The loss of civil liberties is almost always incremental. On a flight home from Greece, the author recently ran into an increasingly familiar and menacing problem.
Heathrow Airport in London, Terminal 5 – International Arrivals. (Lewis Clarke, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
All of us who care about civil liberties, civil rights, human rights and freedom of the press have had a front-row seat lately to a slide toward what can only be described as authoritarianism. The governments of the U.S., U.K. and even Canada have been working hard, sometimes in a coordinated fashion, to silence dissenting voices. The governments’ tactics have been heavy-handed, to say the least.
Most recently, journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested last week by British authorities. Richard, who is one of the loudest and most important voices in support of human rights for Palestinians, was arrested at Heathrow Airport.
Detaining a journalist is not terribly unusual in the U.K., unfortunately. What usually happens is that the journalist is held for several hours, his phone and laptop are taken from him, he is given a variety of threats that he must appear to answer questions at some future date, and he’s eventually released. Things were different for Richard, however.
Our colleague Chris Hedges wrote,
“After being taken into custody by six police officers, having his electronic equipment seized, and then questioned, he was placed in solitary confinement for almost 24 hours. He was released on pre-charge bail. He will remain under investigation for at least three months and he faces the prospect of being charged with an offense that could carry a prison sentence of up to 14 years.”
And what is the charge that Richard is facing? It’s terrorism. He is being threatened with a charge under Section 12 of the U.K.’s Terrorism Act for his reporting.
Richard Medhurst is not, of course, a terrorist. He’s a journalist working to publish the truth on the ground in Gaza. There are a lot of Western governments that simply don’t like that.
Medhurst on his X feed on Aug. 19, announcing details of his arrest. (X)
Here in the United States, The New York Times reported last week that the Justice Department has begun an investigation into employees of RT, formerly known as Russia Today. RT America ceased to exist more than a year ago.
But a lot of Americans, including this writer, often appear on RT International via Zoom to comment on global developments, like the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and on U.S. elections.
Former United Nations weapons inspector Scott Ritter, who is a frequent RT guest and has said publicly that he occasionally writes op-eds for RT.com for $150 per article, had his house raided by more than a dozen FBI agents and a local SWAT team, apparently for his work with RT and for the gall of trying to travel to Moscow to sit on a panel at an academic event about Ukraine.
Scott never made it to Moscow. His passport was seized before he could depart, and he was taken off the plane.
In an impromptu press conference immediately after the raid on his house, Scott opined that the raid was part of a Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) case that the Justice Department may be trying to build against him.
Why? As with Richard Medhurst, the government doesn’t like his politics, and it especially doesn’t like the fact that he’s public about his position on the Ukraine war.
[See: SCOTT RITTER: A Farewell to Truth]
Tulsi Gabbard on Terror Watch List
Earlier this month, a TSA whistleblower reported that a former Democratic congresswoman and former presidential candidate, Tulsi Gabbard, had been placed on the Department of Homeland Security’s terrorist watch list.
Gabbard told journalist Matt Taibbi that she and her husband are routinely given boarding passes with the “SSSS” security moniker on them, they are pulled into secondary screening, which takes as long as 45 minutes, and that she has encountered “multiple obstacles” on recent trips to Dallas, Austin, Nashville, Orlando and Atlanta.
Gabbard addressing the 2019 California Democratic Party state convention in San Francisco. (Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0)
The TSA whistleblower added that federal air marshals, sometimes as many as three of them, were assigned to fly on all flights that Gabbard was on, a ridiculous, infuriating, and irrational waste of the taxpayers’ money.
Several members of Congress and the entire Hawaii legislature are now demanding that TSA Director David Pekoske explain himself.
Last October, journalist, human rights whistleblower, and former British ambassador to Uzbekistan Craig Murray was arrested at Glasgow Airport in Scotland upon returning home from a meeting in Iceland that I had also attended. After interrogating him about his political beliefs, the police seized Craig’s laptop and cell phone.
Most of the questions Craig was forced to answer were about Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. He was also grilled about a pro-Palestine rally at which he had spoken in Reykjavik.
Like Richard Medhurst, Craig was interrogated under the U.K.’s draconian Terrorism Act. He was later released, but he has possible terrorism charges hanging over his head, and he has no idea why.
