ACLU complains even though “antiwar” groups were removed from database

From the Boston Globe: Antiwar protests listed as threats in terror database

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department listed 2,821 organizations or events involving Americans in a terrorist threat database as of December 2005, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, including at least 186 antimilitary protests in the United States.

The ACLU yesterday released a Pentagon memo it had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

“This unchecked surveillance is part of a broad pattern of the Bush administration using ‘national security’ as an excuse to run roughshod over the privacy and free-speech rights of Americans,” Ann Beeson, associate legal director of the ACLU, said in a statement.

About 1,100 of about 13,000 entries, including the 186 antimilitary protests, were deleted from the database by February 2006 because they didn’t contain a “foreign” element or present a “force protection threat,” the memo said.

Um, OK, they were removed. So what’s the beef? What “privacy?” These people were engaged in PUBLIC protests and were not prevented from doing so…where were their free speech rights violated?

Reports that didn’t meet the intent of the program were removed from the database, and procedures have been carried out to make sure that improper reports aren’t included, Ryder said.

Paul Wolfowitz, who was deputy secretary of defense at the time, created the department’s Threat and Local Observation Notice database in 2003.

Civilians and military personnel reported suspicious activities or terrorist threats occurring near defense facilities, according to the ACLU. The Counterintelligence Field Activity Agency would then investigate the credibility of the alleged threats.

For instance, a protest entitled “Stop the War NOW!” was listed in the database in March 2005, described as a rally, march, and “Reading of Names of War Dead,” according to the ACLU report.

In March 2006, Gordon England, deputy secretary of defense at the time, listed seven criteria that must be met before anything is added to the database “to clarify and reinforce” the department’s policies, Ryder said.

Sounds like common sense at work. Many of these “antiwar” protests include groups that have either engaged in violence or threatened violence in pursuit of their anti-American goals. We should do all we can to ensure that these protests do not include terror-linked or violent elements, which has been the case at times. When it has been determined that the intent and the conduct of the these PUBLIC demonstrations turned out peaceful, they are removed. So what’s the problem?

According to the ACLU’s hysterical report, one of the organizations was CODEPINK. You know the CODEPINK that traveled to Iran to side with the enemy last year? Hey ACLU, you mean we shouldn’t be at all concerned about this?

The report also says that “anti-recruiting” groups were included in the TALON database. You mean the same people that have been increasingly resorting to violence in their “protests” against recruiters?

Listen, there are many more examples. The point is, many of these groups, if not engaging in violence and supporting terrorists directly themselves, have linked arms with those who do at many of these protests and on an operational basis. Since these groups are publicly involved with violent elements (despite their “renouncements of violence”), they should expect to be scrutinized and should be scrutinized. Look at “International ANSWER” for a good case study.

Even though the Pentagon has investigated and removed some groups from TALON, it’s still not good enough for the ACLU, which seems to be saying that even groups that have cozied up to our enemies in very public way should operate without impediment. The Left has a long history of violence (Weathermen, ELF, WTO protests, etc.) and of morally and materially supporting our enemies , so I would be concerned if we WEREN’T looking closely at whether these subversive groups continue to do so.

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