GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

1.12.06

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GI SPECIAL 4A5:

 

 

americansongbook.blogs.com

 

Prisoners Against The War: 5

 

In the week leading up to the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, GI Special will lead with statements written by members of Prisoners Against The War.

 

The last of the prisoners’ statements in this opening series is below.

 

Organized by Stanley Howard and five other imprisoned members of the Military Project at Illinois’ Statesville Prison, Prisoners Against The War breaks new ground.

 

There has been no organization like this in recent American history.  That may be an understatement, since no record of a similar organization has been found at any point in American history.

 

Prisoners Against The War hopes to inspire other prisoners, both in civilian and military prisons, to organize their own chapters, and spread the movement nation-wide. 

 

They report many prisoners have relatives serving in the armed forces.  Other prisoners are Vietnam Veterans.  To the extent allowed by prison regulations, they circulate GI Special and Traveling Soldier.  They will see these issues of GI Special, and provide support to family members on the outside resisting the war.

 

A variety of social critics have argued that the prisons and armed forces of a given society express most nakedly the underlying class nature of the society.

 

An organization bringing together civilian and military prisoners can open a new window on that reality, not least by destroying the myth spread by politicians and other servants of the rich and homicidal that prisoners are mere things without humanity or redeeming social value. 

 

For how to contact Prisoners Against The War, see information below.  T

 

***************************************************************************

 

COLLATERAL DAMAGE

 

 

“Prisoners Against The War”

 

BY: MR. DAVID W. CARTER

#N—43429

 

When I first heard the use of this terminology, like many people I assumed that it meant the damage of Iraqi infrastructure or some other minor detail of the cost of War.

 

I began to hear this term over and over on the airwaves of both radio and television, so I decided to research the term “COLLATERAL DAMAGE.” My research findings led me to the conclusion that “COLLATERAL DAMAGE” is the killing of innocent HUMAN BEINGS, CIVILIANS, MEN, WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND BABIES, who have nothing to do with the Iraqi Government, Militia, etc.

 

“COLLATERAL DAMAGE” means, living in your home, minding your own business, and suddenly, a 5000 pound bomb drops in the middle of your neighborhood, and everyone on your block and in your community is instantly murdered.

 

“COLLATERAL DAMAGE” means, oops! !, were sorry, we made a mistake.

 

Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians have been the victims of our “COLLATERAL DAMAGE”, so high a count that the Government will not give a TRUE ESTIMATE of just how many people who have been “COLLATERALLY DAMAGED.”

 

All of this is done in the name of the good people of the U.S. of A.

 

I am a PRISONER in this country that I still LOVE, and the First Amendment is sometimes sacrificed when it comes to people like me who have expressions, so at the risk of retaliation and punishment I am willing to express that FREEDOM OF SPEECH that we are fighting and dying to give to the good people of Iraq with our Bombs, and of course, our “COLLATERAL DAMAGE”.

 

Finally, would you sit back and accept his “COLLATERAL DAMAGE” and invasion, and allow him to give you what he deems is a better way for you and your people to live???

 

If you choose to fight to the death with this invader, do you think it would be justified to be labeled a TERRORIST, OR FREEDOM FIGHTER???  ENEMY COMBATANT OR MURDEROUS THUGS???

 

HMMMM!!!

 

If this invader dropped Bombs upon your innocent Women and Children by the TENS OF THOUSANDS in order to impose his will, do you think that would be acceptable “COLLATERAL DAMAGE”????????

 

HMMMMMM!!

 

www.selvesandothers.org/ IMG/jpg/malcolmX_300.jpg

 

*************************************************************************

 

Contacting Prisoners Against The War:

 

Prisoners who wish to communicate with Prisoners Against The War may write to:

Prisoners Against The War or PAW or Martin Smith, at:

PO Box 121

Champaign, IL 61824

 

NOTE WELL:  ILLINOIS PRISON REGULATIONS FORBID INMATES FROM RECEIVING ANY MAIL FROM ANY OTHER PRISONERS ANYWHERE. 

 

Martin Smith is not allowed to forward your letter to the prison.  He is allowed to summarize the contents in his own letters. 

 

If your prison also has rules forbidding mail from another prisoner to be sent to you, the reply will also be summarized by Martin Smith, and sent to you. 

 

Persons not in prison at this time may write directly to Prisoners Against The War.  NOTE WELL:  Nothing whatever may be enclosed in your mail other than your written or typed letter:  no money or other objects may be sent.

 

Letters to:

Stanley Howard

Reg. # N-71620

PO Box 112

Joliet, Illinois 60434

 

***************************

 

An Appeal On Behalf Of Prisoners Against The War

 

During a visit with Stanley Howard, organizer for the Military Project and Prisoners Against The War at Statesville Prison 12.29.05, it was learned that the typewriter is falling apart that was used to prepare these statements you see in GI Special, and to communicate with others as well.  [Computers/word processors are not available to prisoners.]

 

The prison does not provide typewriters either.  Inmates must buy their own, from the prison commissary.

 

The cost of one at the prison is about $170.00.  Two would be better than one.

 

The source of cash for prisoners, whether for a typewriter, stamps to answer letters, paper and envelopes, and any publications needed from the outside, is what people send from outside.

 

There is more.

 

No cash may be sent.  Nothing may be sent other than a money order, which may not be more than $50, and must have the name of the prisoner, the prisoners’ serial number and address, and the exact name and address of the sender.

 

If you wish to do that, fine.  The address for Stanley Howard is just above.  You must write it exactly as it appears.  If not, it will not reach him.  If it’s $50.01 it will not reach him.  And send a separate letter, addressed as above, reporting you have sent it. 

 

If you do not wish to do that, you may send check or money order payable to Thomas Barton, at PO Box 126, 2565 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10025.

 

Those checks will be deposited, and sent to the prison in increments of $50.00, one at a time, using the same procedure.

 

Those contributions will be acknowledged by initial of sender in GI Special, so you know it has been received, and everyone will know what has been received. 

 

This is a situation where the amount needed is not huge, but the need is real, and there is no alternative.  (For those who have heard about it already, the raffle of a 1942 Gibson Jumbo guitar to raise funds for GI Special is postponed to defer to this more immediate need.)

 

Enough said.

 

T

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

1.11.06: Marine Lance Cpl. Jason Little of Climax, Mich. died in an explosion near Ferris, Iraq (AP Photo/Marine Corps)

 

Roadside Bomb Near Fallujah Kills Three U.S. Soldiers; One Wounded

 

Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet)

 

Insurgents detonated a roadside bomb near a U.S. military patrol in the flashpoint city of Fallujah on Wednesday, killing three U.S. soldiers and wounding another, one witness said.

 

"A roadside bomb went off in al-Dhubat district as a U.S. patrol passed by, destroying a U.S. Humvee as well as killing three soldiers aboard and wounding another," the witness told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

 

Earlier in the day, U.S. forces asked Iraqi soldiers to replace local police to take charge of checkpoints around the city, as U.S. troops prevented movement of local residents from a district to another, witnesses said.

 

TWO ALASKA ARMY GUARD SOLDIERS KILLED

1.11.06: Alaska Army National Guardsman Spc. Michael Ignatius Edwards from Anchorage, Alaska is one of the four Alaska Army National Guard crew members who died in a weekend helicopter crash in northern Iraq.  (AP Photo/Alaska National Guard)

 

1.11.06: Alaska Army National Guardsman Spc. Jacob Eugene Melson of Wasilla, Alaska is one of the four Alaska Army National Guard crew members who died in a weekend helicopter crash in northern Iraq. (AP Photo/Alaska National Guard)

 

U.S. Occupation Suit Killed

 

December 17, 2004 By Jeff Oliver, VALLEY INDEPENDENT

 

CARROLL TOWNSHIP -- The war in Iraq has hit a little closer to home with the news that the Mid-Mon Valley suffered its first civilian fatality as a result of the conflict.

 

Dale Stoffel, 43, was one of two men killed by insurgents last week in an ambush near Baghdad.

 

It was learned later that Stoffel, who was a partner of Robert Irey at CLI Corp. in Cecil, was a resident of Carroll Township.  Stoffel was the company's executive vice president of International Development for the company.

 

"We are just stunned and devastated by what has happened," said Irey. "It is hard to believe that Dale is no longer with us."

 

Stoffel and Joseph Wemple, 49, of Orlando, Fla., were killed in their vehicle during an ambush while on business for CLI Corp.

