[Marxism] Wen Ho Lee, Valerie Plame Affair, COINTELPRO - and RICO

[Brian Shannon <Brian_Shannon@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

A few months ago, several representatives of the media reacted with  
outrage to the direct payment and planting of stories written by the  
White House or paid columnists who presented White House views.

This was followed by the Jeff Gannon affair, a fake news reporter who  
received white house press corps passes. He was exposed as a plant,  
probably solely because of his Internet gay porn site. In other  
words, we don't know how many are legitimate or fake or even whether  
the legitimate ones are in bed with the government.

The media has had a field day with these egregious examples of news  
that was bought and paid for. Yet the apparently legitimate media  
itself is intimately involved with presenting the government  
position. Is there really any difference between a "leak" and a  
"plant"? Aren't they the same thing? And when a reporter protects his  
sources, what is he or she protecting? Most of the time what is being  
protected is that fact that the reporter is operating as a shill for  
the government.

This was obviously the case when it was reported as news that Cuba  
had interfered with the operation of the U.S. interest section in  
Cuba, without noting that tropical storm Alberto dropped an immense  
amount of rain in Western Cuba. For me it was also obvious when NPR  
reported on a "crime wave" in Venezuela.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5477409

I start with the RICO act, which I am opposed to because of its  
potential use against anyone working for social change. However, the  
following description of its origins as a tool to be used against the  
Mafia presents a fitting moral compass for the capitalist media.

Brian Shannon
============================

(1)

Because the Mafia family has engaged in these criminal actions for  
generations, the criminal actions constitute a pattern of  
racketeering activity. The government can criminally prosecute the  
Godfather under RICO and send him to jail even if the Godfather has  
never personally killed, extorted, bribed or engaged in any criminal  
behavior. The Godfather can be imprisoned because he operated and  
managed a criminal enterprise that engaged in such acts. Moreover,  
under section 1964(c) of the RICO Act, the victims of the Mafia  
family (i.e., the extorted businessman, the employers whose employees  
were bribed, debtors of the loan shark, the family of a murder  
victim) can sue the Godfather civilly and recover the economic losses  
they sustained by reason of the Mafia family's pattern of racketeering.

As a practical matter, the closer a plaintiff's case is to the Mafia  
scenario described above, the better chance the plaintiff has in  
succeeding under the RICO Act. Given the diverse factual scenarios  
that may confront attorneys and parties under RICO, it is always  
helpful to analogize non-Mafia factual scenarios to the prototypical  
RICO claim against the Mafia. It is always helpful to ask: who stands  
in the position of the Godfather, i.e., the defendant person? What is  
the equivalent of the Mafia family, i.e., the enterprise? This will  
give you a good start in evaluating the merits of any RICO claim you  
confront. If the facts are well-suited to the Mafia analogy, you  
likely have a stronger claim.

http://www.ricoact.com/ricoact/nutshell.asp#intro

________________

(2)

The five media heavies who shamelessly promoted the government’s lies  
about the Los Alamos scientist chose to settle today rather than  
reveal their government sources.

[Wen Ho] Lee was savaged by a media fueled by government rumors that  
he was spying for China, an accusation he was never officially  
charged with. Lee was imprisoned in solitary confinement for nine  
months in 1999-2000 and ultimately received an apology from the judge  
who heard his case. Truthdig says: The media was not defending  
freedom of the press but their own right to operate as a megaphone  
for government agents with an agenda to slander an American citizen.  
The media went to bat for government agents who broke the law.  When  
will those agents be held accountable?

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20060602_victory_wen_ho_lee/

____________________

(3)

(d) The FBI has also used intelligence as a vehicle for covert  
efforts to influence social policy and political action.
. . .
In its efforts to "protect society," the FBI engaged in activities  
which necessarily affected the processes by which American citizens  
make decisions. In doing so, it distorted and exaggerated facts, made  
use of the mass media, and attacked the leadership of groups which it  
considered threats to the social order.
. . .
The essence of democracy is the belief that the people must be free  
to make decisions about matters of public policy. The FBI's actions  
interfered with the democratic process, because attitudes within the  
Bureau toward social change led to the belief that such intervention  
formed a part of its obligation to protect society. When a  
governmental agency clandestinely tries to impose its views of what  
is right upon the American people, then the democratic process is  
undermined.
. . .

[Numerous examples of "name checks" requested by the White House]

(i) Use of the Media

The FBI attempted to influence public opinion by supplying  
information or articles to "confidential sources" in the news media.  
The FBI's Crime Records Division 105 was responsible for covert  
liaison with the media to advance two main domestic intelligence  
objectives: 106

(1) providing derogatory information to the media intended to  
generally discredit the activities or ideas of targeted groups or  
individuals; and (2) disseminating unfavorable articles, news  
releases, and background information in order to disrupt particular  
activities.

Typically, a local FBI agent would provide information to a "friendly  
news source" on the condition "that the Bureau's interest in these  
matters is to be kept in the strictest confidence." 107 Thomas E.  
Bishop, former Director of the Crime Records Division, testified that  
he kept a list of the Bureau's "press friends" in his desk. 108  
Bishop and one of his predecessors indicated that the FBI sometimes  
refused to cooperate with reporters critical of the Bureau or its  
Director. 109

Bishop stated that as a "general rule," the Bureau disseminated only  
"public record information" to its media contacts, but this category  
was viewed by the Bureau to include any information which could  
conceivably be obtained by close scrutiny of even the most obscure  
publications. 110

Within these parameters, background information supplied to reporters  
"in most cases [could] include everything" in the Bureau files on a  
targeted individual; the selection of information for publication  
would be left to the reporter's judgment. 111

There are numerous examples of authorization for the preparation and  
dissemination of unfavorable information to discredit generally the  
activities and ideas of a target; 112

[Numerous examples of planting of stories follows.]

http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/churchfinalreportIIce.htm

_______________

(4)

It's now known that Rove had discussed Plame's CIA employment with  
conservative columnist Robert Novak, who exposed her identity less  
than a week later, citing two unidentified senior administration  
officials.
. . .
It was the Rove-Cooper conversation on July 11, 2003, that threw the  
investigation back on the front pages a year ago.

Facing jail unless he cooperated with prosecutors, Cooper testified  
that Rove said Wilson's wife worked at the "agency" and that she was  
responsible for sending her husband on a CIA mission to Africa in  
2002 to check out intelligence about Iraq.

http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/ap/2006/06/13/ap2812402.html



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