Progressives In Action Discuss Pre-emptive Prosecution

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Steve Downs of Project SALAM, Support And Legal Advocacy for Muslims, was the featured speaker at a meeting of Progressives In Action at the Grapevine Restaurant on April 12. The subject of the presentation was pre-emptive prosecution in America. Much, but not all of it is aimed at Muslims and Arabs. Downs stood in front of three large boards displaying the names of people who have been pre-emptively prosecuted. The three boards displayed 150 names. There actually over 400 people incarcerated but the room was not large enough to accommodate all of the displays.

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Pre-emptive prosecution began supposedly as a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, however hints of it were mentioned in the 1997 neocon manifesto Project For A New American Century. The idea of pre-emptive prosecution was the brainchild of former Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney and “torture memo” author John Yoo, and Admiral John Poindexter, who lost his job as President Reagan's National Security Advisor over his involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. Cheney believed that “if there was a one percent chance that someone might commit an act of terror then they must be prosecuted with 100% effort.” This went against the US Constitution which requires that authorities have probable cause before investigating someone, and that no one could be arrested unless they committed a crime. So Cheney decided that he had to change the Constitution, in secret if necessary.

Poindexter contrived a program he called Total Information Awareness which would link hundreds of private databases of personal information. The information would be subjected to secret mathematical algorithms for “deviation” from “normal” behaviors. The idea was presented to Congress, and Congress rejected it. In a move that Downs described as “insane,” Cheney set out to secretly change the Constitution. The White House had Attorney John Yoo write a memo claiming that “during war the President can do whatever he wants.” Congress went along, so long as it was limited to activities involving terrorism. But it didn't spell out exactly what Terrorism was. Peace, Environmental, Animal Rights and Palestinian Activists were caught up in the net. Muslim charities were shut down. Simply donating money to a charity that did humanitarian work in an area controlled by a political party the US didn't like, like Hamas in Palestine, was enough to trigger a “terrorism” prosecution. The system also allowed Government prosecutors to “cherry pick” information in a manner to insure incrimination and conviction. It had no mandate to include what lawyers refer to as “exculpatory evidence” which is evidence that could show that the accused is not guilty. Our legal system requires that exculpatory evidence be turned over to the court. The whole outcome designed by this system is to incarcerate people for crimes they might commit, rather than crimes they committed.

Ten years later we are now feeling the ramifications of these policies. People caught up in the net of prosecutions are interned in special “Communication Management Units” officially called CMU's but an old Soviet acronym GULAG is equally descriptive. These maximum security facilities were originally designed for holding organized crime bosses, to prevent them from operating their empires from within prison. Phone calls are limited to fifteen minutes a week. Visitation is only allowed through a bulletproof glass window and conversation over a telephone is monitored. Inmates are often put in solitary confinement for long periods of time, deprived of food, water and sleep. The goal is to cause insanity preventing the accused from mounting a coherent legal defense. The only way out is to plead guilty. This is, of course, torture. The Geneva Convention defines solitary confinement of more than 30 days as torture. But we don't know who is being subjected to it. There is no communication. No journalist has ever been inside one. It is a dangerous philosophy to imprison people based on a perceived propensity to commit crimes, rather than on the actual commission of them. Comparisons to the film Minority Report can't help but be made but there are differences. In Minority Report suspects were identified through the visions of specially gifted human prognosticators. The crime involved was limited to murder. Cheney's vision uses computers performing analysis on data that might not even be correct. The “crime” could be something as minor as loaning money to someone with the “wrong” friends. The reality in this case is much more dangerous than Hollywood's version.

One prominent name on the list was that of Bradley Manning, the US soldier who allegedly gave secret information to Wikileaks. His rights are different as he is a member of the military, but the Geneva Convention rules still apply. The rules are continually being changed to fit the US version of the case. Manning and his defenders are continually harassed.

The United States is clearly heading down a slippery slope toward totalitarianism. What was true about our legal system only 10 years ago is no longer true now. It has become much more like that of the old Soviet Union. Former Senator Russ Finegold (D-Wisconsin) recognized this and introduced the Justice Act. The Justice Act would fix the Patriot Act, by requiring that a crime actually be committed before anyone could be prosecuted, and that exculpatory evidence must be presented and weighed. Unfortunately Finegold lost his Senate seat to a Tea Party Republican in 2010 but the Justice Act is still in the Senate. Tell your Senator to support it.

The American Public has been conditioned to accept these transgressions under the guise of “It doesn't affect me because I'm not a Muslim.” But it affects more than just Muslims. The CMU-like facilities are full of persons accused (not convicted) of immigration violations. People are “disappeared” without a trace. This is about demonizing groups to maintain power. “I think public opinion turned when they started going after the peace activists” said Downs, referring to organizers and protesters who were rounded up in Minnesota at the time of the 2008 Republican Convention. When asked if he had been harassed by the FBI, Downs responded “I have not been harassed….they love me. But I assume my phone has been tapped.”

Professor James Swarts of SUNY Geneseo co-opted Pastor Niemoller's poem about the rise of the Nazis to todays reality.

First they came for the Muslims

but I did not speak out because I wasn't a Muslim

Then they came for the Immigrants

but I did not speak out because I was a US citizen

Then they came for the peace activists

but I did not speak out

Then they came for me

and there was no one left to speak out