From: Barking@The.Moon   
      
   Thats pretty cool. Now if we can just screen them all out during the job   
   application process, perhaps we can use Darwins theories to make society   
   more obedient to warmakers !!!   
      
      
      
      
      
      
   > F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies   
   > By ERIC LICHTBLAU   
   >   
   > Published: November 23, 2003   
   >   
   >   
   > ASHINGTON, Nov. 22 - The Federal Bureau of Investigation has collected   
   > extensive information on the tactics, training and organization of antiwar   
   > demonstrators and has advised local law enforcement officials to report   
   any   
   > suspicious activity at protests to its counterterrorism squads, according   
   to   
   > interviews and a confidential bureau memorandum.   
   >   
   >  Advertisement   
   >   
   >   
   > The memorandum, which the bureau sent to local law enforcement agencies   
   last   
   > month in advance of antiwar demonstrations in Washington and San   
   Francisco,   
   > detailed how protesters have sometimes used "training camps" to rehearse   
   for   
   > demonstrations, the Internet to raise money and gas masks to defend   
   against   
   > tear gas. The memorandum analyzed lawful activities like recruiting   
   > demonstrators, as well as illegal activities like using fake documentation   
   to   
   > get into a secured site.   
   >   
   > F.B.I. officials said in interviews that the intelligence-gathering effort   
   was   
   > aimed at identifying anarchists and "extremist elements" plotting   
   violence, not   
   > at monitoring the political speech of law-abiding protesters.   
   >   
   > The initiative has won the support of some local police, who view it as a   
   > critical way to maintain order at large-scale demonstrations. Indeed, some   
   law   
   > enforcement officials said they believed the F.B.I.'s approach had helped   
   to   
   > ensure that nationwide antiwar demonstrations in recent months, drawing   
   > hundreds of thousands of protesters, remained largely free of violence and   
   > disruption.   
   >   
   > But some civil rights advocates and legal scholars said the monitoring   
   program   
   > could signal a return to the abuses of the 1960's and 1970's, when J.   
   Edgar   
   > Hoover was the F.B.I. director and agents routinely spied on political   
   > protesters like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   
   >   
   > "The F.B.I. is dangerously targeting Americans who are engaged in nothing   
   more   
   > than lawful protest and dissent," said Anthony Romero, executive director   
   of   
   > the American Civil Liberties Union. "The line between terrorism and   
   legitimate   
   > civil disobedience is blurred, and I have a serious concern about whether   
   we're   
   > going back to the days of Hoover."   
   >   
   > Herman Schwartz, a constitutional law professor at American University who   
   has   
   > written about F.B.I. history, said collecting intelligence at   
   demonstrations is   
   > probably legal.   
   >   
   > But he added: "As a matter of principle, it has a very serious chilling   
   effect   
   > on peaceful demonstration. If you go around telling people, `We're going   
   to   
   > ferret out information on demonstrations,' that deters people. People   
   don't   
   > want their names and pictures in F.B.I. files."   
   >   
   > The abuses of the Hoover era, which included efforts by the F.B.I. to   
   harass   
   > and discredit Hoover's political enemies under a program known as   
   Cointelpro,   
   > led to tight restrictions on F.B.I. investigations of political   
   activities.   
   >   
   > Those restrictions were relaxed significantly last year, when Attorney   
   General   
   > John Ashcroft issued guidelines giving agents authority to attend   
   political   
   > rallies, mosques and any event "open to the public."   
   >   
   > Mr. Ashcroft said the Sept. 11 attacks made it essential that the F.B.I.   
   be   
   > allowed to investigate terrorism more aggressively. The bureau's recent   
   > strategy in policing demonstrations is an outgrowth of that policy,   
   officials   
   > said.   
   >   
   > "We're not concerned with individuals who are exercising their   
   constitutional   
   > rights," one F.B.I. official said. "But it's obvious that there are   
   individuals   
   > capable of violence at these events. We know that there are anarchists   
   that are   
   > actively involved in trying to sabotage and commit acts of violence at   
   these   
   > different events, and we also know that these large gatherings would be a   
   prime   
   > target for terrorist groups."   
   >   
   > Civil rights advocates, relying largely on anecdotal evidence, have   
   complained   
   > for months that federal officials have surreptitiously sought to suppress   
   the   
   > First Amendment rights of antiwar demonstrators.   
   >   
   > Critics of the Bush administration's Iraq policy, for instance, have sued   
   the   
   > government to learn how their names ended up on a "no fly" list used to   
   stop   
   > suspected terrorists from boarding planes. Civil rights advocates have   
   accused   
   > federal and local authorities in Denver and Fresno, Calif., of spying on   
   > antiwar demonstrators or infiltrating planning meetings. And the New York   
   > Police Department this year questioned many of those arrested at   
   demonstrations   
   > about their political affiliations, before halting the practice and   
   expunging   
   > the data in the face of public criticism.   
   >   
   > The F.B.I. memorandum, however, appears to offer the first corroboration   
   of a   
   > coordinated, nationwide effort to collect intelligence regarding   
   > demonstrations.   
   >   
   >   
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