By KEVIN HOWE
khowe@montereyherald.com
An Air Force officer has been relieved from duties at the
Presidio of Monterey after publication of his letter to the
editor accusing President George W. Bush of having advance
knowledge of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Lt. Col. Steve Butler was serving as vice chancellor for
student affairs at the Defense Language Institute when he
wrote the letter, which was published in The Herald May 21.
The letter accuses Bush of allowing the attacks to occur
for political reasons.
The letter reads in part: "Of course Bush knew about
the impending attacks on America. He did nothing to warn the
American people because he needed this war on terrorism. His
daddy had Saddam and he needed Osama.
"His presidency was going nowhere. He wasn't elected
by the American people, but placed into the Oval Office by the
conservative supreme court (if you really want to know why the
justices voted like they did, I suggest 'Supreme Injustice' by
Alan Dershowitz), the economy was sliding into the usual
Republican pits and he needed something to hang his presidency
on. "
Butler's letter called the president's course of action
"sleazy and contemptible."
Army spokesman Sgt. Mitch Frazier said Butler "has
been administratively suspended from his position as vice
chancellor/student affairs pending the outcome of an
investigation."
"Further details are not available at this time as the
investigation is ongoing," Frazier said.
Butler could not be reached to comment Monday but his wife,
Shelly Butler, said the military had given her husband "a
lot of grief" over the letter. He was relieved of his
duties at the language school and has been assigned to
temporary duty at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, she
said.
She said he plans to retire in a few weeks after 24 years
in the Air Force, including duty as a combat pilot in Desert
Storm.
In addition to criticism from the military, she said,
"we got a few phone calls from people we don't even
know" supporting his position. She said his friends also
are also being supportive, "but work-wise, people won't
say anything."
Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice says
that "any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous
words against the president, the vice president, Congress, the
secretary of defense, the secretary of a military department,
the secretary of transportation or the governor or legislature
of any state, territory, commonwealth, or possession in which
he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial
may direct."
The last Article 88 court martial came in 1965 when an Army
second lieutenant was prosecuted for taking part in an antiwar
protest in Texas, according to Lt. Col. Maritza S. Ryan of the
Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
Ryan said the Pentagon "quietly issued" memos
reminding officers of the Article 88 provisions after
President Clinton became embroiled in the Monica Lewinsky
scandal, setting off a number of articles and letters to the
editor from military officers.
Kevin Howe can be reached at 646-4416.
© 2001 montereyherald and wire service
sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.montereyherald.com
Top
Taking advantage its own incompetency
as an excuse, the Bush administration gives FBI totalitarian
state powers to spy on Americans.
When will Americans stand up for
democracy?
FBI Gets Broad Domestic Spy Powers Thu
May 30,10:17 PM ET By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush
administration gave the beleaguered FBI (news - web sites)
broad new powers to monitor Americans on Thursday, saying
the agency needed a new weapon in the battle against
terrorism and promising not to return to the file-building
abuses of the past.
In a move aimed at averting another
Sept. 11, Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites)
freed the FBI to monitor Internet sites, libraries, churches
and political organizations, calling restrictions on
domestic surveillance "a competitive advantage for
terrorists."
Civil liberties groups criticized the
move. But President Bush (news - web sites) said, "We
intend to honor our Constitution and respect the freedoms
that we hold so dear."
"The FBI needed to change,"
said the president. "It was an organization full of
fine people who loved America but the organization didn't
meet the times."
Under revamped guidelines, agents can
attend public meetings for the purpose of preventing
terrorism. The old guidelines issued in the 1970s were aimed
at solving crimes already committed.
The earlier restrictions were clamped
on the FBI's domestic surveillance in response to
controversies about the bureau's building of case files
against prominent Americans, including the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr.
The revised guidelines will push the
decision-making for an array of investigative steps away
from FBI headquarters in Washington and down to individual
offices around the country. The special agents in charge of
each office will hold the keys to setting investigative
steps in motion.
"These major changes will free
field agents to pursue terrorists vigorously without waiting
for headquarters to act," said Ashcroft. He said agents
in the field "are frustrated because many of our
internal restrictions have hampered" their efforts to
move quickly on investigations.
Under present guidelines, Ashcroft
said, agents "cannot surf the Web, the way you and I
can," and cannot simply walk into public events to
observe people and activities.
The new guidelines give FBI agents
more freedom to investigate terrorism even when they are not
pursuing a particular case.
Mueller said the changes "will be
exceptionally helpful to us."
"Our reforms of the FBI will and
must strengthen our ability to prevent future terrorist
attacks," the FBI director said.
A senior Justice Department (news -
web sites) official was asked what reason an FBI agent must
give to a superior, under the new guidelines, before
entering a mosque.
If it's a public meeting, then
"the agent is free to attend on the same terms" as
a member of the public, as long as the FBI agent's presence
is in connection with detecting or preventing terrorism,
said the official, who discussed this scenario only on
grounds of anonymity.
The American Civil Liberties Union
(news - web sites) said the lifting of restrictions could
renew abuses of the past. King's "persecution by law
enforcement is a necessary reminder of the potential abuse
when a government with too long a leash seeks to silence
voices of dissent," said ACLU legislative counsel
Marvin Johnson.
Shaker Elsayed, secretary general of
the Muslim American Society, said the new tools are an
unnecessary intrusion.
"It only serves the purpose of
heightening the scare in the society and the paranoia
against Muslims," he said.
