Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Protests? nope! Its terrorism!

Hey all, sorry I have not had enough time to write anything this last week or so. I've been out of town, and will continue to be so.

As a quick something to read, check out this article I came across recently...

Pentagon Calls Protests "Low-Level Terrorism"
By Matthew Harwood
06/16/2009 -
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking the Pentagon to immediately remove a question on a test that equates protests with "low-level terrorism," according to a letter from the civil liberties group.The test is part of a mandatory antiterrorism refresher course given annually to Department of Defense (DoD) "elements and personnel." One question included in the test asks the exam taker "Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism activity?"
The exam taker is given four possible answers: "Attacking the Pentagon," "IEDs," "Hate crimes against racial groups," and "Protests." The correct answer, however, was protests.
In a letter addressed to Gail McGinn, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon, the ACLU has asked the DoD to respond in two ways: "by correcting the materials before they are used further and by sending out corrective materials to all DoD employees who received the erroneous training."
Preceding this demand to change the course material, the ACLU gives a full-throated defense of protests as a First Amendment protected activity and reviews recent cases where domestic surveillance programs have overstepped their bounds, according to civil libertarian groups such as the ACLU.
For the DoD to instruct its employees that lawful protest activities should be treated as "low-level terrorism" is deeply disturbing in and of itself. It is an even more egregious insult to constitutional values, however, when viewed in the context of a long-term pattern of domestic security initiatives that have attempted to equate lawful dissent with terrorism. Examples of this shameful pattern can be seen in the Pentagon's monitoring of at least 186 anti-military protests, a North Central Texas Fusion System bulletin that states that law enforcement officers should report anti-war protest groups in their areas, the FBI's surveillance of potential protesters at the Republican National Convention, the Fresno County Sheriff Anti-Terrorism Unit's covert infiltration and surveillance of Peace Fresno, a community peace and social justice organization, and the covert surveillance by the Maryland State Police of local peace and anti-death penalty groups.
Policing ideas, rather than criminal activities, runs counter to our nation's core principles, undermining the very foundations of a free society that the Department of Defense is dedicated to preserving."

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