The Des Moines Register reported an FBI informant and undercover police officer infiltrated a peace organization at the University of Iowa prior to the RNC convention in August 2008.
Confidential FBI documents obtained by The Des Moines Register show an FBI informant was planted among a group described as an "anarchist collective" that met regularly last year in Iowa City. One of the group's goals was to organize street blockades to disrupt the Republican convention, held Sept. 1-4, 2008, where U.S. Sen. John McCain was nominated for president.
The undercover Minnesota deputy who traveled to Iowa City was from the Ramsey County Sheriff's Department, which infiltrated a group known as the "RNC Welcoming Committee" that was coordinating convention protest activities in St. Paul.
The undercover officer accompanied two activists from the Twin Cities who attended the University of Iowa in April 2008 for a Midwest campus anti-war conference.
It is reported that that surveillence began as early as the fall of 2007.
Looking back, the surveillance in Iowa City may have begun as early as the fall of 2007, Goodner said. He and three others from Iowa City traveled to St. Paul for a meeting with the RNC Welcoming Committee. A few weeks later, "Jason" started coming to their meetings in Iowa City.
"We didn't think anything of it," said Goodner, who was the Midwest regional coordinator for the Campus Antiwar Network.
Read the entire story for me details.
It is pretty amazing national security resources would go to monitor a peace group in Iowa. As one of the people in Iowa said, "There are not a lot of bomb throwers in Iowa City."
Originally posted at Century of the Common Iowan.