Last summer the Washington Post released the results of a two-year investigation into government surveillance. What they found was chilling.
“The top-secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has become so large, so unwieldy and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it or exactly how many agencies do the same work.”
To give you an idea of scale.
Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on Top Secret programs related to counter-terrorism, homeland security, and intelligence at over 10,000 locations across the country. Over 850,000 Americans have Top Secret clearances.
Today the Associated Press has released the findings of an investigation into the NYPD.
Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the NYPD has become one of the country’s most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies. A months-long investigation by The Associated Press has revealed that the NYPD operates far outside its borders and targets ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government. And it does so with unprecedented help from the CIA in a partnership that has blurred the bright line between foreign and domestic spying.
The transformation of the NYPD - and the individuals involved – confirm broader systemic changes taking place around the country. They are seen most clearly in the creation of fusion centers with their unprecedented mix of federal, state, local and private contractor spying. Here is how they are defined by the ACLU.
Trevor Aaronson, writing in Mother Jones magazine, explores the massive spy network created by the FBI to prevent another domestic attack. Asking “[A]re they busting terrorist plots – or leading them?”.
He focuses on several high-profile case of entrapment.
The article includes a searchable terror trial database, where 508 post-9/11 domestic terrorism cases are analyzed. He builds on a list compiled by the US Department of Justice and including additional cases that meet DOJ's criteria. In their review of the 508 terrorism-related cases, Mother Jones found that 53% did NOT involve terrorism charges.
Check out the amazing events being organized in Atlanta.
American Friends Service Committee
Georgia Peace Center/60 Walton Street, NW
Atlanta, Georgia
August 25-September 21, 2011
Monday – Friday Noon until 5PM
American Friends Service Committee’s Atlanta Windows and Mirrors partners include Alternate ROOTS, American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, Arab Spring Committee, Atlanta Friends Meeting, Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace, Clarkston Community Center, Emory Muslim Students Association (MSA), Emory University Center for Ethics, Friends School of Atlanta, Georgia Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta, Georgia WAND, The King Center, Metro Atlanta Democratic Socialist of America, Performing Artists for Nuclear Disarmament, UUCA Peace Network, WonderRoot, and Women Watch Afrika.
Parts of the exhibit can be viewed at Satellite Sites:
• August 25-September 21: The Friends School of Atlanta • August 25-September 21: Emory University Center for Ethics @ 1531 Dickey Drive
• September 1-24: WonderRoot @ 982 Memorial Dr.
• September 12-21: The King Center’s Freedom Hall @ 449 Auburn Ave NE •
• September 14: Clarkston Community Center @ 3701 College Ave E
EVENTS:
• Friday 8/26, Noon, 9th Anniversary STAND FOR PEACE at Colony Square on the sidewalk at 14th Street and Peachtree, everyone is welcome! Song, poetry & dance. This event repeats on September 2, 9 and 16.
• Saturday 8/27, 7pm-9pm Opening Reception at AFSC’s Georgia Peace Center
• Saturday 8/27, 9pm until Midnight, Reflections on War and Peace: A Performance Museum. The performance evening will feature artists from multiple disciplines and connects to themes in the Windows and Mirrors exhibit. We challenge artists to consider and construct work around the social and cultural ways we conceive of war and peace. Our nation has so many conflicting sayings and ideas around war and peace, such as “prepare for peace, but arm for war” this is an evening that will unpack these idioms. To be held at AFSC Georgia Peace Center
Featured Performers Include:
Gateway Performance Productions—The MASK Center-- Paula Larke and Kim Nimoy and the Ex-PAND Band -- Artists as Agents for Change --Tom Ferguson w/ drummers -- Phyllis Free Association Choir (Elise Witt, Joyce and Jacque, Phyllis Free) -- Neil Fried, Priscilla Smith and Guest -- Karen Garrabrant -- Theresa Davis --Louis Runyon -- Daryl Funn -- Dancing Flowers for Peace -- Ursula Kendall -- Darnell Fine -- Alice Lovelace
• Thursday 9/1, 7pm, Tapestry of Faith: How Diverse Faith Traditions Inform Nonviolence. An interfaith panel of religious leaders will address the topic of peace and nonviolence from their faith tradition. How does faith inform our perspectives on war and violence? What does faith have to say about peace and peacemakers? Do all faith traditions teach a similar message? What are the differences? How can we be authentically grounded in particular faith identities without turning towards dangerous and exclusive ways of relating? How can faith communities encourage engagements with the world and its institutions in order to achieve a more just, peaceful and sustainable world? To be held at AFSC Georgia Peace Center.
