The Patriot Act: When Truth Becomes Treason
by Susan Lindauer
/Tuesday May 24th, 2011 11:30 AM /

What Americans don't know about the Patriot Act is a lot. Susan
Lindauer, the second non-Arab American ever indicted on the Patriot
Act, pulls back the curtain and shows what corporate media won't
tell you. Unfortunately, Bradley Manning's supporters may find that
he's in a lot more trouble than they realize.

The Patriot Act: When Truth Becomes Treason

By Susan Lindauer, former Asset covering Iraq & Libya and the second 
non-Arab American indicted on the Patriot Act

Many Americans think 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. 
Unfortunately, Bradley Manning is also subject to some of these rules, 
so it's important for his supporters to understand what he's facing, too.

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 on any 
number of issues 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 warrantless 
search 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.

--- END---

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.