HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN THE US

Virtual Truth Commission

Surveillance of Domestic Groups

CISPES. Significantly, CISPES has five separate file entries on the tapes police seized from Gerard's personal computer soon after his escape to the Philippines. "My story is the kind of thing that sells spy novels," Gerard told the LA Times Bob Drogin.

Boston Area MAI Action Group Sponsors Co-sponsored by Public Citizen, Center for Popular Economics, CPPAX, Franklin Research and Development Corp. , Mobilization for Survival, Boston CISPES, Sisters of Saint Joseph Office of Justice and Peace, 5th District Citizens Concerned about Central America, New England Council for Responsible Investing and others.

S. Brian Willson, former Captain in the U. S. Air Force and combat security officer in Vietnam in 1969, was investigated along with others in the 1980s as a suspected domestic "terrorist," due to steadfast nonviolent resistance to U.S. military aggression, including the widespread use of terror, conducted in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala in violation of fundamental human rights and numerous international laws. A 21-year veteran FBI agent, responding to his own conscience, refused orders to investigate Brian and five others as suspected "terrorists," disclosing the conveniently rationalized political application of this term by the U.S. government. Brian Willson is a trained lawyer and currently serves as co-chair of the John Steinbeck IV Veterans For Peace Chapter #46, Monterey, California (33 Portola Ave., Monterey, CA 93940, ph. 831-644-0111). S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

"Over the years we have been warned about the danger of subversive organizations that would threaten our liberties, subvert our system, would encourage its members to take further illegal action to advance their views, organizations that would incite and promote violence, pitting one American group against another... There is an organization that does fit those descriptions, and it is the organization, the leadership of which has been most constant in its warning to us to be on guard against such harm. The [FBI] did all of those things." -- Sen. Philip A. Hart Select Committee on Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans, 1975

Martin Luther King, Jr. was reported to be under surveillance by the FBI and by the 111th Military Intelligence Group out of Fort McPherson, Georgia in 1968 at the time he was killed.

Subversion of liberties in Puerto Rico.

Subversion of Justice

Judy Bari of Earth First, who died of breast cancer in 1997, was the victim of a bomb blast in 1990. The FBI and Oakland Police conspired to target Judi Bari and Earth First! for political reasons; lied to the media and the courts; falsified evidence; blamed the victims without any evidence; ignored evidence pointing to the real bombers covered up their own wrongdoing.

In a 1996 Monitor interview, Bari said FBI attorney Joseph Sher had boasted to her that he would drag the suit out for twenty years. FBI lawyers used similar delaying tactics when the Socialist Workers Party filed suit in 1973 against the Bureau over secret disruption tactics. That case came to trial after 18 years, and was decided in favor of SWP after five more years. The judge in that case ruled that the Bureau had violated the basic rights of the plaintiffs over an extended period through "the FBI's disruption activities, surreptitious entries and use of informants." Stop Police From Stalling Trial, Judi Bari Lawyer Tells Court

Disruption of Domestic Groups

Varelli, Frank, former FBI informer, infiltrated CISPES, 1981. Told to seduce nun who headed CISPES. Gave information about Americans in America to El Salvador National Guard so they could arrange for actions against Americans in U.S. Interview transcript.

FBI Cointelpro Program Analysis of FBI activity in the 1970's, involving extensive disruption of left-wing activities. "Political manipulation by the FBI was not random, but as the stolen documents showed, it was aimed specifically at left-of-center and liberal groups - groups like the New Left, the Communist Party U.S.A. (CPUSA) and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). FBI activities involved sponsoring of local right wing groups and engagement of various illegal activities.

In the late '80s two FBI undercover operatives spent over a year infiltrating the small Arizona group, trying to steer them into using the incendiary explosive thermite, and offering to provide it. The activists refused to get involved with explosives but were persuaded to try using welding torches to take down a ski lift tower encroaching on a mountain sacred to Native Americans. The trap was sprung and the four served prison time after a plea bargain cut short their trial. During trial it came out that the FBI's mission in Operation Thermcon was to send a political message by ensnaring Earth First! co-founder and spokesman Dave Foreman in a manufactured conspiracy to use explosives. Nicholas Wilson, Rousing Sendoff for Bari at Memorial Party

Intimidation of the Press

Intimidation of the Press. Reagan added an important new component to the mix, however. He authorized an aggressive domestic "public diplomacy" operation which practiced what was called "perception management" -- in effect, intimidating journalists to ensure that only sanitized images would reach the American people. Reporters who disclosed atrocities by U.S.-trained forces, such as the El Mozote massacre by El Salvador's Atlacatl battalion in 1981, came under harsh criticism and saw their careers damaged. Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas", June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism

Domestic Covert Actions

The killing of Martin Luther King, Jr, on April 4, 1968, long viewed as an assassination carried out by one man, appears more as an extrajudicial execution following testimony in a 1999 wrongful death trial, in which witnesses testified to involvement of the Memphis Police Department, 111th Military Intelligence Group from Fort McPherson, Georgia, 20th Special Forces and the FBI.

