31 August 2012By Stephen Lendman
On August 15, federal district court Judge Cormac
Carney dismissed a class action ACLU of Southern
California/Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR)
lawsuit.
Fazaga v. FBI charges lawless FBI surveillance. More
on what's involved below. Southern California Muslims
were targeted for praying to the wrong God.
In his ruling, Judge Carney didn't say illegal
surveillance hadn't occurred. Nor did he agree that
First Amendment provisions, illegal searches, privacy
rights, and other constitutional principles weren't
violated.
Instead, he ruled for Washington's "state secrets"
privilege. It's anti-democratic legal mumbo jumbo. The
Justice Department and administration routinely invoke
it to conceal government crimes and other abuses from
scrutiny. Courts routinely go along.
In September 2010, the US Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals dismissed an extraordinary rendition lawsuit.
State secrets were invoked.
Five Muslim victims sued Boeing's Jeppesen Dataplan
unit. It works cooperatively with CIA officials. It
willingly and knowingly facilitates torture flights.
Mohamed v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. threatened to blow
the whistle on corporate America's involvement with
Washington's torture policy. Obama promised to end it.
Instead, he changed nothing Bush instituted. He
continues the worst of his policies, escalated them,
and piled on more of his own.
In 2007, the ACLU filed suit. It quoted a Jeppesen
official saying, "We do all the extraordinary
rendition flights - you know, the torture flights.
Let's face it. Some of these flights end up that way."
The Ninth Circuit said "there is precious little
Jeppesen could say about its relevant conduct and
knowledge without revealing information about how the
United States government does or does not conduct
covert operations."
In other words, imperial priorities trump rule of law
principles. Case dismissed.
Southern California Muslims were spurned the same way.
ACLU attorney Peter Bibring called the court ruling
"the right to remain spied on." Instead of upholding
inviolable rule of law principles, Judge Carney
claimed information disclosed might harm national
security. He didn't explain how.
At issue are fundamental constitutional rights. Yassir
Fazaga and other plaintiffs charged illegal spying on
Orange County, CA Muslims. FBI agents targeted an area
mosque.
It used covert informant Craig Monteilh, a convicted
felon, aka Farouk al-Aziz, code name Oracle. He was
paid to entrap Irvine Islamic Center Muslims.
His violent jihad talk alarmed them. They obtained a
restraining order against him. They also reported him
to the FBI office using him.
He manufactured a terrorism-related case against a
mosque member. It collapsed. The Justice Department
had egg on its face. Prosecutors called an innocent
man a dire threat. They do it all the time. Usually
they get away with it. Innocent victims do hard time
in America's gulag.
Non-existent threats are hyped. Media hysteria creates
fear. Innocent Muslims are wrongfully targeted. This
time the FBI's scheme blew up. No terrorism related
charges or convictions followed.
Monteilh went public. He revealed secret FBI tactics.
He said his "handlers" trained him to entrap Muslims
in mosques, their homes and businesses.
Officials declined comment except to confirm he was a
paid informant. Court records and other documents
showed he got $177,000 tax free in 15 months.
He secretly recorded conversations. He also collected
names, telephone numbers, emails, political and
religious views, travel plans, and other information
on hundreds of Muslims. He was told to pay special
attention to community leaders and those most devout.
The FBI called its scheme Operation Flex. It was a
fishing expedition. It targeted Muslims for their
faith and religious practices. Its mission was to
manufacture enemies out of whole cloth.
Southern California Muslims were incensed. They cited
a systemic pattern of pervasive surveillance and
covert entrapment. Innocent Muslims were targeted.
In February 2011, the Southern California ACLU and
CAIR filed a class action lawsuit. The FBI was accused
of lawlessly infiltrating and surveilling area
mosques. Charges also included targeting Muslims for
their faith.
First Amendment religious freedoms were violated. So
were Fourth Amendment unreasonable searches and
Privacy Act provisions.
Enacted in December 1974, it established a Code of
Fair Information Practice. It governs the collection,
maintenance, use, and dissemination of personally
identifiable information about individuals maintained
in federal agency records.
