On Monday Democratic
Senator Russell Feingold introduced a resolution to censure
President Bush for illegally ordering the National Security
Agency to conduct warrantless domestic surveillance.
The White House has insisted the NSA surveillance is targeted
solely at members of Al Qaeda and affiliates. But civil liberties
groups fears that the government is also spying on political
activists and critics of the government.
In December, NBC News revealed the existence of a secret
Pentagon database to track intelligence gathered inside the
United States including information on anti-war protests and
rallies particularly actions targeting military recruiting.
Here in New York, the local chapter of the American Civil
Liberties Union filed Freedom of Information requests on Tuesday
on behalf of itself and fourteen of New York's most prominent
political and religious groups to determine whether the FBI
is spying on them as well.
In a minute we will be joined by Donna Lieberman, executive
director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. But first
we go to Pittsburgh to speak with Tim Vining, the former head
of the Thomas Merton Center. He is personally named in the
FBI spy files on the group.
Military Jailing Vietnam War Resisters 40 Years After
They Refused to Serve
Concerned about growing desertion and resistance within
the military, the U.S. government is arresting men who refused
to fight a generation ago in the Vietnam War. We speak with
Ernest "Buck" McQueen, a Vietnam War resister who
was jailed in January for desertion, 40 years after he left
the Marines and his attorney, Tod Ensign who is the director
of GI advocacy group, Citizen Soldier.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld hinted Tuesday that U.S.
troop levels in Iraq may increase slightly in the coming days
because of pilgrimages connected to the Muslim holiday of
Ashura. He said General George Casey, the top U.S. military
officer in Iraq, "may decide he wants to bulk up slightly
for the pilgrimage." There are currently over 130,000
U.S. troops deployed in the country.
Well as the U.S. invasion of Iraq approaches its third anniversary,
a growing number of American troops are refusing to fight.
USA Today reports that since the war began, 8,000 U.S. soldiers
have deserted the military.
Now the military is doing something to try to stop the growing
number of soldiers going AWOL: it is arresting and jailing
men who refused to fight in the Vietnam War a generation ago.
Just last week, a former Vietnam war resister who has been
living in Canada since 1968 was arrested and jailed on desertion
charges. Allen Abney quit the Marines nearly 40 years ago
to protest the Vietnam War. The 56 year-old was arrested last
Thursday at the Canadian-Idaho border.
In January, Corporal Jerry Texiero was released from a military
brig after serving five months on charges of desertion.
For more on this crackdown of Vietnam-era war resisters,
we are joined on the line by Ernest "Buck" McQueen.
In November 1969 McQueen was enlisted in the Marines when
he left his North Carolina military base and refused to serve
because of concerns about going to Vietnam. He was arrested
and jailed two months ago, 40 years after leaving the military.
He joins us the phone from Texas. And in our firehouse studio
we are joined by Tod Ensign , a lawyer and director of Citizen
Soldier, a GI and veteran rights advocacy organization.
- Ernest "Buck" McQueen, Vietnam war resister
who was arrested in Fort Worth in January.
- Tod Ensign, a lawyer and director of Citizen
Soldier, a GI and veteran rights advocacy organization.
He is author of the book, "America's Military Today:
Challenges for the Armed Forces in a Time of War"
Iraq War Resisters Stage 241-Mile Peace March Across
U.S.-Mexico Border
A group of anti-war protesters are staging a 241-mile march
for peace across the Mexico-US border and through California.
We speak with one of the march's key organizers, Pablo Paredes.
He is an Iraq war resister who refused orders to board a ship
in 2004 heading to Iraq.
On Sunday, a group of anti-war protesters set off on what
will be a 241-mile march for peace across the Mexico-US border
and through California. At 6:30 Sunday morning the marchers
set off from Tijuana Mexico. They crossed the Mexico-US border
later that day, and plan to end the march with a rally in
the California city of La Paz.
Yesterday we reached one of the march's key organizers, Pablo
Paredes. An Iraq war resister, Paredes was a Navy petty officer
who refused orders to board a ship in 2004 heading to Iraq.
We reached Pablo by cell phone as the marchers were leaving
a Pendleton, California recruiting station. I asked him to
talk about the march and one of the other organizers, Fernando
Suarez Del Solar who lost his son in Iraq in 2003.
- Pablo Paredes, Iraq war resister.
For more information
on the march
Sunshine Week: Newspapers and Broadcasters Challenge
Government Secrecy
This week is "Sunshine Week" when newspapers,
magazines, broadcasters, and Web sites around the nation publish
reports to raise public awareness about the importance of
open government. We look at an upcoming special on the PBS
weekly newsmagazine NOW that challenges government secrecy
in America through the stories of whistleblowers. [includes
rush
transcript]
This week is "Sunshine Week" when newspapers, magazines,
broadcasters, and Web sites around the nation publish reports
to raise public awareness about the importance of open government.
On Friday, the PBS weekly newsmagazine NOW will air a one-hour
special about government secrecy. Titled "The
Sunshine Gang," the NOW segment shines a spotlight
on the erosion of open government in America through the stories
of whistleblowers.
- Maria Hinojosa, senior correspondent of the PBS newsmagazine
NOW.
- Peter Meryash, producer of the PBS Newsmagazine NOW.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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