F.B.I. Searches Antiwar Activists' Homes
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/us/politics/25search.html
By COLIN MOYNIHAN
Published: September 24, 2010
F.B.I. agents executed search warrants Friday in Minneapolis and
Chicago in connection to an investigation of support of terror organizations.
The searches in Minneapolis took place early in the morning at the
homes of people who have helped organize demonstrations against the
war in Iraq and protests held two years ago during the Republican
National Convention in St. Paul.
"It is rather patently political," said Ted Dooley, a lawyer who
represents Mick Kelly, a food service worker at the University of
Minnesota and one of those whose homes was searched. "My client
denies any wrongdoing."
Steve Warfield, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
in Minneapolis, said the agents executed six warrants in Minneapolis
and two in Chicago.
"They were seeking evidence related to an ongoing Joint Terrorism
Task Force investigation," Mr. Warfield said. "They are looking at
activities connected to the material support of terrorism."
He said no one in Minneapolis had been arrested while the warrants
were executed. He added that agents in Michigan and North Carolina
had also questioned people in connection with the investigation.
Mr. Dooley said the F.B.I. broke down Mr. Kelly's door around 7 a.m.
and gave a search warrant to his companion. The warrant said agents
were gathering evidence related to people "providing, attempting and
conspiring to provide material support" to terrorist organizations,
and listed Hezbollah, the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine
and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
The warrant also authorized the agents to look for information
connected to the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and to unnamed
"co-conspirators" and allowed them to seize items including
electronics, photographs, address books and letters.
Mr. Kelly is known in Minnesota as a prominent organizer of the
Anti-War Committee, a group that has protested United States military
aid to Colombia and called for the removal of American soldiers from
Afghanistan.
During the Republican gathering in 2008 he was a primary organizer of
a march that drew thousands of participants.
Mr. Kelly was also served with a summons to appear before a grand
jury on Oct. 19 in Chicago. The order directed him to bring along
pictures or videos related to any trip to Colombia, Jordan, Syria,
the Palestinian territories or Israel, as well as correspondence with
anyone in those places.
Jess Sundin, another member of the Anti-War Committee whose home was
searched, said a warrant also was executed at the group's office. She
said she had not done anything to help terror groups.
"I've protested the government's policies and spoken out and tried to
educate people in my community," Ms. Sundin said. "That is the extent
of what I've done."
---------
FBI cites terror link in raids of local activists
http://www.startribune.com/local/103716104.html?elr=KArksD:aDyaEP:kD:aUq9_b9b_jEkP:QUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
Agents raided the Minneapolis homes of five antiwar activists,
seizing computers and documents.
By RANDY FURST and ABBY SIMONS
September 24, 2010
The FBI raided the Minneapolis homes of five antiwar activists,
including three leaders of the Twin Cities peace movement, Friday
morning as part of what it called a probe of "activities concerning
the material support of terrorism."
The Minneapolis office of an antiwar organization was also raided,
protest leaders said. No one was arrested in any of the raids.
FBI spokesman Steve Warfield said the searches were conducted at
about 7 a.m. Lawyers said the agents seized computers, cell phones
and documents in the protesters' homes.
The federal search warrants in Minneapolis were related to an ongoing
Joint Terrorism Task Force, Warfield said. He offered no details.
Protest leaders said the raids surprised them. Mick Kelly, whose home
was searched, played a central role in the 2008 demonstrations at the
Republican National Convention in St. Paul. Asked if he was involved
in illegal activities, he replied, "Absolutely not.''
Ted Dooley, Kelly's attorney, called the raids "a probe into the
political beliefs of American citizens and any organization anywhere
that opposes the American imperial design." He said the warrants
cited a federal law making it a violation to provide or conspire to
provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.
The warrant for the raid on Kelly's apartment, in the 1800 block of
Riverside Avenue, sought notebooks, address books, photos and maps of
Kelly's travels to the Palestinian territories, Colombia and in the
United States on behalf of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
It also sought materials on his personal finances and those of the
group, on Kelly's "potential co-conspirators" and recruitment efforts
for the group.
The warrant also sought any information about efforts to support
FARC, a guerrilla organization in Colombia, the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, and Hezbollah, the political and
paramilitary organization based in Lebanon.