Panelists Include:
o Rev. Timothy McDonald, Senior Pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church
o Rev. Michael Ellison, Abbot of the Atlanta Soto Zen Center
o Rev. Marti Keller, minister, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta
o Dr. Rashid Naim, of the Islamic Speakers Bureau and professor at Georgia State University
o Moderated by Christina Repoley, Atlanta Friends Meeting
• Thursday 9/1, 7‐10pm, opening reception at WonderRoot featuring a panel discussion of the work with youth artists and social activists.
• Wednesday 9/7, 7-9pm, Islamophobia: Voices from the Front Line moderated by the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia at AFSC Georgia Peace Center
• Sunday 9/11, 6pm-9pm, Screening of the film Concrete, Steel & Paint at Clarkston Community Center. Mural Art as a Catalyst for Social Change Tony Heriza (AFSC director Educational Outreach) will show his documentary Concrete, Steel and Paint, which explores the way that mural painting provided a space for prisoners and victims of violence to come together for healing in a Philadelphia prison. Says a participant in the process, "There's something about creating beauty that reaches people and that in the end gives us hope that things can change..." Winner of the Best Short Documentary award at the Peace on Earth Film Festival. Conversation will focus on “restorative justice vs. retributive justice" and "forgiveness and healing vs. vengeance."
• Monday 9/12, 7pm-9pm, GA Peace and Justice Coalition/Atlanta: The Costs of Wars & Afghanistan Anniversary Action Plan at AFSC’s Georgia Peace Center
• Tuesday 9/13, 6‐8pm, Islamophobia: The Impact on American Life at Emory University Center for Ethics. A Panel of scholars and activists will explore the connections between the political demonization of Islam as a religion and media promoted fear of Arabs Muslims and ways both distort how the United States’ pursues its foreign policy.
• Wednesday 9/14, 5:30 – 8:30, Viewing of Replica Exhibit and Reception at Clarkston Community Center
• Saturday 9/17, 2pm-5pm, Arab Spring from Atlanta to the Middle East. A three hour gathering with an introduction by a moderator then 2 or three experts will share analysis and do a Q&A on the local and global implications of Arab Spring. We will Skype in several folks who have witnessed and participated in non-violent revolutionary actions in the Middle East. We will have a panel of local folks from different Arab American Communities in Atlanta speak. There will delicious food, and more. To be held at AFSC Georgia Peace Center
• Wednesday 9/21, 6pm, Closing Reception at The King Center
• Wednesday 9/21, 7PM, War and the Rise of Violence among Youth. A panel and community discussion meant to emphasize the rise of violence among youth in countries where war is prevalent---those who wage war, and those whose environments suffer from war—and draw attention to global and domestic forms of youth violence (i.e. child soldiers, local gang violence). The moderated panel discuss will be among participating groups and individuals who have witnessed, suffered at the hands of, or are/were affected by violence, especially war. To be held at the King Center.
For more information:
Windows and Mirrors alovelace@afsc.org or 404.586.0460 ext.17
"The true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters; the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina."
I just finished the book. It’s a terrific story.
It not only reveals Syria through the experience of an immigrant and the family he left behind, but shines a light on the often unknown impact the wars of 9/11 have had on the Muslim community. It is to be made into an animated film.
Wake up, open your eyes, look around you, see how this world has changed… At least take 5 minutes to look into these cases, and research, and look for real proof. (Lejla Duka, age 13, daughter of Dritan Duka, defendant in the “Fort Dix Five” case.)
