ACLU releases evidence of FBI spying on political groups

Today, the ACLU released the first concrete evidence showing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting investigations into political organizations based solely on their anti-war views. The documents show that the FBI investigated a Pittsburgh group called the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice, which regularly handed out flyers arguing against the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Ironically, recent polls show that as much as 70% of the country believes that the result of the Iraq war has not been worth the costs [PollingReport.com], but the larger point is that the FBI has no authority to investigate groups solely based on their holding a constitutionally protected political view, no matter how popular or unpopular it may be at the time.



Flickr photo set of the FBI documents [Flickr]
ACLU press release [ACLU]
Articles from other sources: [The Raw Story; Reuters; Washington Post]