Monday, May 18, 2009

FBI Infilitrates Iowa CIty Peace Group

Harrassment or Stupidity?

The FBI seemed to think this a ragtag band of Iowa City based peace protesters was a Threat To National Security--or at least to a smooth Republican convention last fall. The Register has the details on how and when the FBI infiltrated them.

This hits kinda close to home, as I'm only about a couple Kevin Bacons removed. I spent two days with some of the people named in the article as they prepped for, and then got, arrested at Harkin and Grassley's Cedar Rapids offices in 2007. (Wonder if that writeup is in the files?)

The hints were there--remember Lara Elborno getting hauled out of a Cedar Falls McCain event before the candidate even showed up? But why bother with sending in the undercover spooks, when even reading a news source as minimal as me would show the same bunch of people yelling at Johnny Mac in Cedar Rapids and Davenport? As the great Rockwell once said, I always feel like somebody's watching me. (Actually Michael Jackson said that part I guess.)



Even Bush-backing conservatives should be asking, "we wasted our tax dollars on THIS?!?" Goodner and Group's goals are clearly publicity oriented in nature: yell, get arrested, get on TV. See the career of spiritual godfather Frank Cordaro for details. These are folks who get bummed out that they don't get to go to jail for the night.

I guess in the mind of the Bush-era FBI, the Hey Hey Ho Ho Something Something's Got To Go chant was a Threat To Democracy. Doesn't the FBI have better stuff to do, like finding some Klansmen or clinic bombers?

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