Other homes raided were those of Jessica Sundin, a leader of a large
antiwar march on the GOP convention's opening day, and Meredith Aby,
a frequent protest spokeswoman.
The FBI also raided the homes of two other Minneapolis activists and
the Minneapolis office of the Anti-War Committee, which has sponsored
many protests in the Twin Cities in the past decade, including at the
GOP convention.
Subpoenas were issued to the activists to appear before a federal
grand jury next month in Chicago. Raids also were conducted on two
homes in Chicago, and grand jury subpoenas were issued in Michigan
and North Carolina.
Searches seek travel data
Kelly said he hasn't traveled to Colombia or the Palestinian
territories although he's been to Lebanon. "To me, this is harassment
of antiwar activists and leaders who have spoken against U.S.
intervention in Latin America and the Middle East."
The FBI also raided Sundin's apartment in the 2900 block of Park
Avenue; Aby's home in the 3000 block of 14th Avenue S.; the apartment
of Anh Pham in the 3400 block of Blaisdell Avenue, and the apartment
of Tracy Molm in the 1700 block of 2nd Avenue S. Molm is an activist
in Students for a Democratic Society; Pham is an antiwar activist.
Steff Yorek, an antiwar spokeswoman, said the Anti-War Committee
offices at 1313 5th St. SE. also were raided.
Molm said she woke up to "federal agents pounding on the door. I was
told to be seated on my couch and I had no rights to walk around the
apartment and I was under an investigation for my connections with
groups in other countries, particularly Palestine."
She said she went to the Palestinian territories in 2004 with an
international solidarity delegation. She said she saw houses
demolished without notice and people jailed without evidence. "I
don't believe I've done anything illegal."
Sundin said, "They're targeting us because we've supported struggles
for justice in other countries, and we oppose the U.S. government's
military involvement in places like Colombia." She said she has
traveled to Colombia, but has done nothing illegal.
Aby said the warrant she received also focused on the Anti-War
Committee, how money was raised and how recruiting worked. She said
she believed the raids were designed to intimidate the committee but
"will be unsuccessful."
Attorney Bruce Nestor, who frequently represents the activists, said
the FBI seemed to focus on allegations of support for foreign
organizations designated as terrorist by executive order of the president.
"There is no process whereby you can contest the designation," he
said. "Ever since these laws were passed in 1996, there is a concern
that they reach so broadly as to certainly chill or intimidate people
in speaking out on foreign policy or support for groups that oppose
U.S. foreign policy."
Stephanie Weiner, a peace activist in Chicago, said about 20 FBI
agents raided her house and took documents and photos, including one
of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. "This is an injustice," she said.
In Chicago, the FBI raided a condo of Hatem Abudayyeh, director of
the Arab American Action Network, said Tom Burke of the National
Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, a Colombian revolutionary
imprisoned in Colorado. Burke, who was given a subpoena, said he is a
member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, as are some other
raid subjects.
Burke said the group "advocates for socialism in the U.S." and
opposes U.S. military intervention abroad. "Chicago and Minneapolis
are two of the places we are bigger," he said.
On Friday night, more than 100 people gathered at Walker Community
United Methodist Church in Minneapolis to sign statements of
solidarity with those whose homes were raided and to make plans for a
protest at 4:30 p.m. Monday at FBI headquarters in Minneapolis.
"We refuse to let the accusations of a notoriously untruthful,
repressive government divide us in any way," the statement said. "Our
struggle will continue."
--
Staff writer Anthony Lonetree contributed to this report.
rfurst@startribune.com • 612-673-7382 asimons@startribune.com • 612-673-4921
--------
FBI raids anti-war activists' homes
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-fbi-terrorism-investigation-20100924,0,4070320.story
Agents looking for links to terrorists, federal spokesman says
By Andy Grimm and Cynthia Dizikes
September 24, 2010
Federal agents searched homes of anti-war activists in Chicago and
Minneapolis on Friday in an investigation of possible links with
terrorist organizations in the Middle East and South America.
About 20 FBI agents spent most of the day searching the Logan Square
residence of activists Stephanie Weiner and Joseph Iosbaker, Weiner said.
In Jefferson Park, neighbors saw FBI agents carrying boxes from the
apartment of community activist Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director
of the Arab American Action Network. In addition, Chicago activist
Thomas Burke said he was served a grand jury subpoena that requested
records of any payments to Abudayyeh or his group.
