Ever since the United States invaded Iraq last spring, there have been scattered reports that the Bush administration is conducting surveillance of antiwar activists. To date, the only resulting prosecution for protesting the war has been that of Brett Bursey, the individual who carried a “No War For Oil” sign in a “restricted area” at the Columbia, South Carolina airport. He was charged at the federal level—by Strom Thurmond, Jr. no less—with threatening the president’s safety after South Carolina dropped trespassing charges.
A recent move by federal prosecutors in Iowa may indicate that the Bush administration plans to step up surveillance and prosecution of antiwar activists, shredding the First Amendment in the process.
A federal judge in Des Moines, IA has subpoenaed Drake University to obtain records about a gathering of antiwar activists last November including members of the National Lawyers Guild. Four of the participants of the November antiwar forum were also subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
The subpoena orders Drake University to disclose the names of those attending the forum and all records relating to the sponsor of the antiwar forum, the Drake University chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, including addresses and any annual reports since 2002. According to an Associated Press report, the Drake University subpoena—the first such subpoena of a university in decades—demands “all documents indicating the purpose and intended participants in the meeting, and all documents or recordings which would identify persons that actually attended the meeting.” The subpoena also requests any campus security records “reflecting any observations made of the Nov. 15, 2003 meeting, including any records of persons in charge or control of the meeting, and any records of attendees of the meeting.”
The four individual subpoenas were served on Brian Terrell of the Catholic Peace Ministry; Patti McKee, a former coordinator of the Iowa Peace Network; Elton Davis, a member of Catholic Worker House; and Wendy Vasquez, a Quaker peace activist who had visited Iraq in 2002.
U.S. District Judge Ronald Longstaff, at the request of the U.S. attorney’s office, issued the order under seal. According to an account in the Des Moines Register by Jeff Eckhoff and Mark Seibert, the secret order “prohibits Drake employees from commenting.”
It’s perhaps not for nothing that the actions of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are ramping up just in time for the 20 March 2004 antiwar rallies.
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