Just another example of how whacked out the GWB administration has gotten. First they call the NEA a terrorist organization, then they say it is good for the economy to move jobs overseas, and now legal protest guaranteed by our Constitution is subversive. This Wacko-Right administration seems to have no concept of the real world. Just GBW land.
John McDowell
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Baier [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 3:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [HP3000-L] OT: Re: Iraq/Al-Qaeda
John,
this fits exactly in your point-of-view. It is scary.
http://desmoinesregister.com/news/stories/c4788993/23504845.html
U.S. officials drop activist subpoenas
Judge lifts Drake gag order in probe of anti-war protest
By JEFF ECKHOFF and MARK SIEBERT 02/11/2004
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Federal authorities retreated Tuesday in their investigation of an Iowa
anti-war demonstration, withdrawing grand jury subpoenas delivered last
week to four peace activists and Drake University.
The shift came as the investigation drew nationwide condemnation from civil
liberties advocates, politicians and peace activists.
Also Tuesday, a federal judge lifted a gag order on Drake, where employees
had been ordered not to discuss an inquiry into a meeting the anti-war
activists held there Nov. 15. Federal authorities had asked for records of
the campus chapter of the National Lawyers Guild - which hosted the anti-
war conference - and for the impressions campus police had of the gathering.
"Whatever one's views of the political positions articulated at that
meeting," Drake President David Maxwell said in court papers unsealed
Tuesday, "the university cherishes and protects the right to express those
views without fear of reprisal or recrimination."
Brian Terrell, one of the four activists originally ordered to appear
before the grand jury, announced the government switch at a noontime rally
Tuesday in front of the federal building in Des Moines.
"Friends, the piece of news that I have is historic. The subpoenas against
the four of us were dropped today," Terrell said to the cheers of about 150
people.
Federal officials declined to say why they asked the grand jury to quash
the subpoenas.
Al Overbaugh, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Des Moines,
declined to comment Tuesday, other than to say the moves didn't necessarily
signal that the investigation had ended.
The federal investigation became public last week when a Polk County
sheriff's deputy - identifying himself as a member of the FBI Joint
Terrorism Task Force - delivered several subpoenas.
Facing growing concern, the U.S. attorney in Des Moines, Stephen Patrick
O'Meara, took the unusual step Monday of acknowledging the secret grand
jury investigation. He denied the investigation was in any way related to
terrorism.
The investigation, he said in his statement, involved an alleged attempt to
enter the fenced, secure perimeter at Camp Dodge, the home of the Iowa
National Guard. Federal authorities said Monday that part of their
investigation was focused on whether a "prior agreement to violate federal
law" was hatched at the Nov. 15 conference.
The peace activists' conference and nonviolence training session - held at
Drake after police and the media were notified - was called "Stop the
Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home!" The next day, activists went to the
Iowa National Guard headquarters at Camp Dodge, where 12 people were
arrested for trespassing.
Polk County authorities agree with demonstrators' assertions that no one
tried to scale a fence. The only arrest that appeared to come close to
fitting O"Meara's description was that of Elton Davis, one of the
subpoenaed activists who was charged with trespass at a Camp Dodge gate
roughly one-quarter mile south of the main demonstration.
Davis on Tuesday denied he crossed an official boundary. Instead, he said,
he simply walked up to a gate and asked to speak to a commanding officer.
"I told him I was there to establish an ongoing presence at the base,"
Davis said. "I would like to occupy the base. I would like his help with
accommodations, would like an office . . . to work with the command
authority to bring home people who were trapped in Iraq by a failure of
foreign policy.
"At which point he almost fell down laughing."
Court papers say Davis was arrested after he "entered onto federal property
and remained there after being ordered to leave" by federal officials.
Documents say he pleaded no contest and served three days in jail.
Ben Stone, executive director of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, also
voiced skepticism of O'Meara's explanation.
"If this was just a trespassing investigation, then why seek the records of
the National Lawyers Guild?" he asked those at the rally.
Drake law professor Sally Frank, the university's local contact for the
guild, told those at the rally that "what we've had here for the last week
in Des Moines is an intense effort to stifle dissent."
Frank and others in the crowd symbolically placed tape or cloth over their
mouths, while two Des Moines police detectives videotaped the event from a
hotel room across from the federal building. The detectives said they were
told to monitor the event "in case someone caused problems."
Several in the crowd carried signs critical of U.S. Attorney General John
Ashcroft.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin went a step further, asking Ashcroft in a letter to
make sure civil liberties were not trampled on in this case. "Prosecutors
should be especially vigilant about using extraordinary steps in cases when
such a treasured American value as free speech is at stake," Harkin wrote.
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley also expressed concern about the impression left
on peace activists that they had been subpoenaed by the anti-terrorism task
force.
"I will be following this case closely to help make sure that the
Department of Justice protects and defends people's constitutional
rights,'' Grassley said.
On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 12:27:48 -0500, JohnMcDowell <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>Scott, Remember that a conservative believes that we have to freedom to do
what they tell us to do, and believe what they tell us to believe. True
freedom has nothing to do with their beliefs.
>
>John McDowell
>
> -----Original Message-----
>From: Gates, Scott [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 11:52 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Iraq/Al-Qaeda
>
>Are you saying that the 'will of the people' should be ignored when it
>doesn't jive with administration policy?
>
>Perhaps there is a new definition of 'democracy' of which I've not been
made
>aware.
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Jim Mc Coy [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 11:54 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [HP3000-L] Iraq/Al-Qaeda
>
>
>They oppose everything we do, just like the socialists that won the
>elections in spain and the demomcrats do here.
>
>jm
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Brice Yokem" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 11:04 AM
>Subject: [HP3000-L] Iraq/Al-Qaeda
>
>
>> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4522638/
>>
>> So why does Al-Qaeda oppose the Iraq occupation?
>>
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