Army Looking Into Monitoring of Protest Groups , page 1

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Topic started on 7-8-2009 @ 01:30 AM by Zerbst

This is rather disturbing and should be of great interest to everyone, especially those that think they still live in the USA! Definitely something we need to follow closely.

The New York Times

SEATTLE — The Army says it has opened an inquiry into a claim that one of its employees spent more than two years infiltrating antiwar groups active near one of the nation’s largest military bases. The groups say the employee infiltrated their activities under an assumed name and gained access to their plans as well as names and e-mail addresses of some members.

The man, John J. Towery, a civilian employee at Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma, Wash., works as a criminal intelligence analyst for the post’s Force Protection Division, say officials at Fort Lewis, the nation’s third largest Army post.

The Army would not disclose the nature of the investigation or address the claim that Mr. Towery had shared information about civilians. It said Mr. Towery was not available for an interview.

“Mr. John Towery performs sensitive work within the installation law enforcement community, and it would not be appropriate for him to discuss his duties with the media,” the Army said in written statement. “Fort Lewis is aware of the claim with regard to Mr. Towery. To ensure all regulatory guidelines were followed, the command has decided that an inquiry is prudent, and an officer is being appointed to conduct the inquiry.” continued here...

Military used against it's own citizens on their own soil is quite a big step from wiretapping. Gathering intelligence covertly within the US by the US Army is to be used for what exactly? I don't know about you, but for me this provides a frightening glimpse into answering a popular question raised here at ATS? How far would the US military go against US citizens? Army personnel cannot possibly mistake this action for anything needed to protect us? You gather intel to learn about your enemies. You use intel to create effective strategies on how to eliminate them. How else can it be rationalized?

When will Americans stop justifying this type of behavior against them? When will there be a realization that this indeed can happen here? The notion that it never could is only a myth. Maybe this will help some see that?

Peace.

reply posted on 7-8-2009 @ 02:12 AM by riff_raff

I'm not worried about the US Army. It's the Obama administration that troubles me. Obama has openly declared that US citizens should "inform" on anyone that they know of who has professed a stated opposition to his socialist health care agenda. He wants all loyal citizens to turn in their neighbors and "name names".

reply posted on 7-8-2009 @ 02:15 AM by TheAssociate

I posted this thread on the same topic a while back and it didn't get a whole lot of attention. I hope yours does a lot better, the word needs to be gotten out about this. S&F

TA

[edit on 7-8-2009 by TheAssociate]

reply posted on 7-8-2009 @ 02:17 AM by mooseinhisglory

Found this article a while ago by Democracy Now(I live in seattle)
Check it out.
Army Spying On Anti-War Groups

Should have posted this a while ago lol.
Totally against the very idea of freedom. What's so wrong with us not wanting war? Do we not pay for it? Should they not be held accountable to those footing the bill? What do they even THINK they could do against us if our ideals do not match theirs?
Better take away our guns before they take away our right to protest.

[edit on 7-8-2009 by mooseinhisglory]

reply posted on 8-8-2009 @ 01:57 AM by First Viewer 5th D

reply posted on 9-8-2009 @ 09:41 PM by Sundancer

I don't know how I missed this post. Great find my friend. Star and flag.
It doesn't look good for those of us who wish to live free, does it?

reply posted on 11-8-2009 @ 06:17 PM by Zerbst

reply to post by Sundancer

Hi Sundancer. No, it doesn't look good at all!

As a people we need to stop leaning on the old idea that this is not possible and start realizing it is. Not only possible, but actually happening now! This won't change until the thinking does.

Thanks for the reply!

reply posted on 12-8-2009 @ 07:42 PM by TheMightySpeck

They ARE going to take away our guns before they take away our right to protest completely. I've noticed that they take it bit by bit so you don't really notice it until it's too late. These new gun control laws that are being put into effect under the new administration is a perfect example. We aren't losing our weapons outright but over time we will. Shwarzenegger (I can never spell that name right) has already signed a bill for California that has something to do with this. Effective January 1, 2010 no civilian semi automatic weapon will fire without a magazine in the gun, even if you have a round in the chamber. It may not seem like a big deal but one bullet can save your life. It's the little things that take away our rights, slowly but surely. You may not feel one mosquito bite you but you will definitely feel it when a hundred start biting you. So maybe it's time to kill the bugs before they bleed you dry.....

reply posted on 12-8-2009 @ 08:03 PM by orderedchaos

Awful. Not just dirty pool, or unethical, but... I thought it was illegal.