"The warrants are seeking evidence in support of an ongoing Joint
Terrorism Task Force investigation into activities concerning the
material support of terrorism," said Steve Warfield, spokesman for
the FBI in Minneapolis, where six additional homes were searched Friday.
Warfield said no arrests had been made and that there was no
"imminent danger" to the public.
Ross Rice, an FBI spokesman in Chicago, gave the two Chicago blocks
where agents had searched homes Friday, but he declined to name the targets.
Melinda Power, an attorney for Weiner and Iosbaker and a longtime
friend, said agents took about 30 boxes of papers dating to the
1970s, including a postcard from an old girlfriend of Iosbaker's.
"They said they would determine what was evidence later," Power said.
Weiner, who said she and her husband for years have been active in
labor causes and the anti-war movement, complained the search was an
attempt to intimidate her and other activists.
"We aren't doing anything differently than we have in 20 years," said
Weiner, a teacher at Wilbur Wright College. Iosbaker is a staff
member at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a union steward
for Service Employees International Union Local 73.
Burke said he received a grand jury subpoena requesting records of
payments to Abudayyeh's organization as well as two groups among the
State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations, the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The subpoena also requested "items relating to trips to Colombia,
Jordan, Syria, the Palestinian territories of Israel." Burke said he
toured Colombia eight years ago with members of an oil workers union there.
Burke, a former school custodian-turned-stay-at-home father, belongs
to the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a group mentioned in
subpoenas and search warrants issued Friday to activists in Minneapolis.
Burke said he knows Weiner, Iosbaker and Abudayyeh from years of
involvement in demonstrations and activities in Chicago. Most of the
people whose homes were searched or who were issued subpoenas
attended anti-war rallies at the 2008 Republican National Convention
in St. Paul, Minn., he said.
In a statement issued on behalf of the activists, Minneapolis
activist Steff Yorek said the homes of a number of anti-war,
socialist or pro-Palestinian groups had been searched by the FBI.
Yorek, whose home was also searched Friday, called the searches "an
outrageous fishing expedition."
"Activists have the right not to speak with the FBI and are
encouraged to politely refuse," she said.
Several of those targeted with warrants or subpoenas are also
occasional contributors to Fight Back!, a socialist newsletter that
is generally supportive of leftist groups and critical of U.S. "wars
of occupation" in Iraq and Afghanistan, Burke said.
"We pretty much all know each other," Burke said. "We barely have
money to publish our magazine. We might write about (revolutionary
groups) favorably, but as for giving them material aid, nothing."
Weiner and Iosbaker were also subpoenaed to appear before a federal
grand jury in Chicago on Oct. 5, Power said.
Not long after the FBI agents left, a group of about 20 demonstrators
gathered outside the couple's home, carrying signs and singing "Give
Peace a Chance."
Sarah Simmons, 51, held a piece of paper printed with a peace sign.
She said she had known the couple for 15 years. "I think this is
outrageous," she said.
--
agrimm@tribune.com
cdizikes@tribune.com
--------
FBI Raids 5 Mpls. Homes, 1 Office in Terrorism Investigation
http://kstp.com/news/stories/s1759530.shtml
By: Josh Simeone, Mark Albert and Robert Moses
09/24/2010
Armed with search warrants, FBI agents raided six locations in
Minneapolis Friday as part of an investigation with the Joint
Terrorism Task Force.
The investigation is part of a nationwide effort, including at least
two search warrants served in Chicago, to find evidence of whether
anti-war activists provided support to "designated foreign terrorist
organizations," according to a copy of one of the warrants obtained
by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS.
An FBI spokesman said the Bureau made no arrests Friday and there
were no indictments issued.
One of the homes raided belongs to Minneapolis activist Jess
Sundin. Sundin was one of the organizers of anti-war marches and
protests during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in
2008. Sundin's house is located on the 2900 Block of Park Avenue
South in Minneapolis.
"I have met with Columbian rebels in Columbia," Sundin told us. "...I
have provided political act support to campaigns to get our
government out and to end U.S. aid to repressive governments."
