Chicago activist Stephanie Weiner speaking at a press conference outside the federal building downtown. Weiner and 13 other activists were subpoenaed by the government for their political work. (Photo: Abayomi Azikiwe)
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By William Fisher, IPS/GIN
Oct 3, 2010 - 10:58:37 PM
NEW YORK (FinalCall.com) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation improperly spied on U.S. activists involved in First Amendment-protected activities and mischaracterized nonviolent civil disobedience as terrorism, which placed innocent activists on terror watch lists, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) charged in response to a new report by the Justice Department's Inspector General.
Inspector General Glenn A. Fine undertook his investigation after a Freedom of Information Act request by the ACLU uncovered evidence that “the FBI was chilling political association and improperly investigating peaceful advocacy groups,” the civil rights group said in a statement.
The Inspector General found the improper investigations were often opened based on “factually weak” or even “speculative” justifications, and were sometimes extended in duration without sufficient basis.
The IG said that the low standard for opening investigations under the 2002 Attorney General Guidelines, which required only the “possibility” of a federal crime, contributed to the problem.
“The FBI also made false and misleading statements to Congress and the American public to mute criticism over its unlawful spying activities, including a false claim that improper surveillance of a 2002 anti-war protest in Pittsburgh was related to a separate, validly approved FBI investigation,” the report alleges.
It says that this incorrect information was repeated by FBI Director Robert Mueller before Congress and in communications between the bureau and Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, who is chair of the committee.
Michael German, ACLU senior policy counsel and a former FBI agent, told IPS, “Basically what the IG report shows that the FBI spied on a lot of political activists for no good reason. This wasn't just a waste of time and resources that could have been better spent looking at real criminals and terrorists, it had real consequences for the victims, getting them placed in terrorism databases and watchlists that led to more spying and travel delays. And unfortunately in many of the cases, the IG said the FBI's rules allowed this inappropriate spying.”
Despite the public outcry over the 2006 disclosure that federal agents had investigated dozens of domestic political advocacy groups, the FBI was motivated by concerns that members of the groups might commit crimes and was not spying on them because of their political views, the IG's report said.
However, the report is sharply critical of the FBI for characterizing certain nonviolent crimes related to protest activities as terrorism. And it attacked the bureau for making a series of “false and misleading statements to the public and to Congress” about its surveillance of an antiwar protest on Nov. 29, 2002.
The FBI was quick to revert to defensive mode. An FBI spokesman, Michael Kortan, told the Washington Post that the report's most important finding was that after “an exhaustive review of hundreds of investigative decisions the FBI made after the Sep. 11 attacks,” the IG's office “did not uncover even a single instance where the FBI targeted any group based on the exercise of a First Amendment right.”
Mr. Kortan also said that the report did not suggest “any significant modifications” of the bureau's investigative powers.
The report involved investigations of antiwar, environmentalist and animal rights groups from the 2001 terrorist attacks through much of the administration of President George W. Bush.
In an extensive article on the report, New York Times writer Charlie Savage noted that in the case of the 2002 Pittsburgh protest, an FBI agent who attended the event detailed leafleting by people associated with the Thomas Merton Center, described in the agent's report as a “left-wing organization” that advocated pacifism, to protest the coming Iraq war.
The account described the leaflets as making such claims as that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction and raised questions about whether the centre was linked to Muslims.
Later, FBI director Mueller told Congress that the agent was trying to “identify an individual who happened to be, we believed, in attendance at that rally.”
But the inspector general found this story to be false: a supervisor had sent the agent to the protest as a “make-work” assignment to see if any subjects of Pittsburgh terrorism investigations “happened to show up without having any reason to think any of them would be there.”
The Times reports that the agent later told the inspector general's office that he had gone overboard in carrying out that task because he was a recent hire, and he described the report as “atrocious” and a “horrible mistake,” saying he could “understand why people would become inflamed about it.”
Anti-war activists targeted by FBI speak out
By Karen Hawkins Associated Press
Oct 3, 2010 - 10:40:13 PM
CHICAGO (FinalCall.com) - Two anti-war activists said that a 12-hour search of their Chicago home by the FBI was an attempt to intimidate them and silence the peace movement.
Joe Iosbaker and his wife, Stephanie Weiner, said the government targeted them because they've been outspoken against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. funding of conflicts abroad. They denied any wrongdoing.
The FBI said it searched eight addresses in Minneapolis and Chicago Sept. 24. Warrants suggest agents were looking for connections between local anti-war activists and groups in Colombia and the Middle East.
Activists Iosbaker and Weiner declined to discuss their relationship with any groups abroad, citing their upcoming testimony before a grand jury on Oct. 5.
“These raids, searches and grand jury investigations are nothing more than an attempt to intimidate us and to intimidate the anti-war movement,” Mr. Iosbaker said. “We have done nothing wrong.”
FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said the bureau's investigations “are predicated on criminal violations, not First Amendment protected activities.”
When reached Sept. 24, FBI spokesman Steve Warfield declined to provide details of the searches, but said there was no imminent threat to the community and the agency wasn't anticipating any arrests “at this time.” He said the FBI was seeking evidence related to “activities concerning the material support of terrorism.”
The homes of longtime Minneapolis anti-war activists Mick Kelly, Jess Sundin and Meredith Aby were among those searched. All three were also subpoenaed to appear before a federal grand jury in Chicago this month.
The warrant for Mr. Kelly's home, provided by his attorney, sought evidence on travel he did as part of his work for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and information on any travel to Colombia, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Syria or Israel.
Two groups use the name Freedom Road Socialist Organization, one based in Chicago and one in New York. They split several years ago, and the New York group said it was not targeted.
The Web site for the Chicago group, which describes itself as a “revolutionary socialist and Marxist-Leninist organization,” shows Kelly and Sundin have been affiliated with it. Mr. Kelly edits FightBack!, a Minneapolis-based Web site and newspaper for the group.
Mr. Kelly's subpoena also commanded him to bring records he might have relating to the Middle East and Colombia, along with “all records of any payment provided directly or indirectly to Hatam Abudayyeh.”
The subpoena did not further identify Mr. Abudayyeh, but FightBack! has interviewed and carried articles by a Hatam Abudayyeh who is the executive director of the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network.
Mr. Abudayyeh did not return a phone message left at his office Sept. 24, and his office mailbox was full Sept. 25. His cell phone voicemail was also full. Several activists said their cell phones had been confiscated by the FBI.
The Web site for the Arab American Action Network describes the organization as a “grassroots nonprofit” that “strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area by building its capacity to be an active agent for positive social change.”
Melinda Power, an attorney representing peace workers Iosbaker and Weiner, said the couple know Mr. Abudayyeh through their work on Palestinian issues, but she didn't know the extent of their relationship. She said Mr. Abudayyeh is Palestinian.
Atty. Power said Mr. Iosbaker, 51, works at the University of Illinois in Chicago, though she didn't know in what capacity, and his wife was a college teacher. UIC's Web site lists Mr. Iosbaker as assistant to the associate chancellor for sustainability.
Mr. Iosbaker and Ms. Weiner said the raid wouldn't stop them from speaking out. Activists are planning protests outside of FBI offices around the country, they said.
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