Nobody likes to say, "I told you so." Nobody but me, that is. Here is a passage from our October 26, 2006 press release on domestic spying by the FBI:
"Last week the FBI turned over records it has been keeping on Maine peace groups to the Maine Civil Liberties Union, adding Peace Action Maine and Veterans for Peace to a list of organizations the FBI keeps tabs on in this state. In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the ACLU of MAINE in May of 2005, the FBI sent files containing redacted copies of e-mails it has intercepted that detail the activities of the peace groups. The files are in addition to those kept on the Maine Peace and Justice Center, which the ACLU of MAINE received last year. "
And here is a passage from the Department of Justice Inspector General's Report on "
Investigations of Certain Domestic Advocacy Groups " released on September 20, 2010:
"Moreover, although we did not find that these incidents were part of a coordinated investigation by the FBI based solely on the First Amendment activities of these groups, they had an impact on the First Amendment rights of those groups and their members."
For years we have known that the FBI was targeting advocacy groups for investigation based on protected First Amendment activities (meeting, organizing, distributing flyers, holding marches and protests). And, we have known that the FBI classified the subjects of those investigations as "terrorism". Now, finally the FBI is acknowledging this as well. This isn't the first time, and unfortunately it probably won't be the last time, that the Justice Department has failed to live up to its name, and all the while those of us who did our best to expose what was happening were told that we were wrong, that we did not understand what was going on, and that nobody was doing anything improper. Actually, though, we were right, we did understand exactly what was happening, and it was in fact completely inconsistent with our Constitution and our values.