Federal agents' visit was a hoax

[Sydnie]

NEW BEDFORD -- The UMass Dartmouth student who claimed to have been visited by Homeland Security agents over his request for "The Little Red Book" by Mao Zedong has admitted to making up the entire story.
The 22-year-old student tearfully admitted he made the story up to his history professor, Dr. Brian Glyn Williams, and his parents, after being confronted with the inconsistencies in his account.

<snip>

"I grew skeptical of this story, as did Bob, considering the ramifications," Dr. Williams said yesterday. "I spent the last five days avoiding work, and the international media, and rest, trying to get names and dates and facts. My investigation eventually took me to his house, where I began to investigate family matters. I eventually found out the whole thing had been invented, and I'm happy to report that it's safe to borrow books."

<snip>

The student's motivation remains a mystery, but in the interview on Thursday, he provided a glimpse.
"When I came back, like wow, there's this circus coming on. I saw my cell phone, and I see like, wow, I have something like 75 messages and like something like 87 missed calls," he said. "Wow, I was popular. I usually get one or probably two a week and that's about it, and I usually pick them up."


More details at the link
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/12-05/12-24-05/a01lo719.htm

[beam me up scottie]

1. Great.

Just fucking great.

The spin doctors are going to have a field day with this.

[No Exit]

18. The real story is how totally BELIEVABLE it was.

I don't recall anyone even venturing to suggest "nah... that couldn't happen here". Nope. Not in Bushamerica--where any such atrocity is totally believable.

[Newsjock]

2. Recommended

Because it's a chance for our side to show that, when we have a liar in our midst, we deal with it openly.

On edit: I overlooked the possibility of a false-flag operation, which seems extremely remote, but in these strange times, certainly not entirely out of the question.

[Canuckistanian]

23. Ditto, K&R

[submerged99]

3. well it's a good thing I didn't post it on my blog

I read this story a couple of times but didn't really keep up with it.

I know that the domestic spy stories are going to be big for awhile, as they very well should be, but I've noticed that a lot of people seem to think their phones are tapped and that they are being followed by agents.

Now that could all be true but it also could be fueld by a bit of self importance.

My experience with law enforcement "intelligence departments" has been this. They are little more than a newspaper clipping, website scouring service. That's about it. For the most part they seem to be rather inept.

Keep the heat on them but don't let their investigative reputation dissuade you from organizing and fighting the good fight.

[beam me up scottie]

4. Good point.

Critical thinking needs to keep up with the paranoia.

[ticapnews]

5. Now they can tell us the name of the lying punk

Instead of referring to him as "the student" which they were doing at his and his parents' request. Since he was lying there is no need to continue with the charade of "protecting" his identity. I would like to see what, if any, clubs he belongs to...like, say the Young Republicans or the College Republicans....

A little Karl doing his part to discredit objectors to the Patriot Act and Shrub's spying...

[Tom Joad]

11. Not everything is planned by Bush & Rove.

there is not anyone here who dislikes that evil duo more than I , but i know shit happens apart from them also. This kid could be a Democrat, or an apolitcal kid looking to pull alot of people's leg, could be any number of things. Your suggestion that this was planned by the White House has gotta be a joke. it makes us look bad. In fact, you were probably sent here by Rove to do this to discredit DU...

Oh, wait, now you got me going...

[bluestateguy]

13. You're soft on Bush!!!

Bush appeaser!! DLCer!!!

Soft on Bush! Soft on Bush!

I hate Bush and Rove MORE than you do!

:sarcasm:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

25. I usually get really hard around bush

but I can't stand this one.

[JDPriestly]

6. What an obnoxious lie. I actually repeated it today.

Why did this character have to do this? Did he need attention this badly? Or was he looking for an excuse for why he didn't finish his mid-term paper on time? What a sick joke. He deserves our condemnation. There is enough to worry and protest about today without some idiot making things up.

[MADem]

21. Some of the above, all of the above???

Attention seeking behavior...there's something not right with this child to have such a need to do this kind of shit. In addition to being excoriated by society for his actions, he probably could benefit from some serious mental health therapy.

[bluestateguy]

7. Swell. Michelle Malkin now has a week of new material to use.

This kid ought to be horsewhipped. He has done great damage to the cause of privacy rights. All because of his bullshit "emotional issues", which I'm sure some shrink will try to intellectualize away.

I need an aspirin.

[jarab]

8. Some miss out on a lot of education by going to college. eom

...O...

[truthisfreedom]

9. "We told you not to tell anyone. Now tell everyone you were lying or you

are headed for extraordinary-rendition."

the thing is, our government is so screwed up now, it doesn't matter if the kid's story is the truth or a lie.

we simply no longer trust our government because they're just plain untrustworthy... the kid's story is perfectly plausible based on things we see and hear every day.

