Washington Targets OWSStephen Lendman, Contributor The most important thing we can do right now is those of us in leadership letting people know that we understand their struggles and we are on their side, and that we want to set up a system in which hard work, responsibility, doing what youre supposed to do, is rewarded. And that people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who dont feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks arent rewarded. His key words were: we are on their side. At the same time, FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Secret Service agents were working cooperatively with local authorities to infiltrate, disrupt, subvert, and destroy the movement in cities nationwide. Celebratory hope accompanied Obamas election. After campaigning on a promise of hope and change, betrayal followed. He expanded the worst Bush policies. He usurped unbridled powers. In June 2010, ACLU executive director Anthony Romero said Obama disgusted him. Civil liberty infringements got worse. Rule of law principles faded. His administration created a parallel track of preventative law enforcement that bypasses traditional protections in the Bill of Rights. In December 2008, before he took office, James Petras called him the greatest con man in recent history. He compared him to Melvilles Confidence Man. He catches your eye while he picks your pocket. He promises one thing and delivers another consistently on issues mattering most. A November 2008 Robert Fitch speech to the Harlem Tenants Association revealed much about lay ahead. He said Chicago urban planners yearned to make the citys south side developed like northern areas. Demolitions for gentrification were wanted. Poor folks had to be driven out. Most were Black. As an Illinois state senator, Obama represented a targeted community. His core financial supporters and inmost circle of advisors stood to profit. Obamas political base comes primarily from Chicago FIRE finance, insurance and real estate industry officials. Other key supporters included liberal foundations, elite universities, NGO community developers, and real estate reverends who (preach and) produce market rate housing at the expense of poor people kicked out for beneficiaries. Together Fitch called them Friendly FIRE.disguised by the camouflage of community uplift, augmented by the authority of academia, greased by billions in foundation grants, and wired to provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1995. Obama was their guy, a front man. As president, Chicago style hope and change repeated across America. Before taking office in January 2009, Fitch saw what lay ahead. He wasnt alone. The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF) is a public service legal organization. Its dedicated to the defense of human and civil rights secured by law, the protection of free speech and dissent, and the elimination of prejudice and discrimination. Among the PCJF cases are constitutional law, civil rights, womens rights, economic justice matters and Freedom of Information Act cases. Its work includes landmark constitutional rights litigation, often concentrated in the areas of free speech, assembly or other protected political organizing activity. According to PCJFs executive director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard: The major defining feature of the Obama administration on (core constitutional issues) is the eagerness with which it embraced the stunning evisceration of civil rights and liberties that was a hallmark of the Bush administration, and then deepened those outrageous programs. He has successfully counted on the acquiescent silence of the liberals. In March, PCJF obtained heavily redacted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requested documents. They showed federal agencies began coordinated intelligence gathering and operations on OWS last September. On September 17, 2011, protests began in New Yorks Zuccotti Park. Secret Service agents were there covertly. DHS was also involved. Documents show its top officials were preoccupied with the Occupy movement and have gone out of their way to project the appearance of an absence of federal involvement in the monitoring of and crackdown on Occupy. On the street it would be called Three Card Monte, a swindlers game to hide the ball a game of misdirection. The House always wins. Before Zuccotti Parks first demonstration, the DHS Office Intelligence and Analysis (IA) prepared National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration (NCCIC) alerts about planned OWS demonstrations. At issue is ongoing spying since 9/11. America became a total surveillance society. Millions are covertly watched. Their communications are monitored, including phone calls, emails, and other online activity. Doing so alerted authorities about coming plans. They were ready well in advance. In response to FOIA, press, and public inquiries of its involvement, one DHS official wrote: I understand we have already received some FOIA requests regarding our possible reporting of the Occupy.protests. I think should the FOIA experts find it appropriate to release information about the manner in which this issue was managed with DHS, it could only be perceived as a positive by those in the public who closely (observe) the Department. DHS tried to evade and obstruct a complete FOIA search to conceal its disruptive and coordinated activities with other federal agencies and local authorities. On April 30, PCJF updated and made public the largest and most comprehensive ever FOIA obtained DC police documents. Years of hard fought litigation got them. Washington police operate under a cloak of secrecy. Sunshine revealed some of what it conceals. Societys most disadvantaged are harmed. Its true across America. DC is a microcosm of authoritarian police serving powerful interests at the expense of ordinary people. Willful legal violations occur. No ones held accountable. Anyone challenging the system is targeted. In part, PCJF cracked the District of Columbia governments wall of secrecy. A trove of materials were gotten and made public. PCJF called obtaining them historic. On May 3, PCJF headlined, DHS Releases More Documents on Occupy to PCJF. They reveal massive (federal) nationwide OWS monitoring and information sharing between DHS and local authorities. According to Verheyden-Hilliard: These documents show not only intense government monitoring and coordination in response to the Occupy Movement, but reveal a glimpse into the interior of a vast, tentacled, national intelligence and domestic spying network that the US government operates against its own people. These heavily redacted documents dont tell the full story. They are likely only a subset of responsive materials and the PCJF continues to fight for a complete release. They scratch the surface of a mass intelligence network apparatus operating against the interests of ordinary Americans. Documents gotten reveal intense federal monitoring of OWS activities. Those involved are identified to include names, addresses, and other relevant information. NORTHCOMs kept informed ahead of planned demonstrations. DHS stays in direct communication with the White House regarding ongoing operations and approved public statements denying DHSs involvement in Occupy actions. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano runs its anti-OWS operations along with FBI and other federal agency officials. Obama appointed her. The man who told ABC News we are on their side, in fact, oversees a plan to disrupt, subvert, and destroy what theyre working for. Imagine whats ahead in a second term if hes reelected. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/ linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 