It prohibits disclosure of information without written
consent of subject individuals. It gives them a way to
access and amend documents about themselves to set the
record straight in case of errors.
It offers protections now gone. Bush administration
officials began eroding them. War on terror/national
security priorities trump constitutional freedoms.
They're heading for elimination entirely.
The suit demanded destruction of lawlessly obtained
information. Damages were also sought. Victims were
denied. Injustice triumphed.
In 2006 and 2007, FBI agents planted informants in
Orange County mosques. They spied to collect
information and entrap Muslims. Craig Monteilh was
specifically named.
The suit seeks injunctive relief on behalf of everyone
bogusly targeted. It also requires the FBI to turn
over or destroy all information collected through
discriminatory investigations. Moreover, it wants
damages for emotional stress caused.
Orange County has a vibrant Muslim community. It
numbers about 120,000 residents. It's home to
America's second largest Muslim population after
Dearborn, MI. They and others practicing Islam live in
America at the wrong time.
Post-9/11, they've been targeted to create fear.
America needs enemies. War on terror mumbo jumbo
followed. So have lawless imperial wars. One nation
after another is ravaged. Police state laws persecute
non-believers.
Freedom is fast eroding. Full-blown tyranny perhaps
awaits another major state sponsored false flag
attack. Expect Muslims and other enemies of choice to
suffer most.
ACLU of Southern California deputy legal director,
Ahilan Arulanantham, expressed disappointment about
Judge Carney's ruling.
"Every American should be deeply troubled when the
government can win dismissal of a case involving the
most basic constitutional rights by claiming that it
is acting, in secret, in the interests of national
security."
"The notion that our basic safety requires
relinquishing our most cherished liberties is as
inconsistent with the Constitution as it is
frightening."
Plaintiff Yassir Fazaga said he was encouraged by
effective work done to hold the FBI responsible. "(W)e
will continue to work hard to make sure that the
government does not continue to abuse our
constitutional rights," he added.
Hadsell Stormer Richardson & Renick attorney Reem
Salahi said:
"Where plaintiffs and the informant himself describe
act after act of illegal government surveillance, the
government should not be allowed to skirt liability by
using its wild card - state secrets."
ACLU attorney Peter Bibring said "the state secrets
privilege essentially gives the government a blank
check to halt a lawsuit in its tracks."
It's currently being challenged in Congress. On June
18, Rep. Jerrod Nadler (D. NY) introduced legislation
to limit state secrets in favor of less drastic
alternatives.
HR 5956: State Secrets Protection Act seeks to
"provide safe, fair, and responsible procedures and
standards for resolving claims of state secrets
privilege."
The bill was referred to committee. No further action
was taken. In today's climate of fear, expect none.
Bibring calls the privilege of state secrets
troubling. An early case invoking them involved a
military plane crash. Decades later, the daughter of
one of the pilots discovered a concealed accident
report wasn't secret. It described negligence.
Coverup tried to hide human error. At issue was
embarrassment, not secrets too important to reveal.
Nonetheless, Justice Department attorney Anthony
Coppolino claimed doing so would disclose government
motives and alert enemies. He lied and got away with
it.
Bibring said he'll appeal. "In our democratic
society," he explained, "it is wrong for the courts to
allow the government to avoid defending the legality
of its conduct under the Constitution when the rights
of hundreds of law-abiding" Muslims or any others are
at risk.
An ACLU statement called invoking state secrets to
dismiss a civil rights lawsuit unprecedented. Attorney
General Eric Holder demanded it.
Doing so absolves FBI lawlessness. Judge Carney's
ruling legitimizes unconstitutional practices. If
appeals fail, they'll stand.
Henceforth, anyone can be targeted for any reason or
none at all. State secrets matter more than rule of
law principles and justice. America's on a fast track
to tyranny. There's no place to hide.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be
reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His new book is
titled "How Wall Street Fleeces America: Privatized
Banking, Government Collusion and Class War"
http://www.claritypress.com/Lendman.html 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
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