Federal Bureau of Intimidation?

Feature story - July 25, 2005

WASHINGTON D.C., United States — The FBI has been working hard lately, gathering files on potential threats to the president under the Bush administration's anti-terrorism laws. But the files weren't all on Saddam and Osama. It has recently come to light that Greenpeace, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a range of domestic critics of George Bush may be the new "axis of evil". Who's the next 'terror' target? The Democratic Party? The New York Times?

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Who is really the Bush Administration's "Most Wanted"?

The ACLU filed a lawsuit in US federal court charging that the FBI is wrongfully withholding information about its investigations of peaceful organizations. The FBI has thousands of pages on Greenpeace, the ACLU, and other organisations but to date less than 20 pages have been received under Freedom of Information Act requests.

The lawsuit seeks to compel the Justice Department to comply with requests that the ACLU filed last year for records kept on a wide range of organisations, including Greenpeace, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the National Lawyers Guild and the ACLU itself.

The controversial Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) creates partnerships between the FBI and local police, in which local officers are "deputized" as federal agents. This allows police to target peaceful political and religious groups with no connection to terrorism. It's pure coincidence, of course, that targets for investigation tend to be vocal opponents of George Bush's environmental and social policies.

A classified FBI memorandum disclosed publicly in November 2003 revealed that the FBI has actually directed police to target and monitor lawful political demonstrations under the guise of fighting terrorism. Under policies put in place by former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the FBI - working with local police through JTTFs - can now gather information about people who express their disagreement with U.S. government policies - for no better reason than that they disagree.

Ivan Blokov, campaign director for Greenpeace Russia, is familiar with the model. "This looks exactly like the mandate that the KGB had in Soviet times in my country."

John Passcantando, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, says "America will have no credibility as an advocate of democracy abroad if we can't conduct democracy at home. A government that can't maintain a distinction between terror and non-violent dissent is not a healthy government."

Suppressing dissent

In July 2003 the Bush administration brought an unprecedented legal case against Greenpeace in attempt to shut us down. It was the first time ever in the US that an organization was criminally prosecuted for the free speech activities of its supporters; in this case, a non-violent direct action against a shipment of mahogany which was itself illegal under US law. Despite massive resources and truly strained legal manoevering by the Justice Department, which attempted to prosecute Greenpeace under a century-old law barring prostitutes from boarding ships in port, a federal judge threw out the charges during trial in May 2004.

Having failed to shut us down via the courts, it appears the Bush Administration has decided that, given how hard it is to find terrorists abroad, the investigative resources of the fight against terror should go into spying on Greenpeace. This is a bit like looking for a coin across the street from where you lost it because the light is better.

It's also an absurd and criminal waste of time and money.

As Rainbow Warrior captain Pete Willcox said recently, "We're pretty open about what we're doing and don't have many secrets. Infiltrating Greenpeace is like infiltrating the YMCA."

The FBI has better things to do than ensure George Bush is insulated from criticism. A government that wants to promote democracy has to practice it.