Although Guard officials said the new unit would not collect information on American citizens, top National Guard officials have already been involved in tracking at least one recent Mother's Day anti-war rally organized by families of slain American soldiers, according to
e-mails obtained by the Mercury News.
WTF? really, what else is there to say? How can these people justify spying on the mothers of the soldiers who died fighting your war of choice?
Last month, a group of anti-war activists, including the parents of American soldiers killed in Iraq, held a small Mother's Day rally at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial near the California Capitol to call for the return of all National Guard troops by Labor Day.
Three days before the rally, as a courtesy to the military, an aide in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's press office alerted the Guard to the event, according to e-mails obtained by the Mercury News.
The information was passed up the chain of command directly to Eres and other top Guard officials including Col. Jeff Davis, who oversees O'Neill's operation.
''Sir,'' Guard Chief-of-Staff Col. John Moorman wrote in the e-mail to Eres that was copied to Davis and other top commanders. ''Information you wanted on Sunday's demonstration at the Capitol.''
In response, Davis indicated that Guard intelligence officers were tracking the rally.
''Thanks,'' Davis wrote. ''Forwarding same to our Intell. folks who continue to monitor.''
That rainy Sunday, the protest organized by Gold Star Families for Peace, Raging Grannies and CodePink, drew about three-dozen supporters.
Guard spokesman Zezotarksi said that the monitoring did not involve anything more than keeping tabs on the protest through the media and that no one went to observe the demonstration.
But he said the military would be ''negligent'' in not tracking such anti-war rallies in the event that they disintegrate into a riot that could prompt the governor to call out troops.
''It's nothing subversive,'' said Zezotarksi. ''Because who knows who could infiltrate that type of group and try to stir something up? After all, we live in the age of terrorism, so who knows?''
Civil libertarians scoffed at such defenses.
If they really want someone to spy on spy on me, seriously, follow me around, and see all the stuff I say bad about these fuckers, I say plenty. But please leave the people alone whose families have been torn apart by a war of choice. I will take on the burden, I know I can't stop you from spying, so just redirect your spying, I'm sure a few more people will step up to volunteer, why? Because we are liberals and we like to suffer for a good cause, it's something in the water in the blue states.
Seriously folks, I joke because if I didn't I'd be climbing the tower with a rifle. This is truly just fucked up, and it needs to be exposed and stopped immediately.