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Documents just obtained from the FBI by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund reveal, as the New York Times put it, that "the [FBI] used read here, reveal numerous instances of the FBI collaborating with local police forces and private corporations to monitor and anticipate the acts of the protest movement.Mr. Greenwald is correct.
As obviously disturbing as it is, none of this should be surprising. Virtually every seized power justified over the last decade in the name of "terrorism" has been applied to a wide range of domestic dissent. The most significant civil liberties trend of the last decade, in my view, is the importation of War on Terror tactics onto US soil, applied to US citizens - from the sprawling Surveillance State and powers of indefinite detention to the para-militarization of domestic police forces and the rapidly emerging fleet of drones now being deployed in countless ways. As I've argued previously, the true purpose of this endless expansion of state power in the name of "terrorism" is control over anticipated domestic protest and unrest.
It should be anything but surprising that the FBI - drowning in counter-terrorism money, power and other resources - will apply the term "terrorism" to any group it dislikes and wants to control and suppress (thus ushering in all of the powers institutionalized against "terrorists"). Those who supported (or acquiesced to) this expansion of unaccountable government power because they assumed it would only be used against Those Muslims not only embraced a morally warped premise (I care about injustices only if they directly affect me), but also a factually false one, since abuses of power always - always - expand beyond their original application.
intimidate or coerce a civilian population;Patriot Act legislation enacted sweeping federal powers. They're used to investigate and prosecute alleged terrorism. Civil libertarians, environmental and animal rights activists are targeted.
influence government policy by intimidation or coercion;
and/or affect government conduct by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping.
Comment: Senator Hagel is going to have to fall in line with the current American war plans and its allowed rhetoric or he will most likely find a difficult time going through confirmation hearings. The War Party will use its dummy politicians to send him a message, a message that is already being sent via the outrageous accusations of anti-Semitism being lobbied against him merely for wanting to do something other than murder lots of Palestinians and Iranians. Clearly, the agenda for the United States is all about spreading murder and mayhem in the Middle East, and if Hagel desires to run the Pentagon he's going to have to follow the orders.