[IP] Bush declares war on freedom of the press

[David Farber]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Glenn Tenney" <gt_IP060107 at think.org>
To: "Dave Farber" <dave at farber.net>
Sent: 3/10/06 13:41
Subject: Bush declares war on freedom of the press

(for IP if you wish)

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/blog/2006/03/bush_declares_war_on_freedom_o.ht
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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.



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