 

Stoffel had been in Iraq for the past year working on a more than $40 million government construction contract in Iraq.

 

CLI Corp is an engineering and construction firm with Irey serving as chief executive officer.

 

The firm has been involved in a project to construct a center in Taji, which would perform work for the Iraqi civil defense force.  Stoffel and Wemple reportedly had just left Taji when their vehicle was ambushed.

 

Irey explained that CLI is doing work in the Green Zone, a fortified safe area near Baghdad, and in Taji.

 

"They had left Taji and were driving back to the Green Zone for a meeting," Irey said. "They were 10 minutes from the Green Zone when they were ambushed."

 

Irey described Stoffel, who had a strong military background, as "bigger than life."

 

"He was an experienced military Special Forces guy who knew what he was doing, how to handle weapons and was always heavily armed," said Irey.

 

"He always felt if ever there was an altercation, he'd get them before they got him.  Irey said his company will continue its involvement in projects in Iraq despite the murders.

 

"We thought for a second if this was really worth it.  But then we felt we had to continue and we will," Irey said.

 

[Just in case you missed it: “Stoffel had been in Iraq for the past year working on a more than $40 million government construction contract in Iraq.”]

 

He Knows “That The Marines Cannot Defeat The Insurgency With Armed Might”

 

Jan. 11, 2006 By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY, Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

AL ASAD, Iraq:  Col. Steve Davis of New Rochelle, N.Y., commands the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of U.S. Marines in western Iraq, and he has no illusions about the place or the people.

 

The tall colonel has spent years studying and being based in the Middle East.  He knows what he and his Marines can change and what they can't.

 

The ancient smuggling enterprise falls in the latter category. "I can't change that. Saddam Hussein couldn't change that.  The British couldn't change that.  A dozen other occupying armies couldn't either," Davis told me in a visit this week.

 

He also knows that the Marines cannot defeat the insurgency with armed might, but "we can, have and will continue to disrupt their activities."  [There’s a ringing statement that will comfort the families of the KIA no end.  “Your troop died in a war I know we can’t win, but hey, look at us disrupting activities.”  Great for a headstone.  “He/She died disrupting activities for George W. Bush.”]

 

The 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3,200 Marines strong, is responsible for more than 30,000 square miles from the Syrian border to the Euphrates Valley.  [That’s exactly one marine for every 9.3 square miles.  Game over.  Time to get the fuck out while still alive.  Run, do not walk, to the nearest exit.]

 

The colonel said he doesn't particularly care if the population loves Americans or hates them so long as they begin to understand the rules and respect them.  

 

"We don't murder or beat people," Davis said, adding, "But if you are an armed insurgent we will kill you.  Simple as that."  [He just got done saying he can’t defeat the insurgency.  So what is this supposed to mean?  Looks more likely that the resistance could say, “But if you are an armed invader we will kill you” with a lot more justification, given the reality of the war and the colonels’ admission that there is no military victory possible.]

 

A convoy run from al-Asad to Haditha and the Marines manning and guarding that convoy reminded me of a tree full of owls: heads were turning in every direction, noting any anomaly on or near the road from a dead dog to an old cardboard box to a mound of dirt.  Especially the potholes.

 

The insurgents conceal their improvised explosive devices anywhere they can. The more armor the Americans employ the bigger the IEDs. That translates to devices built of four or five 155 mm artillery shells wired together, or two 500-pound bombs. No amount of armor can withstand such a blast at close range or underneath.

 

Davis said the numbers of IEDs are declining and more are being found before they can do their terrible damage.  [Davis is lying in his teeth or completely out of touch with the real world.  Casualties are going up and up and up, month by month.  It’s not like this is some big secret.]

 

 

 

IMPOSSIBLE MISSION

FUTILE EXERCISE

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

12.12.05: US soldiers look from their base at flames and black smoke billowing from the site where two blasts occurred in the main road of al-Mahmudiyah.  (AFP/Samuel Aranda)

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

One For Our Side:

Vietnam War Deserter Set Free

 

 

1.11.06 From: Jay Alexander, Veterans For Peace

 

Dear Friends and VFP Members:

 

Jerry Texiero of Tarpon Springs, FLA has been set free by the USMC at Camp Lajune today in a separation in lieu of trial.

