Punished for Pacifism

[Editor's Note: This is an edited transcript of a segment of Democracy Now!, which aired on Wednesday, March 15.]

Amy Goodman: Newly released files show the FBI has been monitoring and possibly infiltrating a Pittsburgh peace group because of its opposition to the war in Iraq.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union released a series of once secret FBI files that show the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force conducted a secret investigation into the activities of the Thomas Merton Center beginning as early as November 2002, and continuing up until at least last March.

According to the ACLU these documents are the first to show conclusively that the rationale for FBI targeting is the group's opposition to the war.

One memo describes the Merton Center as a "left-wing organization advocating, among many political causes, pacifism." It notes that the center hands out leaflets on a daily basis opposing the war in Iraq.

The FBI files also notes that one of the peace activists monitored handling out fliers "appeared to be of Middle Easter descent."

Another file on the peace center is titled "International Terrorism Matters" and it includes information on a series of anti-war rallies taking place in Pittsburgh and around the country.

The documents raise new questions about the extent of the government's domestic surveillance operations. On Monday Democratic Senator Russell Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush for illegally ordering the National Security Agency to conduct warrantless domestic surveillance.

The White House has insisted the NSA surveillance is targeted solely at members of Al Qaeda and affiliates. But civil liberties groups fears that the government is also spying on political activists and critics of the government.

In December, NBC News revealed the existence of a secret Pentagon database to track intelligence gathered inside the United States including information on anti-war protests and rallies particularly actions targeting military recruiting.

Here in New York, the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed Freedom of Information requests on Tuesday on behalf of itself and fourteen of New York's most prominent political and religious groups to determine whether the FBI is spying on them as well.

In a minute we will be joined by Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. But first we go to Pittsburgh to speak with Tim Vining, the former head of the Thomas Merton Center. He is personally named in the FBI spy files on the group. Can you talk about what you understand these files say, exactly?

Tim Vining: Well, the activity that we were cited for was simply leafleting in Market Square. We went out -- it was Buy Nothing Day, the day after Thanksgiving on November of 2002 -- and we went out just simply to hand out leaflets about a variety of issues -- transit advocacy, antiwar, global justice -- and for that, we were targeted. Also, what's really distressing to me, Amy, is that the Thomas Merton Center has worked very hard to build relationships with members of the local Muslim community, especially after 9/11, as they were targeted and scapegoated. And because of that, because we tried to build relationships that cross the lines of religion that are used to divide people, because of that, we were spied on by our government. Now, at a time when religious misunderstandings and differences lead to so much terrorism and violence in the world today, you would think our government would applaud us for seeking peace and trying to understand one another. Instead, they spied on us.

AG: Tim Vining, who was Thomas Merton?

TV: Thomas Merton was a monk, a Trappist monk who spoke out during the Vietnam War in favor of peace, and he was a man who was extremely consistent. He thought that if we had the value of peace and we were truly peacekeepers and peacemakers, that we had to put our money where our mouth is. So he dedicated his life and his writing, from the monastery, speaking for peace.