Trip to Greece
In my own case, I recently traveled to Greece at the invitation of a think tank there to talk about the situation in the Middle East. The Greeks rolled out the red carpet for me, and I ended up visiting five different think tanks, each associated with the major political parties represented in the Parliament.
The Greeks paid my expenses, which included a flight from Washington to Athens through New York. The return trip was from Athens to Washington through Toronto.
As it so happens, I am banned for life from Canada because I’m a “dangerous felon,” having blown the whistle on the C.I.A.’s torture program. Canada is a so-called Five Eyes country.
The United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, which make up the Five Eyes, share criminal justice information with each other, and any citizen of one who has been convicted of a felony — any felony — and sentenced to 18 months in prison or more, is automatically banned from entering the other Five Eyes.
Rendering of the “Five Eyes” intelligence network that includes Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K., the U.S. (@GDJ, Openclipart)
I didn’t think that was going to be a problem because I was simply transiting Toronto. I wasn’t actually entering Canada. When the plane landed in Toronto, I filed out like everybody else.
The moment I stepped off the plane, though, two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or Mounties, grabbed me by the arms and said, “Come with us.” To make a long story short, those were the only words they spoke to me.
They wouldn’t answer a single question. They didn’t even look at me. Instead, they took me to my connecting flight, still holding my arms, put me on the next plane, and finally left. I was clearly not welcome in Canada.
But the story doesn’t end there. When I arrived in Washington, Customs and Border Patrol officers stopped me and questioned me. Where did I go? Why was I there? With whom did I meet? What are their addresses and phone numbers? (Seriously). I finally told them that I was represented by counsel and wasn’t answering any more questions.
They told me that they could hold me for days if they wanted. I told them that was nonsense and that there was no legal way that they could keep me from re-entering my own country. Forty-five minutes later, they let me go.
There’s no good news in these stories. This is the future, unless we stand up to fight it.
The loss of civil liberties is almost always incremental. But I, for one, don’t want to answer to whomever happens to be in the White House or at the Department of Homeland Security or in the CEO position at Facebook or Twitter or Google. I won’t do it. And I won’t justify my politics to anybody.
We have rights. And we have to force our elected officials to force those who would take those rights away from us to respect the Constitution. This is a fight worth fighting.
John Kiriakou is a former C.I.A. counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act—a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
John you can add the case of Israeli historian Ilan Pappe to the list of intimidation of journalists and academics with views challenging obligatory narratives. In May, Pappe came to Detroit to participate in public meetings dealing with Palestine. He was detained at the Detroit airport by Homeland Security. Questioned about his views and who he would be seeing in Detroit, his phone was taken and its contents copied before being returned. Copying cell phone comments appears to be standard practice now. Chris Hedges has produced a video interview with Pappe detailing the origins of the Israeli lobby going back to WW I.
Yes, the scaled tentacles of the creature are reaching further outwards. Other commentators here shared their experiences, so I shall as well.
I got kicked off of you tube recently. No explanation. Why? My 25 videos—some scholarly—some how-to, were not making much profit for the creature, with no more than 7000 views at best—some less than 500. Finally, I produced one (a book promotion) that documented the history of an individual involved in the creation of electro-gravitic propulsion systems in 20th century Germany, and spit out a long list of intelligence agencies (and one religious organization) that may be threatened by the the public knowledge of such. I suspect too many key words were in that list, and the video in general.
A week later, I was informed I was no longer welcome in any way.
The hen appealed to the wolves. They threw up a smokescreen. I felt like I was in one of their video games—one of those nameless, faceless enemies they smote so casually.
That’s the point. I realized that these Silicon Valley folks—in control of so much, are video game players. If a survey was performed, I’ll bet every gogle employee plays those imbecilic games.
Are you familiar with the Noahide Laws?
Thank You John
I see dictatorship everywhere!
As time proceeds, we’re becoming more a nation of misanthropes, at least in Canada. It’s part of the design.
No Mr. Kiriakou, we do not have rights!
For any of you wanting documented proof of our enslavement, obtain and read 1973’s Senate Report 93-549, the first sentence of which reads: “Since March the 9th, 1933, the United States has been in a state of declared national emergency.”
Please explain: 1. What is: “a state of declared national emergency” ?