Kelly, speaking outside his Cedar-Riverside apartment while federal
agents were still inside, said, "I was in Lebanon oh, about a year
and a half ago. And I attended a conference in solidarity with the
Palestinian people."
We also learned Friday that the office of the Anti-War Committee in
Minneapolis on the 1300 block of 5th St. SE was also
raided. Meredith Aby, a member of the committee, says agents took a
computer and checkbooks. Aby says agents also searched her home
Friday morning.
On Friday afternoon, anti-war protestors gathered at Sundin's home in
Minneapolis -- the same place that FBI agents raided hours earlier --
and denounced the raids as unfair.
Watch the complete interview with Mick Kelly here.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/s1760262.shtml?cat=12115
Watch the complete interview with Jess Sundin here.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S1760356.shtml?cat=12115
--------
FBI Serves Terrorism Warrants In Minn., Chicago
http://cbs2chicago.com/wireapnational/FBI.serves.search.2.1930027.html
STEVE KARNOWSKI
Sep 24, 2010
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The FBI said it searched eight addresses in
Minneapolis and Chicago as part of a terrorism investigation Friday.
Warrants suggest agents were looking for connections between local
anti-war activists and terrorist groups in Colombia and the Middle East.
FBI spokesman Steve Warfield told The Associated Press agents served
six warrants in Minneapolis and two in Chicago.
"These were search warrants only," Warfield said. "We're not
anticipating any arrests at this time. They're seeking evidence
relating to activities concerning the material support of terrorism."
The homes of longtime Minneapolis anti-war activists Mick Kelly, Jess
Sundin and Meredith Aby were among those searched, they said. All
three were subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in
Chicago: Aby on Oct. 5, Sundin on Oct. 12 and Kelly on Oct. 19.
"The FBI is harassing anti-war organizers and leaders, folks who
opposed U.S. intervention in the Middle East and Latin America,"
Kelly said before agents confiscated his cell phone.
Sundin said she believes the searches are connected with the
Minnesota Anti-War Committee's opposition to U.S. military aid to
Colombia and Israel, as well as its opposition to the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
"It's kind of outrageous that citizens of the United States could be
targeted like this," Sundin said.
In Chicago, the home of activists Joe Iosbaker and his wife,
Stephanie Weiner, was searched by more than a dozen agents who
carried out boxes full of their possessions including their cell
phones and loaded them into a white van, the couple's attorney said.
Stepping outside his house briefly as FBI agents searched inside,
Iosbaker was clearly shaken when he told The Associated Press: "I
have done nothing wrong."
Their attorney, Melinda Power, said the warrant cited possible
support, in her words, "for unnamed terrorist organizations."
Iosbaker and Weiner were summoned to testify before a grand jury on Oct. 5.
"These are people committed to social justice," Power said. "That is
not a crime in this country."
As news of the raid spread around the neighborhood, friends and
fellow activists gathered outside the house and several sang John
Lennon's, "Give Peace a Chance."
"These people have been activists all their lives," said Bob Hearst,
who said he was a family friend. "I can't imagine why the FBI would
have any interest in them."
Warfield said he couldn't comment on whose homes were searched or
give details on why because it was an ongoing investigation. "There's
no imminent threat to the community," he said.
The Minneapolis searches were first reported by the Star Tribune.
The warrant for Kelly's home, provided by his attorney, sought
evidence on travel he did as part of his work for the Freedom Road
Socialist Organization and information on any travel to Colombia, the
Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria or Israel. The warrant for
Sundin's home was similar but included a slightly different list of
targeted groups.
Kelly's warrant also said agents sought information on contact with
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah. The U.S. government considers
those three groups terrorist organizations.
"It appears to be a fishing expedition," said Kelly's attorney, Ted
Dooley. "It seems like they're casting a huge seine or net into the
political sea and see what they can drag up on shore and dry out.
There's no rhyme or reason to it in a free society."
The federal law cited in the search warrant prohibits "providing
material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations."
"I'm having a hard time paying my rent," Kelly said. "There is no
material support."
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a free-speech challenge to
the law from humanitarian aid groups that said some provisions put
them at risk of being prosecuted for talking to terrorist
organizations about nonviolent activities.
Two groups use the name Freedom Road Socialist Organization, one
based in Chicago and one in New York. They split several years ago,
and the New York group said it was not targeted.
