Just Because You're Paranoid, Don't Mean They're Not After You [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
"This administration has engaged every possible agency, from the Pentagon [3] to the (National Security Agency [4]) to the F.B.I. [5], to engage in spying on Americans [6]," said an American Civil Liberties [7] Union legal director. The ACLU released more than 2,300 pages of heavily censored FBI documents [8], on agency "surveillance and intelligence-gathering operations that involved, at least indirectly, groups active in causes as diverse as the environment, animal cruelty and poverty relief." The documents mention surveillance of an Indianapolis "Vegan Community Project," describe Catholic Workers as having a "semi-communistic ideology," and seek information on llama fur protests by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals [9]. An FBI spokesperson said the agency "does not target individuals or organizations ... based on their political beliefs." Earl Ofari Hutchinson wonders [10] "why anyone is shocked that President Bush [11] eavesdropped on Americans." Since its founding, the NSA has monitored "Muslim extremists, Communists, peace activists, black radicals, civil rights leaders, and drug peddlers," he writes.