The NSA has been spying on vast networks of communication beyond selected individuals “suspected of links to terrorism”. As it turns out, the initial outrage revealed over a week ago was only just the beginning. Not only has the NSA conducted warrantless wiretaps on Americans, they have also scoured through major telecommunications networks looking for patterns, then decided to listen in when they so desired. Major telecommunications corporations have provided the NSA with backdoor access to see who’s calling who. The scope of such information gathering is far beyond what had originally been admitted to by the Bush administration, and demonstrates the range with which police state measures are being enacted. Furthermore, Bush’s nominee for Supreme Court Justice, Alito, has previously defended government officials from being punished for illegal wiretaps.
These police state measures are hammering into being a whole different society, unbound by the rule of law and creating an atmosphere of fear and suppression of political dissent (or even critical thought). Just look at some recent experiences in academia. A student at UMass Dartmouth was recently visited by Homeland Security for ordering a copy of Mao Tse-Tung’s Red Book for a research paper. A 16-year-old Muslim high school student in Sacramento was interviewed by the FBI for scribbling “PLO” in his notebook 2 years ago. His parents were not notified of the interview, in which FBI agents asked about the student’s political views. Pennsylvania is considering legislation that would oversee what professors are teaching after a student complained about a physics professor airing his criticisms of Bush and the war. Legislators are consulting with David Horowitz, a notorious fascist bent on purging liberal and progressive professors, as well as political dissent and critical thought generally, from college campuses.
These are chilling times we are living in, when increasing police state powers are taken by a regime bent on waging a war on Iraq with more countries in their sights, enforcing a hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism on society, and determined to crush anything in their path. It would be unacceptable to sit by while all this is ironed into place. When Bush gives his state of the union address this year, demand “Bush: step down, and take your program with you.”
(sources: “Spy Agency Mined Vast Data Trove, Officials Report”, NY Times, 12/24; progressive.org; “Professors Politics Draw Lawmakers into the Fray”, NY Times, 12/25)