2. What “rights” are held by citizens during a declared national emergency ?
Until Senate Report 93-549 is read and understood as expanding totalitarianism, stop whining and moaning.
As an aspiring historian who wants to think that I know something about the “imperial presidency” and its operative mechanisms (from the Black Chamber to Rex 84 to CALEA and beyond), I had not devoted attention to Senate Report 93-549 before now, so thank you for bringing it to the forefront of my consciousness. That being said, I hope you will forgive me if I continue to “whine and moan” about the civil liberties of myself and others, just as I forgive people who are unaware that, e.g., the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 technically makes war illegal for all of its ratifying signatories yet still denounce false and unnecessary pretexts for individual conflicts as they arise, or people who are unaware that jury nullification permits them to decide on legal matters and not just the facts of a given case but still denounce injustice where they see it. On that note, I will take the Magna Carta (1215) over Senate Report 93-549 (1933) any day of the week!
Well that doesn’t make sense, stopping moaning and whining about the loss/absence of civil liberties/ rights. Just because they were outlawed a century ago doesn’t mean we must be submissive and docile. Does it? In fact it’s even more reason to make even more good trouble.
Yes, but actions speak louder than words. I have been taken from my workplace by armed agents of the federal government and informed my words and peaceful deeds were considered “… a threat to the President…”. Has that stopped me? No, but it has changed my tactics. Are we headed for a clash? Yes, I think so. What was the “last straw” for Americans on April 19, 1775 at Lexington Green? The Governments attempt to confiscate guns and ammunition. Quoting Yogi Berra, “It ain’t over till it’s over”.
That speaking against US/Israeli/West genocide
against Palestinians is an act of terrorism, or
criticism of the permanent war American empire;
maybe another look at the circumstances of 9/11
is in order? Terrorism accusations now being a shibboleth
for people’s security.
As Nazi leader Goering said, it’s easy to convince
people of the need for war, just tell them they’re
not safe, an enemy is after them.
How perfectly 9/11 fits the Nazi order
It would be good if the authoritarians were required to actually think, but they’re not. They might ask themselves, what if we’re wrong, what if we’re acting like nazis? They might ask isn’t our behavior what this country rebelled against once upon a time back in the old founding days? But, no, it’s a hysteria of fear and arrogance and looking good for the people in power at the time. It’s also reflective of the non-thinking, non-intelligent, confused leadership of the time. But I don’t suppose a reporter has time for “Let’s talk this over” while they’re ramming him/her into a cell for looking sideways at what’s going on.
You forgot one small thing: In an brutally acquisitive civilization such as ours, the lust for power, domination, prestige and $$$ is nurtured and rewarded. Moral behavior, thought and even feelings become easily trainable and pretty much disappear. Was Bob Menendez confused? Do cops shoot unarmed black people because they are hysterical or afraid, or JUST BECAUSE THEY FEEL LIKE IT?!?
Deliberate, calculated, conscious EVIL exists.
For context. Better get used to it. It’ll be standard procedure in the rest of the Commonwealth and US soon enough, if it isn’t already. I quit flying when Reagan destroyed the flight controller’s union. Seems the UK got especially bad–worse than the US–around the time of the Iraq War.
This is an excellent explanation why. We all should expect it. Canada has become pretty god-awful since COVID.
hxxps://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/the-coming-collapse-of-britain? To be followed soon by the USA.
It can’t happen here, I’m telling you my dear, it can’t happen here.
RIP Frank Zappa.
Lyrics derived from the 1935 novel by Sinclair Lewis //It Can’t Happen Here.// A dystopian look at the rise of a U.S. fascist dictatorship.
The book has been criticized since the protagonist is more right wing pseudo-populist con man than an outright fascist. Sounds more likely now, doesn’t it? The “can’t happen” is an apt description of contemporary in denial Dem party voters who refuse to see not only what could happen, but is happening.
As an active anti-war, anti-globilization dissident, i found that during the Clinton/Gore/Cheney/Bush years I frequently got stopped for extra searches at ‘security’ in airports. Often some special sign was marked on my boarding pass. Nobody ever said “he’s got the sign, search him.’, but I always figured it was what those markings meant.
