Future activists at Shannon may face US detention

by A Sun Jul 30, 2006 22:41

A paridigm shift for the 26 year old plwshares movement as the neocons define them as "enemy combatants" and strips them of due process. Further reflection as part of the analysis of media spin following the acquittal of the PItstop Ploughshares......

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/77606

by redjade Sun Jul 30, 2006 23:34

Bush Admin's attacks on the US Peace Movement have been happening for a long time and evidence is emerging that things are worse than imagined....

Oakland California Police Spies Chosen to Lead War Protest
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0729-03.htm
'Two Oakland police officers working undercover at an anti-war protest in May 2003 got themselves elected to leadership positions in an effort to influence the demonstration, documents released Thursday show.'
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and even the lame ass liberals at DailyKos.com are catching a clue...

Welcome to the Police State: Bush submits new terror bill
http://dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/7/29/83838/8216
'A new AP report shows that Bush has now submitted a new terror bill which now says any U.S. citizen "suspected" of terror ties can now be held "indefinitely". Forget the Bill of Rights. Forget due process. Forget the courts of law. Welcome to our own Guantanamo Bay, right here inside the United States.'
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Bush came to EUroLand a few weeks ago and suggested that he's gonna close the Guantanamo Gulag - LIE! - check this out...

New maximum-security jail to open at Guantanamo Bay
- Far from winding down, the controversial US detention centre is expanding
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article120...9.ece
'The controversy over the US-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay is to erupt anew with confirmation by the Pentagon that a new, permanent prison will open in the Cuban enclave in the next few weeks....'
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and don't forget that Abu Gonzales and others in the Bush Admin have their eyes on 'internal enemies', as well...

Homeland Security Contracts for Vast New Detention Camps
http://news.pacificnews.org/news/view_article.html?arti...b3a77

A Halliburton subsidiary has just received a $385 million contract from the Department of Homeland Security to provide "temporary detention and processing capabilities."

The contract -- announced Jan. 24 by the engineering and construction firm KBR -- calls for preparing for "an emergency influx of immigrants, or to support the rapid development of new programs" in the event of other emergencies, such as "a natural disaster." The release offered no details about where Halliburton was to build these facilities, or when.

[....]

It is clear that the Bush administration is thinking seriously about martial law.
Many critics have alleged that FEMA's spectacular failure to respond to Katrina followed from a deliberate White House policy: of paring back FEMA, and instead strengthening the military for responses to disasters.
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So, as can be seen from the original post - what was 'Tin Foil Hat Territory' yesterday is today's newspaper headline (or should be headline).

We still have two more years of Bush/Cheney.

I seriously hope people in the antiwar movement take this seriously - not only does it affect a particular member of the Pitstop Ploughshares but also affects every Irish lefty going to the States for a visit. And don't think these things will be reversed when (or if) Bush leaves office. It also matters if you care that the EU hands over all your air travel data to the US of A.

by bystander Mon Jul 31, 2006 01:25

How long before the CW 5, while protesting in shannon find themselves rendered to GitMo? I fear its becoming a very real possibility, as the US continues to do whatever it likes in the interests of "national security" all the while ignoring the laws and procedures of other nations.

by A Mon Jul 31, 2006 05:37

This appears to be a major move against the 26 year old pacifist Plowshares movement. The draft legislation relates solely to damage of U.S. military equipment anywhere in the world. The original post for this story is misleading in that implies any nvda at Shannon is vulnerable to this drafte legislation. The draft legislation only relates to damage of U.S. military equipment!

The plowshares movement has had only 3 acquittals in its over 100 action/26 year history. In 1996 by the "Seeds of Hope Ploughshares" by a majority jury decision in Liverpool, in 1999 by Judge directing the jury to acquit in the "Loch Goil 3" case in Scotland and now the first unanimous acquittal by a jury wit the Pit Stop Ploughshares in Dublin. No acquittals in the USA where the majority of plowshare actions have taken place.

There were attempts by J. Edgar Hoover & Richard Nixon in the early 1970's to crush the Berrigans, "Catholic Left" & "Catholic Worker" during the Vietnam War. Most dramatic attempts were with the Harrisburg Conspiracy Trial"and the FBI infiltration of the "Camden (from 5 to 28 real quick) draft board raid" group & subsequent mass conspiracy trial. (There is an excellent PBS doc of this infiltration & conspiracy trial & 30 year reunion of those charged, I believed Dublin CW has a copy.)

More recently, in the Midwest, the neocons moved against the Catholic Worker wih the RICO Act (initially organised crime legislation drawn up to take on the Mafia). This new draft legislation looks like it was drawn up in direct respsonse to the acquittal of the Plowshares in Dublin last week. Sophisticated liberals like Clinton know how to handle dissent, ignore it, blank it, deprive it of oxygen and it will go away. The neocons can't help themselves but jump and stomp on from the greatest height withe heaviest boots on any dissent. The time to crush the Catholic Workers & Plowshares movement may have just arrived. if it has, it's time for solidarity with these good isolated people.

by John Kelly Mon Jul 31, 2006 21:25

A, you said the original post for this is "misleading in that it implies that any nvda is vulnerable to this draft legislation". In the first sentence of my post I wrote "Persons who damage "protected property" of the U S military will become liable.." to essentially a new unconstitutional array of procedures, etc. I fail to see how what I wrote is "misleading" as you put it.

by anon Tue Aug 01, 2006 01:30

This new draft appears applicable ONLY to "enemy combatants" defined by the Bush admin. as people with links to Al Quaida or the Taliban. The draft does not appear applicable to people engaged in NVDA against the US war machine. Read copy of draft (written in amazingly small print) on http://balkin.blogspot.com/. Also, the draft has not been and may not be passed into law. This remains to be seen. Am curious to hear your interpretations of such an obscure, heavily worded document.

by A Tue Aug 01, 2006 07:34

I assume sympathetic lawyers to the Plowshares & Catholic Worker in U.S. ,and elsewhere, are presently studying this document. "Misleading" in the sense that the title and orientation is Shannon specific and posted after CW calls for people to consider the nonviolent shutting down of Shannon Airport if the Irish government fails to demilitarise it. This is in relation to the damage to any U.S. military equipment anywhere in the world. The CW call to shut down Shannon Airport if the government fails to demilitarise does not imply damage to U.S.military property.

What the Indo and other right wing press are doing is labelling the Pitstops/Plowshares/CW as religious fundamentalists, thereby facilitating their paraigm shift into the enemy status. Plowshares/CW are fundamentalist in relation to the ethic of nonviolence. They have an absolutist pacifist ethic. So it's a sneaky trick for the Indo to claim the Pitstoops are just like George Bush and Bin Laden. The difference is that the PItstoops godd doesn't kill. Big difference!

by John Kelly Tue Aug 01, 2006 16:46

I suspect it's projected use would be Shannon or anywhere the "protected property" of the U S military is interfered with. Probably not a coincidence that the Washington Post flagged it up two days after the CW5 were found not guilty by jury trial. I wonder did the U S embassy call in our officials to explain themselves as they said they would ? I would say it's riddled with constitutional holes but that never stopped them unless people invoke their constitutional rights and SOMETIMES that can turn things around. J K