-Caveat Lector-
Lessons from history in how the government has dealt with activists...
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 06:29:09 -0500
From: preston peet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: cia-drugs <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, [EMAIL PROTECTED],
rootsofteror <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: [Spy News] FBI reports threat to Liberty Bell
On the topic of blowing up the Liberty Bell, once more I find myself feeling
a bit suspicious of the FBI's alert of a supposed terrorist threat.
I don't doubt terrorists are out there, but how many threats are we
going to hear/be told about? I don't often read or hear about "threats" that
drug dealers are going to be making a sale down the street, the cops simply
move in, no? (or take money to look the other way, but I digress.)
Keeping us, joe/jane public, tense and feeling threatened, thereby
helping make many folk much more willing to unquestionably allow the US
government to carry out its targetless, never ending war on terror, seems to
be the only reason I can personally come up with for these continued
"alerts."
Peace,
Preston Peet
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://howmanyroads.com/Chapter_3_Excerpt.htm
snip-
It was in the Black Liberation Front that Ray found ready acceptance. Once
a member, Ray began proposing actions the group could undertake. Suggesting
that the Black Liberation Front expose the nation’s hypocrisy by defacing
the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Washington Monument, he
gave the members an old US-Army manual of his, which outlined the use of
explosives. Everyone agreed that Ray’s suggestion was a good idea, but no
one except Ray was willing to take any action.
Ray led the Black Liberation Front on a reconnaissance trip to the Statue of
Liberty. Having been an explosives expert in the military, he showed the
members where to place their bombs in order to cause maximum damage. Since
no one wanted to put up any money, Ray agreed to pay for the bomb materials
himself. Next Ray convinced his Black Liberation Front girlfriend to
accompany him to Montreal, Canada, to buy 30 sticks of dynamite. Upon
returning, they hid the cache of explosives in a vacant lot in the Bronx.
On February 17, 1965, the lead headline of the New York Times proclaimed:
"Four Held in Plot to Blast Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell and Washington
Monument." Under the bold headline were the pictures of the arrested Black
Liberation Front members, along with a smaller headline, "A Rookie Policemen
Here Infiltrates a Group of Negro Extremists." The article went on to
discuss how a "loyal Negro hero cop" had infiltrated the "fanatical
extremist Black Liberation Front."
Besides major front-page coverage, an entire inside page was devoted to the
story. Two additional reports discussed Ray’s "heroic work" for the NYPD’s
Bureau of Special Services. Although Ray had been in the department for
less than a year, he was given an on-the-spot promotion from rookie to
detective. The police fantasy that he had single-handedly uncovered and
thwarted a horrendous terrorist plot was repeated on the front pages of all
the US newspapers, and was the lead story on radio and television newscasts
nationwide. The media portrayed this agent-provocateur as a
bigger-than-life "American hero" who had put his life at risk by
infiltrating a "dangerous group of ruthless, fanatical Black nationalists
bent on destroying America."13
When the trial of the Black Liberation Front members began in May of 1965,
the evidence that the defense presented received no publicity in most
newspapers. In what little was reported, defense claims were always
preceded with the word "alleged," while the testimony that Ray gave was
presented as fact. Under cross-examination, Ray admitted that he had given
the defendants US Army explosives books, and suggested the targets. Even
more damning, he admitted that in order to purchase the explosives, he
provided the money and the car, both of which had been supplied to him by
the NYPD, and then drove to Canada to purchase the explosives. The only
action the defendants could be accused of was agreeing with Ray. His
girlfriend pleaded guilty to illegal transportation of explosives into the
US, since she had ridden with Ray when he bought the dynamite.
This was such a clear-cut case of police entrapment that I could not fathom
how the jury would find the defendants guilty. However, the all-White jury
was terrified by the prosecutor, who depicted the defendants as dangerous
African-American-extremist terrorists committed to destroying the nation.
Even this attempt at further biasing the jury did not remove the fact that
the only thing the defendants ever did was to agree with Ray. Although the
prosecutor was seeking a much longer prison sentence, the four defendants
were sentenced to 15 years in prison. After serving a few years, they were
all paroled. Unfortunately, this case is but one example of the "dirty
tricks" used by undercover agents seeking to win criminal convictions of
political activists.
Notes: 13. New York Times. (1965, Feb. 17).
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mario Profaca" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "[Spy News]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 9:35 PM
Subject: [Spy News] FBI reports threat to Liberty Bell
>
>http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-020221libertybell.story?coll=chi%2Dnews%2Dhed
>
> FBI reports threat to Liberty Bell
>
> By Maryclaire Dale
> The Associated Press
> Published February 21, 2002, 9:10 AM CST
>
> PHILADELPHIA -- Federal authorities kept a close watch on the Liberty Bell
> today after receiving a "nonspecific" threat that someone planned to attack
> it. It was not being closed to tourists, though.
>
> Security at the historic block that includes the Liberty Bell pavilion,
> Independence Hall and a federal courthouse, and the surrounding Old City
> neighborhood, was tightened after authorities issued a warning about the
> bell's safety Wednesday.
>
> Dennis Reidenbach, assistant superintendent at Independence National
> Historical Park, declined to give detailed security plans for the bell,
> which is visited by more than 1.6 million people each year.
>
> The bell opened for visitors as usual today, and a handful of people lined
> up to get in.
>
> Dave Siegelman, 36, a computer analyst walking past the bell Thursday
> morning, said he wasn't worried about the threat.
>
> "That's an inanimate object. There's more crime against people," Siegelman
> said. "I think that's cowardly to try to destroy something that can't hurt
> you back."
>
> The threat didn't say when an attack might occur but was considered serious
> enough to warrant increased patrols, said Linda Vizi, spokeswoman for the
> FBI in Philadelphia.
>
> An area terrorism task force made up of the FBI, other federal agencies,
> Philadelphia police and Pennsylvania and New Jersey state police "is in the
> process of determining whether there is any veracity or substance to the
> threat," Vizi said.
>
> Vizi declined to discuss details or the source of the threat. "All I can say
> is that it was a nonspecific threat," she said. Local FBI officials learned
> of the threat from the FBI in Washington, she said.
>
> Security had already been tightened in April after a self-described
> wanderer, Mitchell A. Guilliatt, struck the bell with a small sledgehammer
> while shouting, "God lives!" The 2,080-pound bell suffered small dents and
> chips.
>
> Guilliatt has since pleaded guilty to damaging an archaeological resource
> and is awaiting sentencing. He could receive a six-month term.
>
> The commonwealth of Pennsylvania ordered the bell from England, but
> officials were displeased with its sound when it arrived in 1752.
>
> The bell was melted down and recast in Philadelphia in 1753. The bell, with
> its inscription "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
> inhabitants thereof," was not particularly famous until it was adopted as a
> symbol by the anti-slavery movement in the 1830s.
>
> By 1846, a thin crack began to affect the sound of the bell. It was repaired
> that year and rang for a George Washington birthday celebration, but cracked
> again for unknown reasons and has not been rung since.
>
> Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press
>
> SPY NEWS home page:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/spynews
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