 

Elaine Smith a family friend who has been fighting for his freedom since his arrest last August wants you to know he is free and gives all a big Thanks for you who had given him support in these dark times of the repression of our civil liberties under the Patriot Act!

 

Jerry will be out of Lajune tomorrow and will be back home and out of the limelight.

 

Let Freedom Ring!!!

 

Wage Peace

 

Jay Alexander

Tampa Bay Veterans For Peace

 

1.2 Million Have Gone To Bush’s Wars

 

10.06 BY DREW BROWN, Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

More than 1.2 million American service members have been deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or nearby countries through Oct. 31.

 

HOW MANY MORE?

A US Marine kisses his three-year-old daughter as his unit leaves Camp Pendleton, California for a seven-month deployment to al-Anbar province in western Iraq. (AFP/Getty Images/David McNew)

 

Idiot Col. Revives Air Power Bullshit

 

Jan. 10, 2006 By Drew Brown, Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

Analysts long have debated the effectiveness of air power in a counterinsurgency war. While there's little doubt that airstrikes in a conventional war can have a devastating effect on enemy troops, command centers and communications networks, the effectiveness of bombing in a guerrilla war is much more difficult to quantify.

 

In an essay published last March in Air & Space Power Journal, retired Air Force Col. Robyn Read argued that air power in a counterinsurgency war can be used to do more than destroy targets.  By the careful use of air power, commanders can support the local population, deter aggression and "assist in establishing the conditions for a safe and secure future."  [Right.  Everybody knows how well that worked in Vietnam.  That’s why Saigon was renamed “Lyndon B. Johnson City.”]

 

Bombing alone can't defeat Iraq's insurgency, said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA and State Department official.

 

"There's nothing in history you can point to where air power has been the deciding factor in a counterinsurgency campaign," Johnson said.

 

"The essence of counterinsurgency is who controls the ground ... and we don't have enough people on the ground."

 

“It's already difficult for American troops to distinguish friend from foe in Iraq.  To wage a counterinsurgency campaign solely from the air would be virtually impossible.

 

VA Help Lines Found To Regularly Provide Bad Information;

Rude Assholes At Work

 

Dec. 30, 2005 BY CHRIS ADAMS, Knight Ridder Newspapers

 

WASHINGTON - A veteran who turns to the Department of Veterans Affairs for information about benefits might want to get a second opinion.

 

According to the VA's own data, people who call the agency's regional offices for help and advice are more likely to receive completely wrong answers than completely right ones.

 

To see how well its employees answer typical questions from the public, VA benefits experts in 2004 called each of the agency's U.S. regional offices, which process veterans' disability claims.  The so-called mystery callers, saying they were relatives or friends of veterans inquiring about possible benefits, made a total of 1,089 calls. Almost half the time they got answers that the VA said were either completely incorrect or minimally correct.

 

According to an internal VA memo on the mystery-caller program that's buried deep in the department's Web site, 22 percent of the answers the callers got were "completely incorrect," 23 percent were "minimally correct" and 20 percent were "partially correct." Nineteen percent of the answers were "completely correct," and 16 percent were "mostly correct."

 

The program also found that some VA workers were dismissive of some callers and unhelpful or rude to others.

 

One caller, for example, said, "My father served in Vietnam in 1961 and 1962.  Is there a way he can find out if he was exposed to Agent Orange?"  The VA's response, according to the VA memo: "He should know if they were spreading that chemical out then.  He would be the only one to know.  OK (hung up laughing)."

 

The memo said the response was "completely incorrect" because it gave no information and also was "rude and unprofessional."

 

Veterans across the country said their experience with VA call centers suggested that there was still significant room for improvement.

 

"The VA needs a change of attitude," said William B. Jones, a veteran from Greenville, S.C., who's been butting heads with the agency for several years.  Jones, a semiretired physician, said he'd received bad medical information and repeatedly had gotten the runaround in his attempt to get compensation for ailments that he said were linked to his military service.

 

"I often get no answer at all," said Jones.  "I call their 1-800 numbers and generally you get a computer and talk to no one.  I've had that not once but probably a dozen times. When you do talk to somebody, you get frustrated because you can't really find out if the case is proceeding.  They say they are working on it, but they don't give any details."

