We are not terrorists!

MY POST IN "THE MUSCATINE CONVERSATION"*
(Feb. 8, 2004)

[I was answering messages supporting a grand jury investigation of some Iowa peace activists. The probe was dropped later amid nationwide publicity and protests.]


Scoff away, friends.

Your jokes are not funny. They are threats--probably more than you realize. The distance from intolerant "jokes" to vigilante terrorism is shorter than you might think.

We "peaceniks" are not terrorists or anything like, and you should know it. You may not like us or the things we say and do, but you should know we operate nonviolently and in the open. If you don't believe this, it's because you don't know us and believe misinformation.

So, why were the organizers of the Des Moines anti-war conference called before a grand jury, if not to punish them and warn others who might consider taking public stands like theirs? This is not about "taking a look"--it's about intimidation, pure and simple.

Have you ever had your life threatened because you were labeled unpatriotic? You'd take your free speech rights very seriously if you had.

In the scariest instance [in my experience], someone fired rifle bullets through my office window, through my own desk and chair. One month later, my colleagues and I evacuated that Des Moines office after a never-explained bombing caused considerable damage but--miraculously--no deaths or injuries. The official investigations never got to the bottom of it--supposedly. If the perps were not on some government payroll, there's every reason to think they were right-wing terrorists operating with some sort of immunity.

It happens. Believe it. For me, it ruined Christmas 1975 and affected my perspective ever after. The experience led directly to creation of the Iowa Peace Network in 1976. You may not know I was the first IPN staff member.

One of those ordered before the grand jury next Tuesday is Patti McKee, my successor as IPN coordinator.

The following e-mail was widely distributed before the November conference. [I appended an e-mail invitation including text announcing the "Saturday Nov 15th State Wide Anti War and Occupation Conference and a Sunday Nov 16th legal demonstration and direct action at the STARC Armory in Johnston IA".] Recipients surely included all Ashcroft's spooks and spies who cared to pay attention. Whenever I have been involved in such an effort, I have assumed I was being watched, and behaved accordingly. I know these folks well enough to believe they did, too.

Go ahead and laugh. But answer this: If it's okay to deny civil liberties to those who "protest a war against terrorists and terrorism," who else is it okay to violate? And then how many steps is it from there to losing YOUR rights, O Smug Ones?

Dan


* THE MUSCATINE CONVERSATION is an unmoderated discussion of topics related to Muscatine, Iowa USA. Info at http://www.topica.com/lists/muscatine/.