This report looks at the history hehind three high profile arrests in New York and New Jersey. The Newburgh Four, the Fort Dix Five and Shahawan Martin Siraj in Bay Ridge. It documents the effort by some government agencies to conflate Muslims with terrorist and terrorism.
It also reveals the way Islamophobia has been used to sustain public fear and support for a global war on terror.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Since September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has targeted Muslims in the United States by sending paid, untrained informants into mosques and Muslim communities. This practice has led to the prosecution of more than 200 individuals in terrorism-related cases. The government has touted these cases as successes in the so-called war against terrorism. However, in recent years, former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, local lawmakers, the media, the public, and community-based groups have begun questioning the legitimacy and efficacy of this practice, alleging that—in many instances—this type of policing, and the resulting prosecutions, constitute entrapment.
This Report examines three high-profile terrorism prosecutions in which government informants played a critical role in instigating and constructing the plots that were then prosecuted. In all three cases, the FBI or New York City Police Department (NYPD) sent paid informants into Muslim communities or families without any particularized suspicion of criminal activity. Informants pose a particular set of problems given they work on behalf of law enforcement but are not trained as law enforcement. Moreover, they often work for a government-conferred benefit—say, a reduction in a preexisting criminal sentence or a change in immigration status—in addition to fees for providing useful information to law enforcement, creating a dangerous incentive structure.
In the cases this Report examines, the government’s informants held themselves out as Muslims and looked in particular to incite other Muslims to commit acts of violence. The government’s informants introduced and aggressively pushed ideas about violent jihad and, moreover, actually encouraged the defendants to believe it was their duty to take action against the United States. In two of the three cases, the government relied on the defendants’ vulnerabilities—poverty and youth, for example—in its inducement methods. In all three cases, the government selected or encouraged the proposed locations that the defendants would later be accused of targeting. In all three cases, the government also provided the defendants with, or encouraged the defendants to acquire, material evidence, such as weaponry or violent videos, which would later be used to convict them.
The government played a significant role in instigating and devising the three plots featured in this Report—plots the government then “foiled” and charged the defendants with. The defendants in these cases were all convicted and are facing prison sentences of 25 years to life. These prosecutions—and others that similarly rely on the abusive use of informants—are central to the government’s claim that the country faces a “homegrown threat” of terrorism. Serious questions have been raised about the government’s role in each of these cases, as well as around the set of laws that have facilitated these practices. They also raise fundamental human rights concerns.
Newburgh is an extremely impoverished town. How much money did they spend on this whole production? They need to be investing in our communities for the future, not spending millions of dollars on a fake case that makes nobody safer.- Alicia McWilliams, aunt of David Williams, defendant in the “Newburgh Four” case
There are many stories that overlap. Many men in our communities have been targeted, and the women and children are left out in the cold.- Shahina Parveen, mother of defendant Shahawar Matin Siraj
*****
The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law was established in 2002 to bring together the law school’s teaching, research, clinical, internship, and publishing activities around issues of international human rights law. Through its litigation, advocacy, and research work, CHRGJ plays a critical role in identifying, denouncing, and fighting human rights abuses in several key areas of focus, including: Business and Human Rights; Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; Caste Discrimination; Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism; Extrajudicial Executions; and Transitional Justice. Philip Alston and Ryan Goodman are the Center’s Faculty Chairs; Smita Narula and Margaret Satterthwaite are Faculty Directors; Jayne Huckerby is Research Director; and Veerle Opgenhaffen is Senior Program Director.
The International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) at New York University School of Law provides high quality, professional human rights lawyering services to community-based organizations, nongovernmental human rights organizations, and intergovernmental human rights experts and bodies. The Clinic partners with groups based in the United States and abroad. Working as researchers, legal advisers, and advocacy partners, Clinic students work side-by-side with human rights advocates from around the world. The Clinic is directed by Professor Smita Narula of the NYU faculty; Amna Akbar is Senior Research Scholar and Advocacy Fellow; and Susan Hodges is Clinic Administrator.