 

Bum information, however, is the biggest problem.

 

One mystery caller, for example, asked about benefits after a Vietnam veteran died of lung cancer.  Many conditions have been linked to the herbicide Agent Orange, which was widely used in Vietnam. But the VA regional office said lung cancer was "not one of the conditions related to Agent Orange."

 

According to the VA's evaluation, that answer was "completely incorrect (wrong information given: lung cancer is one of the conditions related to Agent Orange.)"

 

Another mystery caller asked about a grandfather who'd been injured in the Korean War. "When he dies, is he eligible for burial in Arlington National Cemetery?" the caller asked.

 

Response: "I can't answer for Arlington.  You can call your congressmen.  They love doing those kinds of things for their constituents."

 

The VA's evaluation: "Completely incorrect.  Unprofessional; unwilling to help."

 

Another mystery caller asked whether her husband could get help from the VA for a back problem he'd had for years.  "I don't know," the VA regional office said. "He just has to file a claim."

 

The evaluator found that the response was completely incorrect because it didn't give an answer, and the VA official was "discourteous" and "unwilling to help."

 

When callers posing as veterans' friends or family members called the Department of Veterans Affairs to ask questions about benefits, they often got incorrect and/or rude responses.  Some examples from a VA survey, along with VA experts' evaluations of the responses:

 

CALLER: "My son served in Vietnam, and he just died of lung cancer. I have custody of his 10-year-old daughter. Are there any benefits for my granddaughter?"

 

RESPONSE: "What is your son's Social Security number?"

 

CALLER: "I don't have it."

 

RESPONSE: "Well, I can't help you if you don't give me any information. ... What is your monthly income?"

 

CALLER: "About $200 a week."

 

RESPONSE: "Well, that sounds like it is awful high, and you wouldn't be eligible."

 

VA EVALUATION: "Completely incorrect," because benefits might be available for such a child. The VA worker was also "very discouraging" and "didn't express empathy in recent loss of son."

 

 

CALLER: "My husband just started going to college using the Voc-Rehab program, and I was just wondering how long he has to use this program."

 

RESPONSE: "I don't know. He needs to ask his vocational rehabilitation counselor the next time he talks with him."

 

VA EVALUATION: "Completely incorrect," because it didn't answer the question. Also was "unprofessional and discourteous."

 

 

CALLER: "My brother is being discharged in two weeks from the Marine Corps. Are there any veterans' preferences for state or federal jobs?"

 

RESPONSE: "No preference. Everyone is a veteran. With government, you get points if you're a veteran. For a disabled veteran, there's points. Nothing out of the ordinary."

 

EVALUATION: "Completely incorrect," because it gave the wrong information. Also: "tone discourteous; unwilling to help."

 

 

CALLER: "My dad was killed in a training accident while on active duty just before Desert Storm. Does the VA offer any benefits for me to go to college?"

 

RESPONSE: "Was your mother in receipt of benefits from the VA? ... Did your father die on active duty? ... Well, if your mother was in receipt of benefits, you would be eligible. But you're telling me that your mother was not in receipt, so you are not entitled."

 

EVALUATION: "Completely incorrect" because the child would be entitled if his father had died on active duty. Also: "tone was discourteous."

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

(From: THE CHILDREN OF IRAQ)

 

 

 

“Iraqi Security Checks Are Still Sporadic Despite U.S. Training, Policemen Are Often Ill-Equipped And Ill-Disciplined”

 

Jan 11, 2006 By Gideon Long, (Reuters)

 

As the past week has shown, death tolls in suicide bombings are appallingly high in Iraq -- generally much higher than elsewhere in the world.

 

Analysts say this is because Iraqi security checks are still sporadic despite U.S. training, policemen are often ill-equipped and ill-disciplined, public gatherings tend to be large and chaotic, and high-grade explosives are readily available.

 

The conduct of Iraqi police and soldiers at checkpoints has also been criticized. They sometimes stand together chatting, easy prey for a bomber on foot or in a car, rather than remaining spaced out as is standard military practice.

 

Many are given only rudimentary training before being sent on to the world's most dangerous streets, sometimes without the helmets and body armor which might save them.

 

Even when they are protected, there are simply not enough of them to stop the onslaught of bombers.