I know that doesn't mean much, but give them bozos in govt one reason to impose on citizens rights and they'll pounce.

No different than the CIA investigating persons inside the US.

And I agree - the right to bear arms has an expiration date. Only the crooks will have guns. And we all know crooks don't like competition.

reply posted on 13-8-2009 @ 04:40 PM by TevashSzat

There are probally a few reasons why the army did this.one of them they probally looked suspicious and a few of the soldiers from the base was either in the group or seen talking to the group.The army is not alowed to take part in extremist groups now im not saying this group is or that the army even had probable cause hell for all we know they have been doing this to all groups and havent been outed yet but before we go screaming foul lets try to find out what the army has learned because the group may look good on the outside but in reality they really are not.

reply posted on 13-8-2009 @ 04:44 PM by Moshpet

I think it is more telling that the Army is looking into their 'Past' behavior here.

It's not unheard of, from with in the Army, that the intel / CID folks check into groups where the troops assemble outside the Army.

It may be that somewhere in one of the investigations, a line got crossed that should not have been.

I suspect the details will not be made public anytime soon though.

M.

reply posted on 20-8-2009 @ 09:10 PM by sanchoearlyjones

It´s time We stand up as a People! I don´t believe there are too many People in the military that would go through with these type actions........ That being said, I can see this being used as a training for a larger regular police force... I believe the average police officer they have has a different psychy than someone serving their country in the armed forces..... Quite frankly I see the average Police Officer as being a person who enjoys their petty power over their fellow man.

I think what your article is doing, is opening the door for rougher police abuses........ Scare the average people into submission of what they think will be less intrusive, abusive, and corrupt, but in reality just what the PTB want.

S&F

reply posted on 20-8-2009 @ 09:34 PM by OnTheFelt

reply to post by Zerbst

This is actually nothing new.

I was a military police investigator on Fort Lewis from 2000-2003 and I can tell you that the neighboring town of Tacoma has one of the worst gang problems on the west coast.

They are referred to as the "hilltop crips" and I can tell you that the following story is 100% true and happened in the early 90's:

Fort Lewis used to have one of the most lenient post policies in the Army. What I mean is that since it is such a large installation and has alot of great ammenities like: fitness centers (had an intense intramurial BBall league), adventure center (you can rent all types of hiking and camping equipment, and even take off from the lake there), a great post exchange, and most of all a popular NCO club (night club)...

they would allow in some instances for non-military personnel to utilize such facilities -- particularly the indoor basketball gym and the NCO club (on Saturday nights only).

Now, I can't say exactly how or when it started but a skirmish began between 2nd Special Forces Group and a couple of these gang bangers over one of the basketball games.

Well one thing lead to another and apparently on of the gang bangers snuck into the 2nd group compound and attempted to shoot the SF soldier that he had got into a skirmish with.

Now this little gang banger was way over his head and before he knew it the SF soldier had disarmed the douche bag and commenced to beating the # out of him.

In an attempt at retribution, some of the hilltop crips came back and shot up the SF soldiers car. You can imagine this didn't go over well with 2nd group. Their commander not wanting to leave it in the hands of the authorities, took a a group of soldiers, loaded them up with weapons and proceeded off post to the hilltop area where they shot up a crack house apparently where most of the crips resided (no one was killed).

Now this was a serious violation, obviously, but the commander of 2nd group had alot of clout, particularly with the Provost Marshall, so in the end it was swept under the rug.

I promise you this occurred.

Now the point is that there have been tons of issues concerning off post and Fort Lewis forever.

As an investigator I was apart of some crazy ass run in's with civilians in my 3 years stationed there.

You have to also understand that there are hundreds of square miles surrounding Fort Lewis that are considered joint jurisidiction because they are military training areas that are allowed to be travelled through by non military personnel. All I'll say is a lot of meth lab busts.

I also actually did an undercover off post pawn shop sting operation of illegal weapons, because the seller was a soldier on Fort Lewis. We got permission from local authorities to set up a sting inside the pawn shop and apprehend the soldier on site.

So it's really not that uncommon, especially Fort Lewis. You just never hear about it.

[edit on 20-8-2009 by OnTheFelt]

[edit on 20-8-2009 by OnTheFelt]

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