Statement - John Amidon, Target of Illegal Spying

It was April 20, 2005. We stood in front of the fountain at the SUNY Albany, Campus Center. As a member of Veterans For Peace, I had been asked to speak about honesty in recruitment, and about discrimination against gay and lesbian Americans by the U.S. military. New York State law prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual preference- that is, unless the employer is the U.S. military. Approximately 75 students and community members attended this rally, most supporting the exclusion of recruiters from campus if recruiters continued their discrimination. It was a spirited dialogue, with discussion of important id
eas ranging far beyond the stated purpose of this demonstration. The few dissenters were also open to dialogue. The disastrous and illegal war in Iraq, the energy crisis, and the continued erosion of civil liberties were very real concerns to everyone present. Little did we know we were being spied on that day!
Seven months later in December of 2005, NBC News aired a story about groups being spied on by the government. The SUNY Albany event was one the ones that had been watched. Where was the threat to national security? I certainly don't feel like a threat, and I didn't feel threatened by the other people who attended the protest even those who disagreed with me.
When asked how I felt about being spied on, I couldn't help but reflect on the breadth and scope of the U.S. intelligence community: the NSA, the CIA, the FBI, the Pentagon, private contractors, informants, spies, the DEA, AFT, and secret units I have yet to learn about. How, then, did they fail to predict the S
oviet Union's demise, the 1998 Indian nuclear test, or the a!
bsence of Saddam's WMDs? Both al Qaeda's planning of 9/11 and its operatives were missed and the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was bombed in 1999. Currently the Bush administration continues to ignore, discredit or distort what little real intelligence remains. On top of all this, I learn the military is spying on me. How do I feel? Genuinely irritated, but not astonished. Just what the hell is going on here?
Maybe, just maybe if the leaders of the "Free" world stopped spying on Quakers and librarians and Veterans For Peace, they might actually engage in the work we are paying them to do - protect rather than harm and threaten us. When the administration replaces life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with death, destruction and the pursuit of madness; when the three branches of the Federal government are aligned with the Fourth Estate in coercion and corruption; when the" rule of law" is replaced by" the law of man", I fear we have lost our Republic and have wrought ourselves a dictatorship. How do I feel? I feel angry, depressed and disgusted. I also feel strongly motivated to affirm and protect our inalienable rights and freedoms. I served honorably as a Corporal in the Marines during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1969. I swore an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I still intend to honor that oath. I am not intimidated by the government spying on me. I am empowered by it. I am an average guy and I know the fate of our nation now rests in our hands. There is a real urgency now to right the course of this nation and we need everyone to participate in restoring the rule of law to our lives and to our nation. Truly that is how I feel.

This item is also available on the web at: http://aclu.org/safefree/general/24185res20060217.html

Statement - Debbie Clark, Target of Illegal Spying

I served eight years on active duty in the US Army between 1976 and 1984 - five years in the Military Police and Military Police Investigations and three years as a Special Agent in the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID). I was honorably discharged from active duty just prior to the birth of my first child in order to be a full-time mother at home while my then-husband remained in the military. I have been engaged in antiwar activities as a member of Veterans For Peace since before the Iraq war began.
When I first read the news about the Pentagon spying on our antiwar activities two of which were protests that I had pe
rsonally engaged in (one outside of Fort Bragg, NC in March 2005 led by veterans and military families, and the other one near an Army Recruiting Station in Atlanta, GA on Ponce de Leon Avenue), my reaction was basically one of no surprise. I have always pretty much assumed that the government had our activities under surveillance and monitoring to at least some degree or another, but always felt it was important to continue on in our opposition to the war. We have been doing nothing wrong, but rather have been acting as vigilant Americans should act in a time when government officials are suspected of high crimes and treason and misusing our intelligence agencies and military troops for a war of aggression rather than for defense of the nation.
It was interesting to me to see my suspicions of government monitoring of our activities validated and in the news and refreshing to my jaded eyes to see the strong reaction against the Pentagon spying by organizers and activists, bo
th locally and nationwide.
I consider the Pentagon spying on!
our act
ivities to be a massive waste of taxpayer money and intelligence manpower and resources that could be better spent doing something that would be more beneficial to the nation. I can only assume that the agents who have been involved in this are not competent to discern the difference between real terrorists (like the ones that were ignored by the FBI prior to 9/11) and honorable, law-abiding American citizens who are dedicated to the cause of peace and justice.
America as a nation has some shameful things in its history, but there are also many good things about it, not the least of which is that it was founded by rebels like Thomas Jefferson and has a historical record reflecting a significant degree of respect and honor for the principle of free speech and dissent against government. Even in these repressive times with criminals in Washington running the government, it is good to see that there are still people who honor the principle of free speech and dissent against gove
rnment and truly understand the importance of these things in the attempted recovery and maintenance of a free and peaceful nation.
I salute the ACLU and Bob Barr of Georgia for their continued vigilance in this eternal struggle for liberty.

This item is also available on the web at:
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/spyfiles/24155res20060215.html

After War Injury, an Iraq Vet Takes on Politics http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006C.shtml Tammy Duckworth, Democratic candidate for Congress, cannot escape the catastrophic wounds she suffered as an Army helicopter pilot in Iraq. Her injuries are her signature, her motivator and, she hopes, her ticket into the consciousness of voters in the Illinois 6th District. Duckworth, who considers the Iraq war a mistake, is among about a dozen veterans who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and are running for federal office this year, at last count all but one of them Democrats.

Joe Galloway Military Vehicles, and Lives, Take a Beating in Iraq http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006E.shtml Joe Galloway: There are always costs in a war, human costs and hardware costs, and as we draw close to beginning the fourth year of our operations in Iraq, it's time to tally those costs one more time.

The Other Failure in Iraq: the Economy http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006H.shtml Eric Le Boucher reminds us that the American "economic reconstruction" of Iraq has left that country economically worse-off than it was before: "The gap between the reconstruction objectives settled upon after Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003 and reality only continue to grow."

Marjorie Cohn US Force-Feeding Prisoners in Torture Camp http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006J.shtml Last week, the United Nations Human Rights Commission reported that the violent force-feeding of detainees by the US military at its Guantanamo prison camp amounts to torture. More than a third of the prisoners held there have refused food to protest being held incommunicado for years with no hope of release. They have concluded that death could not be worse than the living hell they are enduring.

The Actual Price We've Paid http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/022006N.shtml "To see people die, your friends get hurt over seven months, it can't be explained unless you've been here," Barrient, 21, of Salinas, California, added, speaking in a cold, tiled room filled with bunkbeds as the Muslim call to prayer echoed from mosques down the street. "The actual price we've paid to help this country out - it's unexplainable."