TruthToTell Dec 6: THE FBI AT WAR IN MINNESOTA: The New Gestapo? AUDIO BELOW

It’s come to this: it has become illegal to disagree with this nation’s government, its policies, its cavalier entries into war and to say anything publicly that would thus appear threatening to those policies, no matter how unconstitutional they may be.

(Check out the links among the details below for a virtual library of articles and books and sites addressing these critical issues)

This week, we dive into that morass commonly called national or homeland security, but we try to get down to cases about why the FBI raided the homes of several local activists in the antiwar movement (JESS SUNDIN, a Minnesota Leader in The AntiWar Committee and COMMITTEE TO STOP FBI REPRESSION was one – and couldn’t be with us after all.), and why US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago has insisted that three antiwar women activists – Tracy Molm, Sarah Martin and Anh Pham – are being called back before the Grand Jury in Chicago from the Twin Cities must appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago very soon.

According to Friday’s, Dec 3rd alert from the Committee to Stop FBI Repression and the National Lawyers Guild:

The FBI has informed a lawyer from the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) that at least three subpoenas to appear before a Grand Jury have been delivered in the Chicago area.

Attorney Jim Fennerty confirmed that FBI agent Robert Parker informed him just before 1:00 pm today that the subpoenas were being delivered at that moment.

This is a continuation of the assault on the anti-war movement that began on September 24th. This case began with 14 subpoenas delivered to anti-war, labor and solidarity activists in coordinated raids that swept the Midwest, involving scores of federal agents.

 “The FBI is continuing their campaign to intimidate the movement,” stated Joe Iosbaker of the national Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Iosbaker was one of those raided and subpoenaed in September.

Jim Fennerty is one of the lead NLG attorneys from the legal team for the activists. According to Fennerty, “The new subpoenas are summoning people for grand jury dates. At least one of the three has been told to appear before the grand jury Tuesday, January 25th, in the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago.”

Three of the original 14 are awaiting new grand jury court dates as well. Iosbaker explained, “If the three women who have been called back – Sara (sic) Martin, Tracy Molm and Anh Pham – refuse to take part in the fishing expedition carried on by the U.S. Attorney, they can expect to be cited for contempt and jailed for the life of the grand jury.” (boldfaced type ours)

Oh, they may not be coming to get you right away, but stories about the overreach of the US government into the lives of other peoples is only as bad as its intrusions into the lives and welfare of average American citizens dissenting from, protesting and challenging the authority of the police, the FBI, Homeland Security, the TSA, ICE, DEA, CIA and the entire alphabet soup that makes up the country’s military and law enforcement community. And it becomes increasingly apparent that the current administration, the President and his Justice Department are almost as stifling of our First and Fourth Amendment freedoms as any Fascist regime history has dealt humanity.

Extreme? Before you laugh over my very serious use of that term as it applies to much of what has been termed and institutionalized as national security, homeland security and other post-9-11 federal agencies, listen to this hour’s discussion about what is actually going on at home and abroad in the land – our land – as witnessed by the raids conducted, subpoenas issued to and spying invoked on, and generally nasty treatment of  – citizens and immigrants, dissenters and demonstrators, travelers and at-home residents who resist privacy invasions or challenge arrests for even minor offenses. The evidence is rapidly mounting in all of these disparate quarters – word of mouth tales, stories published by credible reporters and publications and videos appearing online of just how bad it’s getting between we the people and our federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. The resemblance to the Gestapo of legendary German fame is all too clear, according to credible observers*.

TTT’S ANDY DRISCOLL and LYNNELL MICKELSEN talk with one of the activists raided, one of the subpoenaed women and a defense counselor, along with two former FBI agents. Why are our law enforcement agencies at all levels being used to kill peaceful dissent from public policies that started and keep us at continuous war inside and outside the United States?

*See:

 Milton Mayer, They Thought They Were Free-The Germans, 1933-45 (The University of Chicago Press, 1955) (Excerpt here and here)

“The FBI successfully thwarts its own Terrorist plot” by Glenn Greenwald – Salon Magazine (Nov 28, 2010)

 “The Fear Factory” by Guy Lawson – Rolling Stone (January 25, 2008)

“Ex-Joint Base Lewis-McChord employee who allegedly spied on anti-war group helped Tacoma (WA) Police, Pierce (County) Sheriff” – StarTribune (December 3rd, 2010)

“Here Come Homeland Security Internet Police, and They’re Already Shutting Down Web Sites They Don’t Like” By Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, AlterNet (December 3, 2010)

SOME WEBSITES TAKING THIS RISING FEDERAL AND LOCAL POWER TO TASK:

BILL OF RIGHTS DEFENSE COMMITTEE  defending the rule of law and rights and liberties challenged by overbroad national security and counter-terrorism policies.

PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN FOR THE CONSTITUTION (focusing on ways to prevent local law enforcement from serving as agents for Homeland Security)

COMMITTEE TO STOP FBI REPRESSION

ARTICLE: Ex-Joint Base Lewis-McChord employee who allegedly spied on anti-war group helped Tacoma Police, Pierce Sheriff