 

Jeremy Binnie, analyst with Jane's Terrorism and Insurgency Center in London, said he suspects the bombs used in Iraq are also more powerful than elsewhere -- a legacy of the Saddam era when the country was flooded with munitions.

 

"A suicide bomber on foot can only carry around 20 kg (44 lbs) of explosive, wherever he is in the world," Binnie said.

 

"A lot of bomb makers will use only a small amount of rapid detonative explosive as a charge, with the rest of the bomb made of ammonium nitrate and shrapnel.  But in Iraq it often appears they use more military-grade ordnance."

 

 

 

Assorted Resistance Action

 

Jan 10 AFP & January 11, 2006 Associated Press & CRIENGLISH.com

 

In Baghdad, two policemen were killed and two wounded in separate shooting incidents Tuesday, security officials said.

 

A roadside bomb exploded next to a police patrol outside Samarra, about 60 miles north of Baghdad, killing two policemen, police Capt. Laith Mohammed said.

 

Unknown guerrillas on Wednesday captured a police officer on a highway near the oil refinery town of Baiji, some 200 km north of Baghdad, a provincial police source told Xinhua.

 

"Unknown armed men in two cars ambushed First Lieutenant Adnan Younis Abboud from the police of Salahudin province, while he was

driving on the highway near Baiji," said Col. Ahmed Hassan from the provincial police.

 

The attackers dragged Abboud from his car and took him away, he said, adding the incident is under investigation.

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

U.S. Iraq Command:

Terrorists In Action

 

January 10, 2006 By Michael Schwartz, Tomdispatch.com [Excerpt]

 

As one American officer explained to New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins, the willingness to sacrifice local civilians is part of a larger strategy in which U.S. military power is used to "punish not only the guerrillas, but also make clear to ordinary Iraqis the cost of not cooperating."

 

A Marine calling-in to a radio talk show recently stated the argument more precisely: "You know why those people get killed?  It's because they're letting insurgents hide in their house."

 

This is, by the way, the textbook definition of terrorism: attacking a civilian population to get it to withdraw support from the enemy.

 

What this strategic orientation, applied wherever American troops fight the Iraqi resistance, represents is an embrace of terrorism as a principle tactic for subduing Iraq's insurgency.

 

 

 

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

 

 

Bush Scum At NSA Spy On Quaker Peace Group:

Fools Send In Baltimore Cop Thug To Start A Fight;

“NSA Officials Even Reported On The Balloons Being Inflated For The Demonstration”

 

 

January 10, 2006 Kevin Zeese, Rawstory.com

 

The National Security Agency has been spying on a Baltimore anti-war group, according to documents released during litigation, going so far as to document the inflating of protesters' balloons, and intended to deploy units trained to detect weapons of mass destruction, RAW STORY has learned.

 

According to the documents, the Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore, a Quaker-linked peace group, has been monitored by the NSA working with the Baltimore Intelligence Unit of the Baltimore City Police Department.

 

The documents came as a result of litigation in the August 2003 trial of Marilyn Carlisle and Cindy Farquhar.  An NSA security official provided the defendants with a redacted Action Plan and a redacted copy of a Joint Terrorism Task Force email about the activities of the Pledge of Resistance activities.

 

The Baltimore Pledge of Resistance is part of the national Iraq Pledge of Resistance, which works with the Baltimore Emergency Response Network and the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), part of a national group committed to nonviolent civil resistance to stop the war in Iraq.  The Pledge lobbies Maryland congressmembers via letters, phone calls, faxes, emails and face-to-face meetings; members of the group are periodically arrested for peaceable protests.

 

Documents turned over by the NSA indicate that the group was closely monitored. In one instance, the agency filed reports approximately every 15 minutes from 9:30 AM to 3:18 PM on the day of a demonstration at the National Vigilance Airplane Memorial on the NSA Campus in Maryland.

 

According to an NSA email dated July 4, 2004, the agency collected license numbers and descriptions and the number of people in each car and filed a report about them gathering in a church parking lot for the demonstration.  NSA agents also logged their travel to the demonstration, including stopping as a gas station along the way. A canine dog unit was used to search a minivan when it was stopped on the way to the demonstration - nothing was found.

 

NSA officials even reported on the balloons being inflated for the demonstration and the content of their signs.