The website for the Chicago group, which describes itself as a
"revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization," shows
Kelly and Sundin have been affiliated with it. Kelly edits
FightBack!, a Minneapolis-based website and newspaper for the group.
Kelly's subpoena also commanded him to bring records he might have
relating to the Middle East and Colombia, along with "all records of
any payment provided directly or indirectly to Hatam Abudayyeh."
The subpoena did not further identify Abudayyeh, but FightBack has
interviewed and carried articles by a Hatam Abudayyeh who's the
executive director of the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network.
Abudayyeh did not immediately return a phone message left at his office.
Kelly said he went to Lebanon two years ago for a Palestinian
solidarity conference, and he's been on Colombian radio by phone from the U.S.
Sundin said she visited Colombia 10 years ago for a conference
organized by a social movement there in opposition to U.S. military aid.
Aby said she went to Palestine in 2002 and Colombia in 2004 and 2006
to meet with activists. She said anyone who's an activist in those
counties gets labeled as a terrorist.
Both Sundin and Kelly were organizers of a mass march on the first
day of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul two years ago,
and recently appeared at a news conference to announce plans for
another protest if Minneapolis is selected to hold the 2012
Democratic National Convention.
Police estimated the peaceful march in 2008 drew 10,000 protesters;
organizers put the figure at 30,000. Other protests were marked by
destructive acts by anarchists. More than 800 people were arrested
during the four days of the convention, including Sundin and Kelly.
Other Minnesota anti-war activists whose homes were searched included
Anh Pham, Sarah Martin and Tracy Molm, Dooley said. He said he didn't
know whose homes were searched in Chicago.
The FBI's spokesman in Chicago, Ross Rice, would only say two
searches were conducted Friday in Chicago and there were no arrests.
Asked about the reports, the U.S. Attorney's office spokesman in
Chicago, Randy Samborn, confirmed warrants were served in the city
"in connection with a law enforcement investigation." He also
declined to provide details.
--------
FBI raids University employees' homes in terrorism probe
http://www.mndaily.com/2010/09/24/fbi-raids-student%E2%80%99s-employees%E2%80%99-homes
The homes of three University employees and one former student were
among six addresses raided.
By Mike Mullen, Tara Bannow
9/24/2010
The FBI raided six Twin Cities addresses on Friday morning, including
the homes of one former student and three University of Minnesota employees.
The houses of Tracy Molm, an off-and-on University student, Mick
Kelly, a University Dining Service chef, Jessica Sundin, a clerical
worker in the physiology department, and Anh-Thu T Pham, an executive
accounts specialist in the Office of Academic Affairs were the
subjects of early-morning raids.
"We did six federal search warrants in the city of Minneapolis," FBI
spokesman Steve Warfield said. "They are seeking evidence related to
an ongoing joint terrorism task force investigation. It concerns the
material support of terrorism. There's no imminent threat to the
community, and no arrests are planned."
Warfield said two other addresses were raided in Chicago, and that
related interviews were taking place "throughout the country."
Both Molm and Aby said they were subpoenaed to appear before a grand
jury in Chicago in October.
Molm is an active member of protest group Students for a Democratic
Society at the University of Minnesota.
Sundin, who lives with her partner, Steff Yorek, and their daughter,
said the FBI arrived at around seven a.m. Friday, and stayed for
roughly four hours. She said they took boxes filled with papers,
money, pictures, computers, her cell phone, and "some of my awesome music CDs."
Sundin said the search warrant was connected to her work with the
Anti-War Committee and a trip she took to Colombia in 2000.
"I don't know what they're looking for," Sundin said. "But I do know
that I've been an outspoken activist for peace and justice, opposing
U.S. government intervention in other countries, including Colombia,
which was one of the places listed on the warrant."
Sundin is currently on medical leave from the University.
Kelly said he was the subject of a similar early raid.
"They broke down a door, smashed a fish tank, and went through my
books and papers," Kelly said.
Kelly described himself as a 40-year veteran of the peace movement.
Kelly has a history of incidents involving protest activities. In the
fall of 2008 he threatened to sue the city of St. Paul after he was
injured by a police projectile while protesting the Republican
National Convention.
In February 2009, Kelly settled with the city of St. Paul regarding a
separate incident in which he was arrested while handing out fliers
at a 2008 Barack Obama rally.
