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A Daily Chronicle of Bush Administration Distortion November 24, 2003

     

Bush's Monitoring of Protests Belies His Stated Support for Free Speech



President Bush has expressed repeated support for protestors' rights to express themselves, exclaiming to the Australian parliament in October, "I love free speech."1 But federal law enforcement is showing up at political demonstrations, routinely monitoring such protests for the first time since the 1970's.

Last week, the president responded to interviewer David Frost's question about the protestors expected to greet his presence in London, "Freedom is a beautiful thing, I would first say, and aren't you lucky to be in a country that encourages people to speak their mind. And I value going to a country where people are free to say anything they want to say."2

The New York Times reported Sunday, however, that a weekly bulletin published by the FBI and distributed to local law enforcement included information about organizing tactics of anti-war demonstrators in cities such as Washington and San Francisco. One FBI official was quoted as saying, "We're not concerned with individuals who are exercising their constitutional rights. But it's obvious that there are individuals capable of violence at these events."3

But the memo details and analyzes legal activities, such as using the Internet for fundraising, and tactics used by organizations to recruit demonstrators.4

Indeed, the administration has sent mixed signals on free speech after September 11th. Weeks after the attacks, Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said that Americans, "need to watch what they say, watch what they do."5 And Attorney General John Ashcroft, came under heavy criticism for saying that critics of the Patriot Act "aid terrorists."6

Reports of the FBI's monitoring have drawn comparisons with the program known as Cointelpro, created during the Cold War and in effect until the 1970's, when the FBI routinely sent agents to infiltrate organizations protesting the Vietnam War.

Sources:
  1. Presidential Speech before Australian Parliament, 10/22/03.
  2. Interview with David Frost, BBC, 11/17/03.
  3. Ibid.
  4. "F.B.I. Scrutinizes Antiwar Rallies," The New York Times, 11/23/03, Sec. 1, p. 18.
  5. Press Briefing, 9/26/01.
  6. "John Ashcroft," Associated Press, 2/26/03.



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