Leftists whine “FBI deploying Big Brother Tactics”

Oh my. It’s an outrage! The leftist organizations that have been pegged as domestic terror organizations and are being defended by the ACLU have their little designer panties in a bunch about the FBI pegging them as domestic terror organizations. Emphasis mine throughout the post–

Michelle Malkin:

Oh, dear. Civil liberties activists, anti-war organizers, eco-militants, and animal rights operatives are in a fright over news that the nefarious FBI is watching them. Why on earth would the government be worried about harmless liberal grannies, innocent vegetarians, unassuming rainforest lovers and other “peaceful groups” simply exercising their First Amendment rights?

Let me remind you of some very good reasons.

In March 2003, I reported on a manifesto disseminated across the Internet by infamous eco-radical Craig Rosebraugh former spokesman for the violent Earth Liberation Front who called on fellow leftists to take “direct actions” against American military establishments, urban centers, corporations, government buildings, and media outlets. His instructions included:

1) Attack the financial centers of the country. Using covert or black block techniques…physically shut down financial centers which regulate and assist the functioning of U.S. economy. This can be done in a variety of ways from massive property destruction, to online sabotage, to physical occupation of buildings

2) Large scale urban rioting. With massive unrest and even state of emergencies declared in major cities across the country, the U.S. government will be forced to send U.S. troops into the domestic arena thereby taking resources and political focus away from the war.

3) Attack the media centers of the country…Using any means necessary, shut down the national networks of NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, etc.

4) Spread the battle to the individuals responsible for the war and destruction of life — the very heads of government and U.S. corporations. No longer should these people be able to hide behind their occupations, living their lives in peace while they simultaneously slaughter countless people. Hit them in their personal lives, visit their homes, and make them feel personally responsible for committing massive atrocities.

5) Make it known publicly that this movement DOES NOT support U.S. troops as long as they are serving an unjust and horrifying political regime. Create an atmosphere lacking of support to assist U.S. troops at home and abroad in losing their morale and will to fight.

6) Actively target U.S. military establishments within the United States...use any means necessary to slow down the functioning of the murdering body.

In April 2003, I reported on a mob of “peace” activists from an outfit called Direct Action to Stop the War that coordinated a seditious blockade of an Oakland port in shipping military supplies. The antiwar mob’s primary target at the Port of Oakland was American President Lines, a longtime carrier of military cargo. For Operation Iraqi Freedom, the carrier made nine of its vessels available to the Defense Department in order to move ammunition and sustainment cargo to support U.S. military forces.

The anti-war obstructionists weren’t simply exercising their “free speech.” They blocked trucks, employees, entryways, and streets in order to stop the shipment of things like bullets, rations, lubricants, medical supplies, repair parts and chemical defense equipment to our troops. They also targeted Stevedoring Services of America, which handled some 3 million tons of humanitarian aid.

In August 2004, radical guerrilla activists from the “Black Bloc” group publicized plans to disrupt the GOP convention by attempting to distract police dogs, halt trains in New York City, and spur the evacuation of Madison Square Garden.

There’s more in that piece, not the least of which is the disgusting efforts by Code Pink to support the terrorists who are fighting our troops in Iraq:

In January 2005, the anti-war extremists of Code Pink traveled to the Jordan-Iraq border and doled out $600,000 in aid to “the other side.”

In February 2005, civil rights attorney and left-wing darling Lynne Stewart was convicted on five counts of conspiring to aid murderous Islamic terrorists and lying to the government about smuggling messages from her jailed client, terrorist mastermind Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, to his followers in Egypt.

In June 2005, moonbat celebrity professor Ward Churchill suggested to a Portland audience that killing military officers with explosive devices was a more effective anti-war tactic than conscientious objection. “Fragging an officer has a much more impactful effect,” Churchill advised.

The FBI’s job is to take threats to our domestic security seriously and act on them before catastrophe strikes. Given the suspect words and actions of left-wing groups over the last several years, “dissent is patriotic” is a bromide no responsible agent can swallow blindly. Tolerating the unfettered free speech of saboteurs has threatened enough lives already.

Ben John has a well-researched piece up at Frontpage, talking about the same thing–but he adds a little icing on the cake by pointing out that the ACLU is right with them, defending their “right to free speech”…

The ACLU breathlessly announced the FBI had accumulated 1,173 pages of documents related to its own activity and more than 3,000 pages on Greenpeace, which came to light after the ACLU filed a Freedom of Information Act request. Other far-Left groups the FBI allegedly monitored include United for Peace and Justice, Code Pink, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and perhaps 100 additional left-wing and Islamist organizations. Immediately, the ACLU accused the feds of spying on “peaceful” organizations “exercising their First Amendment rights.”

The revelation led to mock outrage and charges of Big Brother surveillance. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero asked, “Why would the F.B.I. collect almost 1,200 pages on a civil rights organization engaged in lawful activity? What justification could there be, other than political surveillance of lawful First Amendment activities?” Ann Beeson, Associate Legal Director of the ACLU, protested, “There is no need to open a counterterrorism file when people are simply exercising their First Amendment rights.” Longtime Communist Party USA member and United for Peace and Justice founder Leslie Cagan also echoed, “It’s one thing to monitor protests and protest organizers, but quite another thing to refer them to your counterterrorism unit.” The ACLU has sued to expedite the FBI’s turning over of these documents, a process that could divert the Bureau from far more pressing activities.

You’re damned straight. As long as you’re on the fringe, an anti-American the ACLU will be right there for you. But if you’re a dying young woman like Terri Schiavo without defense counsel, you’re doomed to die without their help…because they don’t stand for the rights of the innocent.

Thanks to Mudville and Outside the Beltway