 

An entry made at 1300 hours on July 4. reads, "The Soc. was advised the protestors were proceeding to the airplane memorial with three helium balloons attached to a banner that stated, 'Those Who Exchange Freedom for Security Deserve Neither, Will Ultimately Lose Both.'"

 

 

Two of those demonstrators, Max Obuszewiski and Ellen Barfield, are still scheduled for trial in Baltimore federal court Jan. 25.  The defendants have filed a motion for discovery and included the letter from the NSA acknowledging spying on the Pledge.  The prosecutor has refused to release this information as part of discovery.  The defendants plan to argue that the information is necessary for their defense.

 

"The NSA confirmed, because of a FOIA request I filed, that indeed it has files on peace and justice groups," Obuszewiski said.  "However, the Agency is refusing to release the information unless I pay $1,915.  What might be in these files?"

 

A second NSA document on the letterhead of the National Security Agency Police and authored by NSA Police Major Michael E. Talbert is dated Oct. 3, 2004.  It is an action plan for the "threat of a demonstration hosted by a group known as Pledge of Resistance  Baltimore."  They note the demonstration is part of the "Keep Space for Peace Week." The NSA action plan includes plans for four days, but six activities being planned by the NSA before the day of the demonstration have been redacted.

 

 

"The NSA Weapons of Mass Destruction Rapid Response Team will have a limited staffing on hand to support the event," Talbert's memo reads.  "...Anne Arundel County Police will be requested to provide aerial observations."

 

"Shocking appalling and unnecessary," is how the Chair of the DC Chapter of the National Lawyer's Guild Demonstration Support Committee Mark Goldstone describes the NSA actions.  Goldstone, who often represents activists who engage in non-violent civil disobedience, is not counsel in this litigation.  "This surveillance is completely unrelated to even an expansive definition of 'national security.'"

 

"The NSA must be spying on us from the federal post office right across a small street from the AFSC," Allwine said.  "It's the only place that gives them enough of a view to see our cars/license plate numbers."

 

 

The monitoring is ongoing.  Allwine says that at demonstrations the police "have had cookies and drinks set up for us (we don't partake!) and tell us they knew we were coming."

 

Goldstone says the impact of NSA surveillance is worrisome.

 

"People should not be afraid to speak out, and unfortunately evidence of domestic spying tends to chill people's interest in speaking out- thus chilling and limiting our precious First Amendment rights," he told RAW STORY. "Nothing that the Pledge does, either by their public advocacy against the war or their non-violent civil disobedience/resistance to war can be plausibly seen as a threat to United States national security, as the group is pledged to non-violence and non-property destruction guidelines."

 

David Rocah, a staff attorney with the Maryland ACLU, adds, "There is obviously a well-founded concern of law enforcement monitoring of First Amendment activities.  The ACLU and others have exposed such activities all over the country resulting in law suits."

 

“The Number Of Americans Subject To Eavesdropping By The NSA Could Be In The Millions”

 

10 January 2006 By Brian Ross, ABC News

 

Russell Tice, a longtime insider at the National Security Agency, is now a whistleblower the agency would like to keep quiet.

 

For 20 years, Tice worked in the shadows as he helped the United States spy on other people's conversations around the world.

 

"I specialized in what's called special access programs," Tice said of his job. "We called them 'black world' programs and operations."

 

"The mentality was we need to get these guys, and we're going to do whatever it takes to get them," he said.

 

According to Tice, intelligence analysts use the information to develop graphs that resemble spiderwebs linking one suspect's phone number to hundreds or even thousands more.

 

President Bush has admitted that he gave orders that allowed the NSA to eavesdrop on a small number of Americans without the usual requisite warrants.

 

But Tice disagrees. He says the number of Americans subject to eavesdropping by the NSA could be in the millions if the full range of secret NSA programs is used.

 

"That would mean for most Americans that if they conducted, or you know, placed an overseas communication, more than likely they were sucked into that vacuum," Tice said.

 

Poker With Dick Cheney

 

From: John Gingerich, Veterans For Peace

Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005

Subject: Poker With Dick Cheney

 

Poker With Dick Cheney:

 

Transcript of The Editors' regular Saturday-night poker game with Dick Cheney, 6/19/04. Start tape at 12:32 AM.