Ashcroft said the powers would be used
only "for the purpose of detecting and preventing
terrorism." Nothing in the guidelines would permit the
FBI to routinely build files on people or organizations, he
said.
"The abuses that have been
alleged about the FBI decades ago ... would not be
allowed," he said, referring to the practice of keeping
files and records on prominent figures.
The FBI has always had the authority
to conduct surveillance by following people, but has
required warrants to tap phones and intercept e-mail. Since
the 1970s, the FBI has required special permission when
traditional surveillance carried into arenas protected by
free speech and freedom of worship. It is those rules that
the FBI relaxed.
King was subjected to surreptitious
electronic surveillance of his private life. Disclosures of
it and other controverisal monitoring led to the rules that
are now being loosened. The CIA (news - web sites) and other
intelligence agencies don't have the same restrictions,
since their spying involves foreigners not on U.S. soil.
Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting
record) of Michigan, ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary
Committee (news - web sites), said, "Any government
effort to institutionalize the same powers that allowed the
FBI to wrongfully spy on the activities of civil rights
organizations and disclose information on the private
affairs of Martin Luther King Jr. would constitute an
embarrassing step backwards for civil liberties in this
country."
Another civil liberties group said the
changes will go far beyond how the FBI conducts the war on
terrorism.
"They are using the terrorism
crisis as a cover for a wide range of changes, some of which
have nothing to do with terrorism," said James X.
Dempsey, deputy director of the Center for Democracy and
Technology. Dempsey predicted that one new tool, the power
to mine commercial databases, will be used in drug and child
pornography and stock fraud and gambling and "every
other type of investigation the FBI does."
Added Margaret Ratner, an attorney
with the Center for Constitutional Rights: "Apparently,
Attorney General Ashcroft wants to get the FBI back in the
business of spying on religious and political organizations.
That alone would be unconstitutional but history suggests
the FBI won't stop at passive information gathering."
Nicholas Graham, a spokesman for
America Online, said, "If law enforcement asks for our
cooperation, we absolutely do cooperate with them in a
criminal investigation. We have always been careful to
strike a careful, reasonable and appropriate balance between
protecting our members' privacy and their safety while
working with law enforcement."
The new rules allow agents to conduct
"general topical research" and "pure
surfing" designed to find Web sites, chat rooms or
Internet bulletin boards with information about terror,
bomb-making instructions, child pornography or stolen credit
cards.
Top
Repeal the USA
Patriot Act
by Jennifer Van Bergen t r u t h o u t | April 1, 2002
This is the first in a six-part series of articles on the
USA Patriot Act: "Uniting and Strengthening America by
Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct
Terrorism."
This Act, passed in response to the September 11th, 2001
terrorist attacks on our country, was passed hastily and in a
time of fear. It affects all of us in some very basic and
important ways.
Part I of this series states briefly why we should demand
the immediate repeal or amendment of the USA Patriot Act.
Part II walks the reader back in time to look at two acts,
which were also passed hastily and in a time of fear. The
Alien & Sedition Acts of 1798 parallel the USA Patriot Act
in many respects, and offer some important warnings.
Part III discusses the recent emergence of troubling
evidence of violations of civil rights under the USA Patriot
Act, and looks at the disturbing possibility of torture being
used.
Parts IV and V look at specific sections of the Act. Part
IV covers how the Act mixes criminal law and foreign
intelligence work, puts the CIA back in the business of spying
on Americans, allows law enforcement to enter your home
without you knowing it, and can track your emails and internet
activity. Part V will discuss how the Act punishes some people
for engaging in innocent First Amendment associational
activity, violates other civil rights of immigrants, uses
secret evidence, curbs judicial oversight, and invades
financial and student records.
Part VI discusses national security concerns, sums up, and
closes with a potent exhortation to Americans, made over 200
years ago by Senator Edward Livingston.
.... http://www.truthout.org/docs_02/04.02A.JVB.Patriot.p.htm
,,,jkeel, 4/7/02
(Top)
Utah
Senate Moves to Silence Dissent - the footage
by Kensington Welfare Rights Union 9:45pm
Wed Feb 6 '02 (Modified on 8:45pm Tue Feb 12
'02) |
| phone:
(215)203-1945 Kwru@kwru.org |
Utah Senate Judiciary Committee on House Bill
100. The hearing on this bill, which would make
peaceful protest a crime of "corporate
terrorism" is held without any comment
allowed.
listen
(realaudio)
This morning, members of the Kensington Welfare
Rights Union and JEDI for Women attended the Utah
Senate Committee's deliberations over Bill 100. The
Senator submitting the Bill spoke in its favor.
Then, the Chair of the Advisory Committee asked
"Who would like to speak against this
bill?" When several of us raised our hands, he
said that there were too many people wanting to
speak against the Bill. Saying there wasn't time, he
decreed that no one would be allowed to speak
against the Bill and called for a vote. The
committee voted unanimously to send the Bill to the
full Senate.
Denied any public comment, we held up our signs
(which featured historical figures who would be
labeled "terrorists" by this bill). The
Chair informed us that we would be arrested unless
we put our signs down.
After we left the Senate chambers, the police
threatened to arrest us because we were still
carrying our signs. We left the building. The bill
could become law within the next couple of days
without any opportunity for a true public hearing.
Watch our website, http://www.kwru.org
for more information and continuing updates.
Thank you to Eric at the Utah Animal Rights
Coalition http://www.uarc.org for making this clip
possible |