Kelly also edits FightBack!News. On its website, the organization
states, "the writers and staff of FightBack! are activists and
organizers – in the trade unions, low-income community, oppressed
nationality movements, on the campuses, and in other people's movements."
Also raided on Friday morning was the home of Meredith Aby, another
member of the Anti-War Committee. After a press conference held at
Sundin's house, Aby said the FBI took two computers, her cell phone,
and boxes of fliers and meeting notebooks.
The sixth Minneapolis address raided Friday was the Anti-War
Committee office, located in the University Technology Center on
Fifth Street in Dinkytown.
Joe Iosbaker's home was one of two Chicago addresses raided in
connection with the Minneapolis investigation. Iosbaker, whose
Fightback!News biography describes him as a clerical worker at the
University of Chicago, said that 20 FBI agents spent more than eight
hours searching the house he shares with his wife, Stephanie Weiner.
Iosbaker described agents "going through every piece of paper, every
photograph, every CD, every – everything in our house."
Iosbaker said he was familiar with those targeted in the Minneapolis raids.
"We all worked together in the protest against the Republican
National Convention in 2008," Iosbaker said.
Told that the search warrant against some of those raided in
Minneapolis alluded to connections and trips to countries like
Colombia and Lebanon, Iosbaker said he believed the warrant for his
property was the same.
Molm said that when the FBI arrived at her home, she was wearing her
bathrobe. She described an FBI agent telling her to sit on the couch
and not move as others searched her belongings, and an agent
following her to the bathroom.
Molm said police took her computer, phone, a scarf with the
Palestinian flag on it, an iPod Touch and her bank statements.
University spokeswoman Patty Mattern said the University would not
take any action in response to Friday's raids.
"It's obviously possible that we would take action if there were
arrests or charges," she said.
--------
It Is Official:
The US Is a Police State
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts283.html
September 25, 2010
On September 24, Jason Ditz reported on Antiwar.com that "the FBI is
confirming that this morning they began a number of raids against the
homes of antiwar activists in Illinois, Minneapolis, Michigan, and
North Carolina, claiming that they are 'seeking evidence relating to
activities concerning the material support of terrorism.'"
Now we know what Homeland Security (sic) secretary Janet Napolitano
meant when she said on September 10: "The old view that 'if we fight
the terrorists abroad, we won't have to fight them here' is just that
the old view." The new view, Napolitano said, is "to counter
violent extremism right here at home."
"Violent extremism" is one of those undefined police state terms that
will mean whatever the government wants it to mean. In this morning's
FBI's foray into the homes of American citizens of conscience, it
means antiwar activists, whose activities are equated with "the
material support of terrorism," just as conservatives equated Vietnam
era anti-war protesters with giving material support to communism.
Anti-war activist Mick Kelly whose home was raided, sees the FBI
raids as harassment to intimidate those who organize war protests. I
wonder if Kelly is underestimating the threat. The FBI's own words
clearly indicate that the federal police agency and the judges who
signed the warrants do not regard antiwar protesters as Americans
exercising their Constitutional rights, but as unpatriotic elements
offering material support to terrorism.
"Material support" is another of those undefined police state terms.
In this context the term means that Americans who fail to believe
their government's lies and instead protest its policies, are
supporting their government's declared enemies and, thus, are not
exercising their civil liberties but committing treason.
As this initial FBI foray is a softening up move to get the public
accustomed to the idea that the real terrorists are their fellow
citizens here at home, Kelly will get off this time. But next time
the FBI will find emails on his computer from a "terrorist group" set
up by the CIA that will incriminate him. Under the practices put in
place by the Bush and Obama regimes, and approved by corrupt federal
judges, protesters who have been compromised by fake terrorist groups
can be declared "enemy combatants" and sent off to Egypt, Poland, or
some other corrupt American puppet state Canada perhaps to be
tortured until confession is forthcoming that antiwar protesters and,
indeed, every critic of the US government, are on Osama bin Laden's payroll.
Almost every Republican and conservative and, indeed, the majority of
Americans will fall for this, only to find, later, that it is
subversive to complain that their Social Security was cut in the
interest of the war against Iran or some other demonized entity, or
that they couldn't have a Medicare operation because the wars in
Central Asia and South America required the money.