[Sydnie]

19. I agree, there was no great outrage when the story first broke

No one was screaming that it couldn't be true. Everyone accepted it as truth because we have no belief that they still retain a boundry for what "crosses the line". We all believed it because it fit so perfectly with the current information that was coming out.

I am not sure that I still don't believe that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The professors that were told this story originally are not some kids themselves. These are teachers that have studied these situations and are considered scholars in this area. Remember, one of the professors said, in original article, that they were preparing to teach a class on terrorisim. They must understand the ramifications and importance of a story like this. If they fell for what this kid was saying in the beginning, he was either a very cool liar that lost his cool, or there must have been a great deal of believablity in what he originally told these professors.

I am not sure that THEY weren't visited as well, to be told to knock off supporting the story or face consequences themselves.

Fear can make people do and say some very strange things, on both sides of a story.

[Charlie Brown]

10. He needs to be suspended

He lied to administrators and wasted the university's time, and has now greatly embarrassed U-MASS.

He's also handed conservatives a ton of ammo at a very awkward time.

Send the little punk packing.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

12. It's okay folks... move along... nothing to see here

without a name, and some digging by someone with no axe to grind on the background... hint, hint, media, knock ,knock... anyone home?

I call shenanigins!

[BuyingThyme]

15. I second your declaration of shenanigans.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

24. Officer Barbrady... we have two shenanigans

called!

Let's see some action now.

[Hekate]

14. I sent the original to my lists -- now I've got to send the retraction!

Thanks for posting the retraction here. At least I have a chance to rectify my own mistake.

Hekate

[Kurovski]

16. He's a moron. And yes, "moron" with an "o".

[Longhorn]

17. Still, I wonder how many Freepers defended the FBI in this farce?

The story never made sense to me, mainly because communists are no longer the enemy. If he had checked out a book on how to become a terrorist . . .

[Nutmegger]

20. Jeez, the story was actually believable!

Time to leak this students name though. LEAK! :rant:

[brentspeak]

22. Anyone in the public who bought this story in the first place is a sap

The student's name was unknown (other than to his professors), so it would be pretty stupid for anyone to accept his allegations until all the facts were in.

[Clara T]

26. Is it all so simple?

Fears over CIA 'university spies'


The CIA scholars attend summer training camps
A CIA scheme to sponsor trainee spies secretly through US university courses has caused anger among UK academics.

The Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program pays anthropology students, whose names are not disclosed, up to $50,000 (£27,500) a year.

They are expected to use the techniques of "fieldwork" to gather political and cultural details on other countries.

Britain's Association of Social Anthropologists called the scholarships ethically "dangerous" and divisive.

'Detailed knowledge'

The ASA's president, John Gledhill, told the BBC News website the scholarships could foster suspicion within universities worldwide and cause problems in the field.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/4603271.stm



http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/0...

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005
The Intelligence-University Complex: CIA Secretly Supports Scholarships

College students are also being integrated into the U.S. foreign policy agenda. Last year the Senate created a scholarship to train intelligence operatives and analysts in American universities for careers in the CIA and other agencies. We speak with the anthropologist who designed the scholarship and another anthropologist who has spoken out opposing the program. We continue to look at the issue of the militarization of civil institutions – this time in academia. The Intelligence Authorization Act is an annual bill that allocates funds for intelligence agencies. When congress passed the 2004 legislation and President Bush signed it into law, the bill drew fire from many corners because it expanded the Patriot Act and was passed with little debate.
But there was another provision in the legislation that received almost no attention. Section 318 of the bill appropriated 4 million dollars to fund a pilot program called the Pat Roberts Intelligence Scholars Program, known as PRISP. The program is named after Kansas Republican Pat Roberts, who is chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The scholarship was created in order to train intelligence operatives and analysts in American universities for careers in the CIA and other agencies. The students receive up to $50,000 dollars over a two-year period and are required to complete at least one summer internship at the CIA or other approved agencies. The program is veiled in secrecy - there are no public lists of the participants and there is no requirement that they disclose their affiliation to their professors. David Price in his article in CounterPunch titled, “The CIA's Campus Spies,” writes that he tried to obtain more details about the program but the CIA spokesperson was reluctant to discuss them. Price states that the agency did confirm that “PRISP now funds about 100 students who are studying at an undisclosed number of universities…. but they refused to identify which campuses are hosting these covert scholars.”


As an aside the $4m Pat Roberts scholarships were launched in the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks to improve US intelligence gathering.
The CIA's website says that a "number of scholarships are awarded to highly qualified students specialising in critical subject areas".
Scholars are expected to go on to work for its directorate of intelligence.

Here's more on that:
http://www.cia-on-campus.org/

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

27. Thanks, Dick!

Another person making liberals look bad. What a jackass!