The horror, the horror:
An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.
One tip in the database in February 2005, for instance, noted that “a church service for peace” would be held in the New York City area the next month. Another entry noted that antiwar protesters would be holding “nonviolence training” sessions at unidentified churches in Brooklyn and Manhattan.
Then again:
On March 23, [2000] Circuit Judge James T. Smith, Jr. made sure Berrigan will spend at least another New Year’s Day – perhaps two – in a Maryland prison after he sentenced the former Josephite priest and three other Catholic pacifists for using hammers and blood to damage two Air National Guard A-10 Warthog warplanes last December to protest the United States’ use of depleted uranium in recent wars against Iraq and Yugoslavia.
Not every peace-supporting organization violates federal law and damages military equipment, etc., etc.
Overzealous collectors? Probably. Legitimate security concerns? Most certainly. Purposeful intent to squash dissent? Number of meetings disrupted: 0; Number of stories about Talon: dozens. Chill wind? Please.