Americans are the most gullible people who ever existed. They tend to
support the government instead of the Constitution, and almost every
Republican and conservative regards civil liberty as a coddling
device that encourages criminals and terrorists.
The US media, highly concentrated in violation of the American
principle of a diverse and independent media, will lend its support
to the witch hunts that will close down all protests and independent
thought in the US over the next few years. As the Nazi leader Joseph
Goebbels said, "think of the press as a great keyboard on which the
Government can play."
An American Police State was inevitable once Americans let "their"
government get away with 9/11. Americans are too gullible, too
uneducated, and too jingoistic to remain a free people. As another
Nazi leader Herman Goering said, "The people can always be brought to
the bidding of the leaders. Tell them they are being attacked, and
denounce the peace-makers for lack of patriotism and for exposing the
country to danger."
This is precisely what the Bush and Obama regimes have done. America,
as people of my generation knew it, no longer exists.
--------
Condemn FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity activists' homes
http://www.workers.org/2010/us/fbi_raids_0930/
Sep 24, 2010
The International Action Center condemns the FBI raids on anti-war
and solidarity activists homes on Sept. 24 and supports the right of
all social justice activists to defend the rights of workers here at
home and to be in solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the
world resisting occupation and military dictatorship. The IAC urges
full support of the activists targeted by the FBI and wide
distribution of the statement below issued by activists targeted in the raids.
In solidarity, Sara Flounders, Co-director, International Action Center
For Immediate Release
24 Sept. 2010
Contact: Tom Burke, 773-844-3612
Steff Yorek, 612-865-8234
Activists denounce FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity activists' homes
Subpoenas, Searches, and FBI visits carried out in cities across the country.
We denounce the Federal Bureau of Investigation harassment of
anti-war and solidarity activists in several states across the
country. The FBI began turning over six houses in Chicago and
Minneapolis this morning, Friday, Sept. 24, 2010, at 8:00 a.m.
Central time. The FBI handed subpoenas to testify before a federal
grand jury to about a dozen activists in Illinois, Minnesota, and
Michigan. They also attempted to intimidate activists in California
and North Carolina.
"The government hopes to use a grand jury to frame up activists. The
goal of these raids is to harass and try to intimidate the movement
against U.S. wars and occupations, and those who oppose U.S. support
for repressive regimes," said Colombia solidarity activist Tom Burke,
one of those handed a subpoena by the FBI. "They are designed to
suppress dissent and free speech, to divide the peace movement, and
to pave the way for more U.S. military intervention in the Middle
East and Latin America."
This suppression of democratic rights is aimed towards those who
dedicate much of their time and energy to supporting the struggles of
the Palestinian and Colombian peoples against U.S. funded occupation
and war. The activists are involved with well-known anti-war groups
including many of the leaders of the huge protest against the
Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN in September 2008. The
FBI agents emphasized that the grand jury was going to investigate
the activists for possible terrorism charges. This is a U.S.
government attempt to silence those who support resistance to
oppression in the Middle East and Latin America.
The activists involved have done nothing wrong and are refusing to be
pulled into conversations with the FBI about their political views or
organizing against war and occupation. The activists are involved
with many groups, including: the Palestine Solidarity Group, Students
for a Democratic Society, the Twin-Cities Anti-War Committee, the
Colombia Action Network, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and
the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera (a Colombian Political
Prisoner).
Steff Yorek, a long-time antiwar activist and one of the activists
whose homes was searched, called the raids "An outrageous fishing expedition."
We urge all progressive activists to show solidarity with those
individuals targeted by the U.S. Government. Activists have the right
not to speak with the FBI and are encouraged to politely refuse, just say "No".
Please contact info@colombiasolidarity.org or info@fightbacknews.org
if you would like to provide support to the targeted activists.
--------
Feds Expand War On Terror, Raid Communist Antiwar Activists
http://www.prisonplanet.com/feds-expand-war-on-terror-raid-communist-antiwar-activists.html
Kurt Nimmo
September 25, 2010
Following the absurd hyperbole of senior Obama administration
officials earlier this week warning that the CIA's Night of the
Walking Dead cave dwellers will attempt small scale attacks against
the United States, the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force dispatched
SWAT teams to the homes of antiwar activists in Minneapolis and
Chicago in order to keep alive and expand the terrorism mantra.