It was also quite common for my mail to show signs of being opened, and some dissident publications I subscribed were prone to either arrive damaged or not at all, seemingly at higher proportions than regular mail. With the old, pre-NSA legal standards of wiretapping anyone “two-hops” from a “target”, I always just assumed my phone was tapped as me and a ‘target’ could easily share the same car mechanic, handyman or religious advisor.
America incrementally slid down the slippery slope a long, long time ago. I suspect it was back over a century ago when the bankers and industrialists got scared to death about socialism. They then decided that with the threat of people being fed, cared for, housed, and educated, well then, that freedom could no longer be free.
In my lifetime, there has always been a direct conflict between the ideas of “Freedom” in America, and the actual reality of what happens when you disagree with the Bosses. We were told there was a “Free Marketplace of Ideas”, but that “Ideas” like “Socialism” or “Communism” had to be banned and only the Idea of “Capitalism” could possibly be considered or discussed. More of a “Monopoly of Ideas” and far from any free marketplace, except of course that capitalism always likes to call its monopolies to be “markets” or “mega-markets” or “super-markets” or the like.
Growing up anti-war during Vietnam taught me a lot about the realities of America versus the myths of America. Living with very low income in American cities will teach anything else you need to know about the myths of America.
Thank you. You are right.
I had a penpal in Sri Lanka; we had been corresponding for 19 years. I sent him a letter, he sent me a letter, and both of us got our last letters returned that no such person lived at that address (we were both at our same addresses). It was quite clear there is no privacy in the US mails, and you make me very thankful I never fly.
Your last sentence needs to be shouted loud and clear from every rooftop. Anyone who says this country is not authoritarian, not fascist, is definitely NOT living on a low income.
It’s certainly infuriating that you and others would be treated that way by “the authorities,” but what I find more alarming is the casual acceptance of so many that this is normal and necessary. Reminds me of how consider the military a laudable enterprise. BTW, John, years ago when you were in prison, I wrote to you and you replied. I kept that letter and still cherish it.
Well, thank God we are currently under the good governance party and not the orange golem of fascism, right? Otherwise, some untoward losses of liberty might be happening …
USA today = URSS in the 60′ !!!
And the first step in that fight, Mr. Kiriaku, is to do exactly that which you have done. Document it and publish it. Thank you.
A long, long time ago in a country far far away lived a strange man called Alex Jones who had a loud voice and some strange views. All of the social media companies of the day banded together and banned all of his accounts on all of them all at once. Then Visa and MasterCard started blocking payments to Wikileaks. Then the FBI started impounding people’s domain names. Then payment forwarders such as PayPal started attacking independent media sites like Consortium News. All the while the US and UK governments were persecuting a publisher for publishing the truth. The US government started hinting to social media companies what was “dangerous content” to censor speech. Spurious allegations about foreign election interference were run for 4 years and still people think that Russia had something to do with Donald Trump’s election.
The rot runs very deep, as you well know.
Excellent comment.
These behaviors at the national level ‘trickle-down’ and are greedily taken on by authoritarian personality types in many places. A seemingly insignificant example: At a sobriety check point the officer asked where I was going and why, why I had taken that particular road and not another. The recipient of these sorts of questions is put in the uncomfortable position of possibly angering a person of unknown disposition, creating a situation where the officer can take a ‘refusal’ to answer as a challenge to authority allowing the officer to become more intrusive. Such incidents seem to be coming more common and are, very possibly, the Zeitgeist forming around us…. Since I am an old white guy, I avoided the questions using humor to politely embarrass the officer in the hearing of a couple of others; an impossible ploy for many!
I was recently pulled over in a Virginia suburb of DC, one weekday evening around 11pm, for a tail light.
I am from a neighboring state.
The officer proceeded to grill me as to: Where was I coming from, Why was I in VA., Who was I visiting, Where are you going now, Why was I traveling at 11pm, Why didn’t I know I had a light out and have it repaired…?
I didn’t realize I had traversed into the Soviet Bloc and was required to pre-clear my travels, people I visited, route, and stops.
Oh yes, we no longer reside in a “Free” country!
It is never anybody’s business where you are going, why you chose the road you are on or anything else. Unless they have concrete evidence you have threatened someone and you are found with tons of guns and ammo in your car/truck headed for that someone. And even then, you could be simply on that road on the way to a shooting gallery, so they still have to prove you’re the guy.
