Climate of Fear: Jim Risen v. the Obama administration

[TomClash]

The subpoena to Risen was originally issued but then abandoned by the Bush administration, and then revitalized by Obama lawyers. It is part of the prosecution of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA agent whom the DOJ accuses of leaking to Risen the story of a severely botched agency plot -- from 11 years ago -- to infiltrate Iran's nuclear program, a story Risen wrote about six years after the fact in his 2006 best-selling book, State of War. The DOJ wants to force Risen to testify under oath about whether Sterling was his source.

Like any good reporter would, Risen is categorically refusing to testify and, if it comes to that (meaning if the court orders him to testify), he appears prepared to go to prison in defense of press freedoms and to protect his source (just as some young WikiLeaks supporters are courageously prepared to do rather than cooperate with the Obama DOJ's repellent persecution of the whistleblowing site). Yesterday, Risen filed a Motion asking the Court to quash the government's subpoena on the ground that it violates the First Amendment's free press guarantee, and as part of the Motion, filed a lengthy Affidavit that is amazing in several respects.

During the Bush years, Risen was one of the few investigative journalists exposing the excesses and lawbreaking that was the War on Terror -- causing him to be literally hated by officials of the National Security State. Along with Eric Lichtblau, Risen most famously revealed, in 2005, that the NSA was secretly spying on Americans without warrants which -- as he put it in his Affidavit -- "in all likelihood, violated the law and the United States Constitution." In 2006, he revealed that the Bush administration had been obtaining huge amounts of financial and banking information about American citizens from the SWIFT system, all without oversight or Congressional authorization. And here's how he summarized the multiple revelations in State of War, the book for which the Obama DOJ is now seeking to force him to reveal his source upon pain of imprisonment:

State of War included explosive revelations about a series of illegal or potentially illegal actions taken by President Bush, including the domestic wiretapping program. It also disclosed how President Bush secretly pressured the CIA to use torture on detainees in secret prisons around the world; how the White House and CIA leadership ignored information before the 2003 invasion of Iraq that showed that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction; documented how, in the aftermath of the invasion, the Bush Administration punished CIA professionals who warned that the war in Iraq was going badly; showed how the Bush Administration turned a blind eye to Saudi involvement in terrorism; and revealed that the CIA's intelligence operations on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Iran and other countries were completely dysfunctional, and even reckless.

much more at . . . http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/index.html

[EFerrari]

1. This is a case to watch. Risen is one of the best reporters working.

:kick:

[sabrina 1]

2. Another American hero being persecuted by this

government. Shameful.

Risen was a hero here during the Bush Adminsitration. It will be interesting to see if he joins so many other previously revered Americans, now thrown overboard.

[TomClash]

4. Somebody unrec'd

So not everyone agrees with us.

[sabrina 1]

5. There have always been people who are blindly partisan

to the point of defending policies that will only harm themselves. I wish there was a way to solve that problem, but apparently it has been that way which is why some of the FFs were very worried about Political Parties as a threat to democracy.

[TomClash]

3. Operation Merlin was a huge intel black eye

And the Obama administration decides to compound the galactic stupidity.

[slipslidingaway]

6. knr - nobody will want to challenge the government. n/t

[sabrina 1]

10. That's probably the whole point of prosecuting Whistle blowers

and harassing journalists like Risen and news orgs. like Wikileaks, to send a message that there will be consequences.

[slipslidingaway]

11. Exactly, we cannot fault the media and then turn our backs on those ...

who are being harrassed and prosecuted.

This thread should have more recs ... IMHO.

[sabrina 1]

13. True, we have to accept the fact that in this country today

real journalists who actually do their jobs, WILL be punished. However, if the ALL did their jobs, it would be much harder. The problem is there are so few.

Eg, I saw an article recently asking why the US Press has not come out in support of Julian Assange and Wikileaks the way, eg, the Australian press has. Why the silence or worse, complicity with the government.

If there are any reporters who might be thinking about it, all they have to do is watch the demonization of that news org, the talk about prosecutions for spying eg. The calls even from former elected officials for assassination.

It takes a lot of courage to be a good journalist today so it is easy for us to be angry at the media. However, if each time they go after one, the rest of the media went after them, it would help.

[OnyxCollie]

7. K&R.

[slipslidingaway]

8. kick n/t

[amborin]

9. K&R

[WillyT]

12. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Rabblevox]

14. Hello ObamaBots, do you fucking hear us yet? /nt