Al langer was bekend dat het veiligheidsapparaat van de Verenigde Staten nooit wezenlijk is veranderd door Barack Obama, nadat zijn voorganger George W. Bush het op een twijfelachtige manier had versterkt. De documenten die Wolf doornam bewijzen dat eens te meer, maar nemen bovendien een onverwachte wending. Niet enkel de politiediensten waren betrokken, maar ook de banken zaten tijdens de voorbereiding mee aan tafel:
The documents, released after long delay in the week between Christmas and New Year, show a nationwide meta-plot unfolding in city after city in an Orwellian world: six American universities are sites where campus police funneled information about students involved with OWS to the FBI, with the administrations' knowledge (p51); banks sat down with FBI officials to pool information about OWS protesters harvested by private security; plans to crush Occupy events, planned for a month down the road, were made by the FBI – and offered to the representatives of the same organizations that the protests would target; and even threats of the assassination of OWS leaders by sniper fire – by whom? Where? – now remain redacted and undisclosed to those American citizens in danger, contrary to standard FBI practice to inform the person concerned when there is a threat against a political leader (p61). (De paginanummers verwijzen naar de betreffende documenten.)
Wolf citeert de conclusie van Mara Verheyden-Hilliard van de 'Partnership for Civil Justice Fund', de organisatie die de documenten opvroeg:
This production [of documents] , which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a window into the nationwide scope of the FBI's surveillance, monitoring, and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy movement … These documents also show these federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall Street and Corporate America.
Aan het eind trekt Wolf haar eigen conclusies:
Why the huge push for counterterrorism fusion centers, the DHS [Department of Homeland Security, pc] militarizing of police departments, and so on? It was never really about the terrorists. It was not even about civil unrest. It was always about this moment, when vast crimes might be uncovered by citizens – it was always, that is to say, meant to be about you.
Het artikel van Wolf vindt u hier. De documenten kan u hier doornemen.
