Tuesday, March 28, 2006
FBI Keeps Watch on 'Activists'
I've been watching Indymedia for several years. The LA Times reports that the FBI is also keeping an eye on them:
Activists are unhappy:
A quick look at some of my older posts illustrates this relationship. When you lie down with dogs, you get covered in fleas.
It should be easy for 'harmless' activists to distance themselves from this, however so much of the far-left has literally been hijacked, they are so intertwined the distinction will get blurred. This is to the terrorists advantage.
It is absolutely correct that time which could be spent finding 'real terrorists' is being wasted sifting through relatively benign 'activists'. The fault for this however doesn't lie exclusively with the Government.
For years, the FBI's definition of terrorism has included violence against property, such as the window-smashing during the 1999 Seattle protests against the World Trade Organization. That definition has led FBI investigations to online discussion boards, organizing meetings and demonstrations of a wide range of activist groups. Officials say that international terrorists pose the greatest threat to the nation but that they cannot ignore crimes committed by some activists.Read it all.
"It's one thing to express an idea or such, but when you commit acts of violence in support of that activity, that's where our interest comes in," said FBI spokesman Bill Carter in Washington.
He stressed that the agency targeted individuals who committed crimes and did not single out groups for ideological reasons. He cited the recent arrest of environmental activists accused of firebombing an unfinished ski resort in Vail. "People can get hurt," Carter said. "Businesses can be ruined."
Activists are unhappy:
"They don't know where Osama bin Laden is, but they're spending money watching people like me," said environmental activist Kirsten Atkins. Her license plate number showed up in an FBI terrorism file after she attended a protest against the lumber industry in Colorado Springs in 2002.Fair enough. However, it's also known that terrorists - real terrorists, are aided and abetted by people who move in similar circles.
A quick look at some of my older posts illustrates this relationship. When you lie down with dogs, you get covered in fleas.
It should be easy for 'harmless' activists to distance themselves from this, however so much of the far-left has literally been hijacked, they are so intertwined the distinction will get blurred. This is to the terrorists advantage.
It is absolutely correct that time which could be spent finding 'real terrorists' is being wasted sifting through relatively benign 'activists'. The fault for this however doesn't lie exclusively with the Government.
