VLVL2 McCarthy redux

[pynchonoid]

February 10, 2004

An Antiwar Forum in Iowa Brings Federal Subpoenas
By MONICA DAVEY

DES MOINES, Feb. 9 — To hear the antiwar protesters
describe it, their forum at a local university last
fall was like so many others they had held over the
years. They talked about the nonviolent philosophies
of Mahatma Gandhi and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr., they said, and how best to convey their feelings
about Iraq into acts of civil disobedience.

But last week, subpoenas began arriving seeking
details about the forum's sponsor — its leadership
list, its annual reports, its office location — and
the event itself. On Monday, lawyers for the sponsor,
the Drake University chapter of the National Lawyers
Guild, went to court in an effort to block the federal
prosecutors' demands.

Those who attended the forum, at least four of whom
said they had received subpoenas to appear before a
federal grand jury on Tuesday, said that they did not
know what to make of the inquiry and that they feared
it was intended to quash protest.

[...]the protesters, their lawyers and some national
civil liberties advocates described the investigation
into the attendance rolls and leadership lists of the
lawyers' group as highly unusual in recent years. Some
said it could send a chilling message far beyond Iowa,
leaving those who consider voicing disapproval of the
administration's policy in Iraq, or anywhere else,
wondering whether they too might receive added
scrutiny.

"I've heard of such a thing, but not since the 1950's,
the McCarthy era," said David D. Cole, a Georgetown
law professor. "It sends a very troubling message
about government officials' attitudes toward basic
liberties."

Anthony Romero, the executive director of the American
Civil Liberties Union, said he feared news of the
subpoenas — which was spreading rapidly via e-mail on
Monday among activist organizations — might discourage
people from showing up to protests, attending meetings
at universities or even checking out library books.

"People will have to be asking themselves: will this
be subject to government scrutiny?" Mr. Romero said.
[...] 

"It was just another very mellow Iowa protest, so it's
hard to know what this is all about," Ms. Vasquez
said. "I guess it's meant to terrify the peace
movement. I don't see what else they could be doing."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company 

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<http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/10/national/10PROT.html?ei=1&en=d72db108f8301f57&ex=1077384722&pagewanted=print&position=>

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