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From a Democracy Now! Exclusive 7/28/09:
Newly declassified documents reveal that an active member of Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance in Washington state was actually an informant for the US military. The man everyone knew as “John Jacob” was in fact John Towery, a member of the Force Protection Service at Fort Lewis. The military’s role in the spying raises questions about possibly illegal activity. The Posse Comitatus law bars the use of the armed forces for law enforcement inside the United States. The Fort Lewis military base denied our request for an interview. But in a statement to Democracy Now, the base’s Public Affairs office publicly acknowledged for the first time that Towery is a military operative. “This could be one of the key revelations of this era,” said Eileen Clancy, who has closely tracked government spying on activist organizations. [includes rush transcript]
We shouldn't kid ourselves. We are slowly becoming a military/police state on behalf of wealthy and corporate interests. President Obama and the Democrats have not done nearly enough to reverse this trend.
Here's more:
ANJALI KAMAT: We begin with a Democracy Now! broadcast exclusive. Peace activists in Washington state have revealed an informant posing as an anarchist has spied on them while working under the US military. The activists are members of the group Students for a Democratic Society and Port Militarization Resistance, which protests military shipments bound for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before his true identity was revealed, the informant was known as “John Jacob,” an active member of antiwar groups in the towns of Olympia and Tacoma. But using documents obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, the activists learned that “John Jacob” is in fact John Towery, a member of the Force Protection Service at the nearby Fort Lewis military base.
The activists claim Towery has admitted to them he shared information with an intelligence network that stretches from local and state police to several federal agencies, to the US military. They also say he confirmed the existence of other government spies but wouldn’t reveal their identity.
The military’s role in the spying raises questions about possibly illegal activity. The Posse Comitatus law bars the use of the armed forces for law enforcement inside the United States.
When you have an occupation and war in Iraq that violates US law, international law, American values, and common decency, it makes it difficult to avoid violating the rights of people here at home in order to continue it. Violations of our rights as Americans are an important part of the war on Iraq, a war that is continuing under President Obama.
If you look at other societies where the military deployed against their own people (Chile, Northern Ireland, Argentine etc) it is not a good road to be embarking upon and as you point out, illegal! And you are right it is part of a war effort. Also if you look at this way:- a country ruled by a -soft-coup govt for 8 years now has an elected head of state, but he is incapable of really challenging the establishment that did not and still does not object to the coup (and will not investigate the crimes of the coup leadership, not least in part because of collaboration with it). Whether Obama wants to or not the hegemony of an elite that is fine with war crimes provides for a very short leash. Ironic that his slogan was Change (yet very astutely chosen they knew what people wanted even if they had little chance/desire to deliver it).
Even if they won't challenge the war machine the least they could do is create universal healthcare, because in the long term that will make nurturing valuable as opposed to killing. Just as the cultural symbolism of Obama's victory is huge, the effect of national healthcare will reach beyond narrow policy considerations. Imagine all the people who enter the military through lack of options could then get jobs as paramedics, nurses, doctors, orderlies etc. It's noticeable the UK only got national healthcare and welfare after our empire collapsed and returning veterans were determined not to have sacrificed only to be exploited again by the ruling class, they wanted to have fought for something, a nation that looks after its people, instead of conning them into robbing other nations (although that never goes away, corporations need new markets!).
Sorry went off on a tangent there!