Growing up in the shadow of 9/11 is a fascinating project from American University that was completed last week - before the assassination of Osama bin Laden. It is a site you should visit.
Perhaps no other segment of society has been as well covered as the student celebrations over the news. In part because they were awake and ready to respond to the announcement, but more importantly, 9/11 was an event that defined a whole generation.
While the depiction of jubilant flash mobs has been covered in pictures, the real story is that these young people were deeply influenced by the path laid out by President Bush. That the world was divided into good and evil. That there were choices to be made. You were either with us or against us.
A dangerous simplistic way to understand complex conflicts. It would also be dangerous and simplistic to say a particular segment acted in one way. The video project makes that clear and we will revisit that issue soon.
The Pictures
In Washington, college students spilled in front of the White House chanting “U.S.A! U.S.A.!” and puffing cigars. In State College, Pa., 5,000 students waved flags, blew vuvuzelas, and sang the national anthem and the chorus to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” Cheering students jumped into Mirror Lake at Ohio State — as they do with big football games — and swelled the Common in Boston.
"We are the 9/11 generation," "We've grown up with Osama bin Laden in our lives, the same way the previous generation grew up with Vietnam over their heads.
"Now he's gone; it's shocking. To many, it meant that the war on terrorism is over, but as the days go on, more people are starting to ask, 'Where do we go from here?'"
Madeline Novey, editor in chief of The Rocky Mountain Collegian at Colorado State University.
In May 2004, the FBI and local Philadelphia police raided the Ansaarullah mosque and arrested its imam, Mohamed Ghorab, on the charges that his first marriage had been fraudulent; he was eventually deported to Egypt. The incident is the focus of Salisbury's harrowing but shapeless book, which examines the devastation of Philadelphia's Muslim community after the government investigation and anti-Arab hysteria after 9/11.
A Pulitzer Prize–winning staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Salisbury builds the text around the personal stories of the many people he interviewed over four years; along the way, he delivers harsh criticism of the government's investigative techniques and draws explicit parallels to his own family's experiences with government surveillance in the late 1960s. Though digressive and anecdotal, the text acquires cumulative power, especially in its vivid portrayals of Imam Ghorab, whom it follows from his childhood, and his wife, Meriem Moumen, who discovered religion as a single mother in her 20s. Their heartbreaking story gives this frequently diffuse text a human center.
- From Publishers Weekly
Last week Stephan spoke at Friends Center in Philadelphia as part of a forum looking at surveillance and intimidation of the Muslim community.
In The Sights of the FBI: Assaults on Civil Liberties From COINTELPRO to Today
This year marks the 40th anniversary of the disclosure of COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) following the March 1971 break-in of the FBI office in Media, PA. Files removed from the office revealed a widespread program of surveillance, intimidation, and harassment of anti-war and radical social change activists.
Panel Discussion
David Kairys, Temple law professor and civil rights attorney Luis Sanabria, National Boricua Human Rights Network Stephan Salisbury, Philadelphia Inquirer and author of Mohamed's Ghosts Mary Catherine Roper, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU of Pennsylvania
Sponsored by the First Amendment Network (FAN), a coalition of groups committed to protecting free speech and the right to dissent.
Stephan Salisbury is the senior cultural writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer where he has been a reporter for three decades. He has covered everything from the Pennsylvania prison system, unrest in Ireland and Eastern Europe, the coup in Turkey, to the culture wars in the United States and disruptions of American life in the wake of September 11, 2001. He has received numerous awards and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize as part of an Inquirer team investigating local election fraud in 1995. He is married to the painter, Jennifer Baker; they have a daughter and a son.
While teaching in Kabul, Zaher Wahab asked Afghan High School students – boys and girls – to draw pictures of their experience with war. The drawings can be viewed here: Student Art from the Ashes of War
About Afghanistan 101
This blog gathers, categorizes, and evaluates films, videos, books, news features and on-line resources to support advocacy and action to end the war in Afghanistan.
The American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker non-profit, has had Middle East programs since 1949. In the United States, AFSC advocates for alternatives to the use of military force to resolve conflict.