FBI spokesman Steve Warfield told the Associated Press that six
warrants in Minneapolis and two in Chicago were served about 7 a.m.
Friday. Warfield said the FBI is seeking "evidence relating to
activities concerning the material support of terrorism."
"The search warrant for 1823 Riverside, the residence of activist
Mick Kelly, sought information 'regarding ability to pay for his own
travel' to Palestine and Columbia from 2000 to today. The warrant
hyped potential documents indicating any contacts/facilitation with
FARC, PFLP, and Hezbollah what it called 'FTOs' or 'foreign
terrorist organizations'. It mentioned seeking information on the
alleged 'facilitation of other individuals in the US to travel to
Colombia, Palestine and any other foreign location ins support of
foreign terrorist organizations including but not limited to FARC,
PFLP and Hezbollah," reports IndyMedia in the Twin Cities.
Individuals targeted by the FBI appear to be members of the Freedom
Road Socialist Organization, a Marxist-Leninist group that continues
to uphold Joseph Stalin as one of the "principal theorists" of
Marxism-Leninism, along with Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir
Lenin, and Mao Zedong. Stalin liquidated around 50 million people
while Mao killed off more than 70 million.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization was formed in 1985. It
consolidated the remnants of the New Communist Movement of the 1970s.
The New Communist Movement was part of the "New Left" that emerged
from the Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s. SDS was not
only infiltrated and taken over by Marxist-Leninist groups, but also
the FBI (see Max Elbaum, Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz, & Elizabeth Martinez,
Rebels with a Cause).
The late Antony Sutton documented how the Bolshevik Revolution was
created and nurtured by Wall Street (see Wall Street and the
Bolshevik Revolution).
"In the Bolshevik Revolution we have some of the world's richest and
most powerful men financing a movement which claims its very
existence is based on the concept of stripping of their wealth men
like the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Schiffs, Warburgs, Morgans,
Harrimans, and Milners. But obviously these men have no fear of
international Communism. It is only logical to assume that if they
financed it and do not fear it, it must be because they control it,"
Gary Allen wrote. "In the Bolshevik Revolution we see many of the
same old faces that were responsible for: creating the Federal
Reserve System, initiating the graduated income tax, setting up the
tax-free foundations and pushing us into WWI."
Charles Merlin Umpenhour, in his book In Freedom, A Fading Illusion
(p. 126), documents how Lenin, under the influence of Wall Street and
Occidental Petroleum's Armand Hammer, created the American Comintern,
or Communist International. In 1984, former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov
told G. Edward Griffin how easy it was for the Soviets to exploit
idealistic "useful idiots" in America and elsewhere in order to
spread the communist ideology.
Considering the roots of the communist movement in the United States
and its infiltration by the FBI, specifically under its illegal
COINTELPRO, it is not a stretch to conclude that the raids in
Minneapolis and Chicago were arranged by the government to expand and
amplify its current homegrown propaganda effort.
The establishment does not consider a CIA contrived Muslim terrorist
organization or its supposed affiliates in the United States who
are overwhelmingly patsies, dupes, and mental cases stage managed by
the FBI (as the recent Bronx synagogue bomb plot case reveals) as a
serious threat to the national security of the corporate-banker
complex. It also does not consider a gaggle of manipulated communist
admirers of the mass murderers Stalin and Mao as a legitimate threat.
The real threat, as the Department of Homeland Security's leaked
"right-wing extremism" document revealed last year, emanates from the
patriot movement.
SWAT raids on antiwar activists who are associated with a
questionable communist organization long ago compromised by the FBI
are intended to expand the manufactured threat of domestic terrorism
beyond the narrow confines of Islamic terrorism to fringe political
organizations in the United States and ultimately to the real threat
to the establishment the growing patriot and Tea Party movement.
The corporate media has engaged in a sustained and vicious campaign
to demonize the patriot movement and portray its members as
potentially violent terrorists. Earlier this year, the government
infiltrated the Hutaree "militia group" in Michigan and attempted to
use the trumped-up arrest of its members as an example of the sort of
domestic terrorism the patriot movement represents. The government's
case fell apart in short order. On May 3, a federal judge ordered
nine jailed members of the group released.
.
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