The Patriot Act: When Truth Becomes Treason
By Susan Lindauer,
former CIA Asset covering Iraq & Libya
Most Americans believe they understand the dangers of the Patriot Act, which Congress has vowed to extend 4 more years
in a vote later this week. Trust me when I say, Americans are not nearly frightened enough.
Ever wonder why the truth about 9/11 never got exposed? Why Americans don't have a clue about leadership fraud
surrounding the War on Terror? Why Americans don't know if the 9/11 investigation was really successful? Why the Iraqi
Peace Option draws a blank? Somebody has known the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden--- or his grave—for the past 10 years.
But nobody's talking to the people.
In significant part, that's because of the Patriot Act--- a law that equates free speech with sedition It's got a big
agenda, with 7,000 pages of Machiavellian code designed to interrupt individual questioning of government policy. In
this brave new world, free speech under the Bill of Rights effectively has been declared a threat to government controls
for maintaining stability. And the Patriot Act has become the premiere weapon to attack whistle blowers and dissidents
who challenge the comfort of political leaders hiding inconvenient truths from the public. It's all the rage on Capitol
Hill, as leaders strive to score TV ratings, while demogauging their "outstanding leadership performance" on everything
from national security to environmental policy.
Truth has Become Treason
But wait---Congress assures us the Patriot Act only targets foreigners, who come to our shores seeking to destroy our
way of life through violent, criminal acts. Good, law abiding Americans have nothing to fear. The Patriot Act restricts
its powers of "roving wiretaps" and warrantless searches to international communications among "bad guys." Congress has
sworn, with hand on heart, it's only purpose is breaking down terrorist cells and hunting out "lone wolf" mad men.
That's what they told you, right? And you believed them? You trust the government. Well, that was your first mistake.
With regards to the Patriot Act, it's a fatal one. Would the government lie to you? You betcha! And they have.
The Patriot Act reaches far beyond terrorism prevention. In my home state of Maryland, State Police invoked the Patriot
Act to run surveillance on the Chesapeake Climate Action Network dedicated to wind power, recycling and protection of
the Chesapeake Bay. They infiltrated the DC Anti War Network, suggesting the group might be a front for "white
supremacists," and Amnesty International, claiming to investigate "civil rights abuses." Opponents of the death penalty
also got targeted (in case they got violent).
Bottom line: truth tellers who give Americans too much insight are vulnerable to a vast arsenal of judicial weapons
typically associated with China or Mynamar. In the Patriot Act, the government has created a powerful tool to hunt out
free thinking on the left or right. It doesn't discriminate. Anyone who opposes government policy is at risk
How do I know all this? Because I was the second non-Arab American ever indicted on the Patriot Act. My arrest defied
all expectations about the law. I was no terrorist plotting to explode the Washington Monument. Quite the opposite, I
had worked in anti-terrorism for almost a decade, covering Iraq and Libya, Yemen, Egypt and Malaysia at the United
Nations. At the instruction of my CIA handler, I had delivered advance warnings about the 9/11 attack to the private
staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft and the Office of Counter-Terrorism in August, 2001. FBI wire taps prove that I
carried details of a comprehensive peace framework with Iraq up and down the hallowed corridors of Capitol Hill for
months before the invasion, arguing that War was totally unnecessary.
I delivered those papers to Democrats and Republicans alike; to my own second cousin, White House Chief of Staff Andrew
Card; and to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who lived next door to my CIA handler. Gratis of the Patriot Act, we had
the manila envelope and my hand written notes to Secretary Powell, dated a week before his infamous speech at the United
Nations. My papers argued that no WMDs would be found inside Iraq, and that the peace framework could achieve all U.S.
objectives without firing a shot.
In short, I was an Asset who loudly opposed War with Iraq, and made every effort to correct the mistakes in assumptions
on Capitol Hill.
