Recent raids by federal agents on the homes and offices of peace activists are being viewed by civil libertarians and civil society groups as further proof that the U.S. is morphing into a “surveillance state” where the right to privacy and other constitutional protections are being quietly whittled away.
On Sept. 24, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided the Minneapolis homes of five antiwar activists, the office of a Minneapolis antiwar group, and the Chicago homes of the head of an Arab-American organization and a prominent peace activist.
The newspaper said Ted Dooley, Kelly’s attorney, called the raids “a probe into the political beliefs of American citizens and any organization anywhere that opposes the American imperial design.”
He said the warrants cited a federal law making it a violation to provide or conspire to provide material support to designated foreign terrorist organizations.