I am sorry to hear that this problem has now personally affected you, John. Can we expect an episode dedicated to this recent phenomenon on your show “The Whistleblowers” (perhaps featuring Richard Medhurst, Scott Ritter, Craig Murray, and/or even Tulsi Gabbard as guests – you have certainly managed to get some very respectable figures to appear on the show)?
The calls are already out!
…see – hear…
Good.
I commented on your article at scheerpost the other morning but comments haven’t been posted, ???
So, again, thank you Mr. Kiriakou for your courage, integrity, and honesty as a Truth Teller in your desire to inform of the crimes our corrupt government has been doing for far to long.
I learn from and enjoy watching your interviews on your “Whistleblower”
show on rt.com. I salute you, sir, and keep up your invaluable work on exposing the crimes the dark forces running (ruining) our country having been committing for far too long!
Orwell was right about how technology would be used to bring in Big Brother, but not even someone with his vision could have foreseen the invention of the microchip and the digital surveillance age. Those who welcome this development are mostly politicians and other leaders whose motives are not to protect the people they care so little for, and they want to use it to distance themselves from accountability.
Some people say you can’t uninvent technology but they do it all the time. They did it with steam trains, bi-planes, ring-dial phones etc, and now they’re trying to uninvent the internal combustion engine and even cash. One reason they should step back from this surveillance even though the technology is there, is that the danger of an all-controlling system means the “machinery of government” can take over everything. If it does the machine will no longer serve the political classes but everybody will have to serve the machine, then even those who created this monster will find it has evolved beyond even their control and they’ll see it endangers them too.
I am sorry this is happening and happened to you. Thank you for sharing this (((hugs)))
The people who say you can not un-invent technology are always the promoters of technology.
And actually, the People Have the Power, as Patty once sung. Every device still has an OFF switch.
The part that Orwell missed, is that people would happily acquire their own surveillance and tracking devices. That they would stand in long lines to get them, and to pay high prices for them. That the surveillance and tracking device would become a status symbol.
Mobile phone technology can always be tracked, from the nature of how it pings cell towers. And we know from decade old leaks that hackers, either official or unofficial, can hack the very operating system and do stuff like activate microphones or cameras without any outside sign of this happening to the person carrying the surveillance device.
While Orwell could imagine a state wanting to surveil and track its citizens, I don’t recall him predicting that making sure they could be tracked and surveilled would become such an obsession for the citizens.
“such an obsession for the citizens”
That made me LOL.
You’re on a roll today! People seem to easily forget the “back doors” into their devices; how many of them know that nothing they say or do is private?
Yes. Ask Pavel Durov.
Shutting down free speech is a move to escape all accountability. Unaccountable power leads to corruption and incompetence. This is followed by system collapse. It is a long inevitable sequence with enormous human suffering in the process.
Politicians got lazy a long time ago. They found out that it was “easier” to lie. Telling the truth can be hard. Being an official in a democracy can be hard. Even if you are really trying to do a good job for the people, it still seems like everyone is yelling at you. But in America, the officials always face pressure to do other things besides what the people want. Pressures in the form of Carrots, and likely Sticks if they are reluctant. And when the officials are doing other than what the people want, that can only proceed in darkness and secrecy.
Then they found an answer to this problem. They lie. And by now, they’ve found out that lying is easier than telling the truth and dealing with the consequences. So, by now, they lie about almost everything. If the best lies were not based on a bit of truth, then it seems like there would be zero truth. They appear to lie constantly. Except, its hard to keep the lies straight, and when someone is a constant liar, over time people notice this.
Thus, the following phases where the truth is more and more violently suppressed in such a society.
As Richard Sorenson pointed out in his work, post-conquest societies are always lying. He was an anthropologist who preferred life in the bush to so-called “civilization.” He watched a group of well-meaning British tourists literally destroy an indigenous culture in a matter of hours due to their lying. Pre-conquest culture does not know what lying is; the group’s happiness and well-being are of paramount importance. But when faced with lying Westerners, these people went crazy and forgot their heritage. A lot like what Ronald Laing meant when he spoke of children being raised in lying families losing their sanity.