US Spying on Bush Policy Dissenters

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FOCUS | US Spying on Bush Policy Dissenters

Sun, 22 Jan 2006 06:30:47 -0800

 

 

 

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/012206Z.shtml

 

US Accused of Spying on Those Who Disagree with Bush Policies

By William E. Gibson

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel

 

Friuday 20 January 2006

 

Washington - While the White House defended domestic surveillance

as a safeguard against terrorism, a Florida peace activist and several

Democrats in Congress accused the Bush administration on Friday of

spying on Americans who disagree with President Bush's policies.

 

Richard Hersh, of Boca Raton, Fla., director of Truth Project Inc.

of Palm Beach County, told an ad hoc panel of House Democrats that his

group and others in South Florida have been infiltrated and spied upon

despite having no connections to terrorists.

 

" Agents rummaged through the trash, snooped into e-mails, packed

Web sites and listened in on phone conversations, " Hersh charged. " We

know that address books and activist meeting lists have disappeared. "

 

The Truth Project gained national attention when NBC News reported

last month that it was described as a " credible threat " in a database

of suspicious activity compiled by the Pentagon's Talon program. The

listing cited the group's gathering a year ago at a Quaker meeting

house in Lake Worth, Fla., to talk about ways to counter military

recruitment at high schools.

 

Talon is separate from the controversial domestic-surveillance

program conducted by the National Security Agency. Bush has

acknowledged signing orders that allow the NSA to eavesdrop without

the usual court warrants, prompting an outcry from many in Congress.

 

Bush plans to tour the NSA on Wednesday as part of a campaign to

defend his handling of the program.

 

" This is a critical tool that helps us save lives and prevent

attacks, " White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday. " It is

limited and targeted to al-Qaida communications, with the focus being

on detection and prevention. "

 

The Defense Department's Talon program collects data from a wide

variety of sources, including military personnel and private citizens,

Pentagon spokesman Greg Hicks said.

 

" They are unfiltered dots of information about perceived threats, "

Hicks said. " An analyst will look at that information. And what we are

trying to do is connect the dots before the next major attack. "

 

To Hersh and some members of Congress, the warrant-less

surveillance and Talon are all a part of domestic-spying operations

that threaten civil liberties of average Americans and put dissenters

under a cloud of suspicion.

 

" Neither you nor anybody in that (Quaker) church had anything to

do with terrorism, " said Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Fla. " The fact is, the

Truth Project may have a philosophy that is adverse to the political

philosophy and goals of the president of the United States. And as a

result of that different philosophy, the president and the secretary

of defense ordered that your group be spied upon.

 

" There should not be a single American who today remains confident

that it couldn't happen to them. "

 

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