Timothy McVeigh, on October 20, 1991, wrote his sister Jennifer that "he and nine other soldiers had been taken to a private intelligence briefing at Fort Bragg, where they were told they could be required to particiapte in government-sanctioned assassinations and government-sponsored drug trafficking. The government has always denied it carries out such assassinations and drug trafficking. "Why would Tim (characteristically nondrinker), super-successful in the Army (private to sergeant in 2 years) (Top Gun) (Bronze Star) (accepted into Special Forces) all of a sudden come home, party HARD, and just like that, announce he was not only 'disillusioned' by SF (Special Forces) but was, in fact, leaving the service?" he asked. The answer, he wrote, lay in what he learned at Fort BRagg, where he and the nine others were told they might be ordered to help the CIA "fly drugs into the U. S. to fund many covert operations," and to "work hand-in-hand with civilian police agencies" as "government-paid assassins." He wrote, "Do not spread this info, Jennifer, as you could (very honestly, seriously) endanger my life." New York Times News Service, "McVeigh calls government 'evil king' in letter to sister", Baltimore Sun, July 1, 1998, p. 14A.

"Counter-Terrorist Exercises"

S. Brian Willson, Who are the Real Terrorists: Why Some Veterans Oppose Counter-"Terrorist" Exercises. Article discusses "Urban Warror" training of Marine Corps personnel in 1999. While ostensibly to prepare U. S. personnel to deal with urban warfare situations in foreign countries, the training can equally well train them for urban warfare in the US, and simultaneously train civilian populations to accept the presence of the mlitary.

History of Domestic U. S. Military Interventions

CHICAGO/1894/Troops/Breaking of rail strike, 34 killed.

COLORADO/1914/Troops/Breaking of miners' strike by Army.

DAKOTA/1973/Command operation/Army directs Wounded Knee siege of Lakotas.

DETROIT/1943/Troops/Army puts down Black rebellion.

DETROIT/1967/Troops/Army battles Blacks, 43 killed.

HAWAII/1893 (-?)/Naval, troops/Independent kingdom overthrown, annexed.

IDAHO/1892/Troops/Army suppresses silver miners' strike.

IDAHO/1899-1901/Troops/Army occupies Coeur d'Alene mining region.

LOS ANGELES/1992/Troops/Army, Marines deployed against anti- police uprising.

MINNESOTA/1898(-?)/Troops/Army battles Chippewa at Leech Lake.

OKLAHOMA/1901/Troops/Army battles Creek Indian revolt.

PUERTO RICO/1898(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, occupation continues.

PUERTO RICO/1950/Command operation/Independence rebellion crushed in Ponce.

SOUTH DAKOTA/1890/Troops/300 Lakota Indians massacred at Wounded Knee

VIRGIN ISLANDS/1989/Troops/St. Croix Black unrest after storm.

WASHINGTON, D.C./1932/Troops/Army stops WWI vet bonus protest.

WEST VIRGINIA/1920-21/Troops, bombing/Army intervenes against mineworkers.

UNITED STATES/1968/Troops/After Martin Luther King is shot; over 21,000 soldiers in cities.

Source: S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

"Erosion of Posse Comitatus Ban on use of Military for Civilian Law Enforment"

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union sharply criticized the Pentagon's creation of a new command post today that includes responsibility for domestic law enforcement. Source: "Domestic Military Command Dangerous for Americans, Says ACLU", Press Release, Thursday, October 7, 1999. Contact DC Media Relations Office

"We sent troops to Haiti to put their military out of the business of domestic law enforcement because it undermines democracy," said Gregory T. Nojeim, a Legislative Counsel for the ACLU. "Now we are supposed to believe turning our military into a national police force will somehow strengthen our democracy?"
Today's announcement institutionalizes the substantial erosion of a century old ban, known as the Posse Comitatus Act, on military involvement in domestic law enforcement. Exceptions to the ban have often proven disastrous. In 1997, a Marine patrolling the Texas-Mexico border to prevent drug smuggling shot to death Ezekiel Hernandez, a student who was herding his family's goats.
Claims by the Pentagon that the new command will only play a "support role" to other agencies and that its troops will not act as a highly armed police unit are inconsistent with its own recent request that Congress expand its authority to intervene when crimes involve weapons of mass destruction.
A little-noticed provision inserted in the Defense Authorization bill signed into law this week at the request of the Defense Department expands a measure adopted that permitted military involvement in "emergencies" involving chemical and biological weapons crimes. The new measure allows the military to deal with any crimes involving chemical or biological weapons -- or any other weapon of mass destruction -- even when there is no "emergency."
"Under this new provision," Nojeim said, "the mere threat of an act of terrorism would justify calling in military units. That represents a loophole large enough to drive a battalion of army tanks through."
"It is ironic that the Pentagon is institutionalizing an operation in civilian policing at the same time Congress is investigating its participation in the Waco assault," Nojeim continued. "As the new Waco revelations demonstrate, the military must not be turned against the American people. Soldiers are trained to kill the enemy, not to enforce laws and respect civil rights and civil liberties."

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