Bush
declares war on freedom of the press
By
Mar 6, 2006, 07:33
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 apparently 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 told the company to send the letter over to my lawyer and
then told him to send the following message to the feds:
Fuck you. Strong letter to follow.
© Copyright 2006 by Capitol Hill Blue
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