[Peace-discuss] Attack on the press

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I've posted to this list a number of articles from Capitol
Hill Blue (<http://www.capitolhillblue.com/>), which calls
itself "a not-for-profit, non-commercial experiment in on-line
journalism published as an information resource for our
readers." They've dealt with the psychology as well as the
politics of the leaders of the the current administration,
which Noam Chomsky has called the most dangerous in US
history.  I'm a bit concerned, given the story narrated below
by the editor, Doug Thompson, that many of the links on their
website seem not to be working. --CGE]


  Bush declares war on freedom of the press
  March 6, 2006 07:44 AM / The Rant
  By DOUG THOMPSON

Using many of the questionable surveillance and monitoring
techniques that brought both questions and criticism to his
administration, President George W. Bush has launched a war
against reporters who write stories unfavorable to his actions
and is planning to prosecute journalists to make examples of
them in his "war on terrorism."

Bush recently directed Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to
use "whatever means at your disposal" to wiretap, follow,
harass and investigate journalists who have published stories
about the administration's illegal use of warrantless
wiretaps, use of faulty intelligence and anything else he
deems "detrimental to the war on terror."

Reporters for The New York Times, which along with Capitol
Hill Blue revealed use of the National Security Agency to
monitor phone calls and emails of Americans, say FBI agents
have interviewed them and criminal prosecutors at the Justice
Department admit they are laying "the groundwork for a grand
jury that could lead to criminal charges,"

CIA Director Porter Goss told Congress recently that "it is my
aim and it is my hope that we will witness a grand jury
investigation with reporters present being asked to reveal who
is leaking this information. I believe the safety of this
nation and the people of this country deserve nothing less."

As part of the investigation, the Justice Department,
Department of Homeland Security and the National Security
Agency are wiretapping reporters' phones, following
journalists on a daily basis, searching their homes and
offices under a USA Patriot Act provision that allows "secret
and undisclosed searches" and pouring over financial and
travel records of hundreds of Washington-based reporters.

Spokesmen for the Justice Department and Department of
Homeland Security admit there are "ongoing investigations"
regarding publication of stories "involving threats to
national security" but will not reveal what those
investigations include.

In addition to using the USA Patriot Act to pry into the lives
of journalists, the Justice Department has also dusted off a
pre-World War I law to prosecute people who receive classified
information, although the law was aimed at military personnel
not civilians.

"This is the first administration that I can remember,
including Nixon's, that said we need to think about a law that
would put journalists who print national security things up in
front of grand juries and put them in jail if they don't
reveal their sources," says David Gergen, who served as
President Regan's director of communication and also worked in
the Nixon and Ford White Houses.

Political scientist George Harleigh, who worked in the Nixon
administration, says such use of federal law enforcement
authority was illegal when Nixon tried it and still so today.

"We're talking about a basic violation of the Constitutional
guarantee of a free press as well as a violation of the rights
of privacy of American citizens," Harleigh says. "I had hoped
we would have learned our lessons from the Nixon era. Sadly,
it appears we have not."

In recent weeks, the FBI has issued hundreds of "National
Security Letters," directing employers, banks, credit card
companies, libraries and other entities to turn over records
on reporters. Under the USA Patriot Act, those who must turn
over the records are also prohibited from revealing they have
done so to the subject of the federal probes.

"The significance of this cannot be overstated," says
prominent New York litigator Glenn Greenwald. "In essence,
while the President sits in the White House undisturbed after
proudly announcing that he has been breaking the law and will
continue to do so, his slavish political appointees at the
Justice Department are using the mammoth law enforcement
powers of the federal government to find and criminally
prosecute those who brought this illegal conduct to light.

"This flamboyant use of the forces of criminal prosecution to
threaten whistle-blowers and intimidate journalists are
nothing more than the naked tactics of street thugs and
authoritarian juntas."

Just how widespread, and uncontrolled, this latest government
assault has become hit close to home last week when one of the
FBI's National Security Letters arrived at the company that
hosts the servers for this web site, Capitol Hill Blue.

The letter demanded traffic data, payment records and other
information about the web site along with information on me,
the publisher.

Now that's a problem. I own the company that hosts Capitol
Hill Blue. So, in effect, the feds want me to turn over
information on myself and not tell myself that I'm doing it.
You'd think they'd know better.

I turned the letter over to my lawyer and told him to send the
following message to the feds:

Fuck you. Strong letter to follow.

© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue