The redumblicans keep whining that Bush wasn't breaking the law by spying on
terrorists without warrants. They keep ignoring the fact that the FBI was
spying on peaceful groups such as the Quakers without warrants. Bush and his
gestapo are working outside of the law and must be stopped. Have the
redumblicans become so brain dead that anyone that disagrees with them is a
terrorist?

ACLU decries 'unwarranted spying' by FBI
Posted: August 01, 2005 by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today

DENVER - The FBI conducted surveillance of American Indians protesting
Columbus Day in Denver, said the American Civil Liberties Union in its
announcement that the FBI amassed more than 1,100 pages of documents on
nonviolent groups across the nation, including Greenpeace and the Quakers,
during the past four years.

Calling it ''rampant and unwarranted spying,'' the ACLU said the FBI
surveillance has a ''chilling effect'' on the exercise of First Amendment
rights.

The ACLU said spying on peace groups and political activists is a misuse of
power being carried out under new counterterrorism laws.

''We now know that the government is keeping documents about the ACLU and
other peaceful groups - the question is why,'' said ACLU Executive Director
Anthony D. Romero.

The ACLU is seeking information about the FBI's use of joint terrorism task
forces and local police to engage in political surveillance, according to a
statement released by the ACLU.

Ann Beeson, associate legal director of the ACLU, said the FBI documents
underscore the ACLU's concern that the FBI is violating Americans' ''right
to peacefully assemble and oppose government policies without being branded
as
terrorist threats.''

''There is no need to open a counterterrorism file when people are simply
exercising their First Amendment rights.''

The ACLU announcement came in July following a previous ACLU lawsuit in
Denver, which followed evidence that the Denver Police Intelligence Dept.
kept secret files, known as the ''Denver spy files,'' on American Indians
and peace groups in Denver for 30 years.

The Denver police kept secret files on the American Indian Movement, John
Echohawk and other attorneys at the Native American Rights Fund, author and
icon Vine Deloria Jr., Cherokee leader Wilma Mankiller and activist Winona
LaDuke.

Denver police also kept spy files on Columbus Day protest organizers Glenn
Morris, Tink Tinker, Ward Churchill and Russell Means. The Denver spy files
included Wallace Coffey, John Mohawk, Dennis Banks and supporters of the Big
Mountain relocation resisters and Leonard Peltier.

Besides Columbus Day protesters, Denver police kept spy files on an
80-year-old grandmother who had a Leonard Peltier bumper sticker on her car.

The ACLU lawsuit in Denver resulted in new policies in the Denver Police
Dept. in 2004. Further, American Indians and others named in the spy files
were able to obtain copies of the documents.

Currently, the ACLU is launching a nationwide effort to expose and prevent
the FBI from spying on people and groups simply for speaking out or
practicing their faith. In addition to Freedom of Information Act requests
on behalf of the national organizations, the ACLU has filed similar requests
on behalf of more than 100 groups and individuals in 16 states and the
District of Columbia.

The requests were filed in response to widespread complaints from students
and political activists. They said they were questioned by FBI agents in the
months leading up to the 2004 political conventions.

The ACLU's FOIA requests seek the actual FBI files of groups and individuals
targeted for speaking out or practicing their faith. Further, they seek
information about how the practices and funding structure of the joint
terrorism task forces, known as JTTFs, are encouraging ''rampant and
unwarranted spying,'' the ACLU said.

Romero said the ACLU is urging the court to order that the recently revealed
FBI surveillance documents be turned over immediately.

''If the FBI has nothing to hide, it should release the documents promptly.
The government's claim that it needs nine more months to turn over these
documents is a stalling tactic,'' Romero said, referring to the FBI's
request for more time to ''process'' the 1,173 pages of documents it says it
has on the ACLU.

Along with the surveillance of American Indians, the ACLU revealed the
contents of a report on United for Peace and Justice, a national peace
organization that coordinates non-violent protests.

The document, sections of which are redacted, is addressed to FBI
''Counterrorism'' personnel and quotes from the peace group's Web site.
Earlier, the group called for a public demonstration prior to the 2004
Republican National Convention.

The document was released in response to an ACLU lawsuit filed two months
ago to expedite its FOIA request for FBI surveillance files on the ACLU,
Greenpeace, United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, People for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and
the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411337