Then I did the unthinkable. I phoned the offices of Senator Trent Lott and Senator John McCain, requesting to testify
before a brand new, blue ribbon Commission investigating Pre-War Intelligence. Proud and confident of my efforts, I had
no idea Congress was planning to blame "bad intelligence" for the unpopular War.
Over night I became Public Enemy Number One on Capitol Hill
Thirty days later I awoke to hear FBI agents pounding on my door. My nightmare on the Patriot Act lasted 5 years--- Four
years after my arrest, the Court granted me one morning of evidentiary testimony by two supremely credible witnesses.
Parke Godfrey verified my 9/11 warnings under oath. Otherwise, I never got my day in Court.
The Patriot Act's Arsenal to Stop Free Speech
If you care about America and the traditions of freedom, whether you're progressive or conservative, you should be angry
about this law.
First come the warrantless searches and FBI tracking surveillance. My work in anti-terrorism gave me no protection. I
got my first of at least warrantless searches after meeting an undercover FBI agent to discuss my support for free
elections in Iraq and my opposition to torture and sexual humiliation of Iraqi detainees (Sorry guys, body wires don't
lie.)
If truth tellers don't get the message to shut their mouths, the Justice Department ratchets up the pressure. Defendants
face secret charges, secret evidence and secret grand jury testimony. Throughout five years of indictment, my attorneys
and I never got to read a single FBI interview or grand jury statement. Under the Patriot Act, the
whistleblower/defendant has no right to know who has accused him or her of what criminal activities, or the dates of the
alleged offenses, or what laws got broken.
Of course, I was able to piece together my activities. I knew that "sometime in October, 2001" an Iraqi diplomat gave me
the English translation of a book on depleted uranium, which showed how cancer rates and birth defects had spiked in
Iraqi children.
And I was quite certain that on October 14, 1999, an Iraqi diplomat asked me how to channel major financial
contributions to the Presidential Campaign of George Bush and Dick Cheney. The Justice Department got the date from me,
since I reported my conversation immediately to my Defense Intelligence handler, Paul Hoven.
It's unlikely the grand jury knew that, since the Justice Department has the prerogative to keep a grand jury in the
dark. In this brave new world, a grand jury can be compelled to consider indictments carrying 10 years or more in
prison, without the right to review evidence, or otherwise determine whether an individual's actions rise to the level
of criminal activity at all.
That's just the beginning. Once Congress scores an indictment against a political opponent, the Justice Department can
force Defense attorneys to undergo protracted security clearances, while the whistle blower cum defendant waits in
prison--- usually in solitary confinement or the SHU After the security clearance, prosecutors have an ironclad right to
bar attorneys from communicating communications from the prosecution to the defendant, on threat of disbarment, stiff
fines or prison sentence.
Scared yet? Once you get to trial, the situation gets much worse. The Patriot Act declares that a prosecutor has no
obligation to show evidence of criminal activity to a jury at all. And the Defense can be denied the right to argue a
rebuttal to those secret charges, because it requires speculation that might mislead the jury—or might expose issues
that the government considers, well, secret. After all that a Judge can instruct a jury that the prosecution regards the
secret evidence as sufficient to merit conviction on the secret charges. The Jury can be barred from considering the
lack of evidence in weighing whether to convict.
Think I'm exaggerating? You would be wrong. That's what happened to me. All of it—with one major glitch. All of this
presumes the whistle blower's lucky enough to get a trial. I was denied mine, though I fought vigorously for my rights.
Instead, citing the Patriot Act, I got thrown in prison on a Texas military base without so much as a hearing—and
threatened with indefinite detention and forcible drugging, to boot.
Americans are not nearly afraid enough.
Neither is Congress. As of this week, members of Congress should be very afraid. Anyone who votes to extend the Patriot
Act should expect to pack their bags in 2012. They will be targeted for defeat. Above all, the words "freedom" and
"Constitution" will never appear in their campaigns without suffering extreme public scorn—never, ever again.
*************
Susan Lindauer is the author of Extreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq, which reveals details of her CIA team's 9/11 warnings and a comprehensive peace option with Iraq.