Please read (and alert others to) this article, which was published in the Los Angeles Times on June 23. The story exposes a bizarre scheme by cops in Fresno county, California. Their mission: Infiltrating anti-war activists.
The anti-war group in question, Peace Fresno, was obviously a small-potatoes operation. Retirees, mostly. About 25 would show up at meetings. On weekends, they would pass out flyers on a street corner in Fresno. No big whoop, as they used to say on CoffeeTawk.
And yet the cops infiltrated the group! The undercover operation was revealed only when the "inside" man died in an accident and an obit was published. Group members recognized the face, though not the name, of the man who had been skulking around their meetings.
A spokesman for the Fresno county police told journalists: "The department will continue to utilize legal methods for collecting, evaluating, collating, analyzing and disseminating criminal intelligence of terrorist and organized crime organizations to accomplish its mission, while respecting the constitutional rights of all persons."
Terrorists? Organized Crime? How does handing out flyers count as terrorism or crime?
Bushites scoff at those who say that anti-terrorist measures can be used against political dissenters. If you should meet such a scoffer, show 'em this article. The time has come to stop saying "It can happen here." It has happened here.
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