Activist's Remark Starts FBI Probe

[sabra]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/26/ap/national/mainD8JO8RA80.shtml

Activist's Remark Starts FBI Probe
Environmentalist fumes over being scrutinized as possible terrorist for remark at hearing

(AP) Jim Bensman thought his suggestion during a public hearing was harmless enough: Instead of building a channel so migratory fish could go around a dam on the Mississippi River, just get rid of the dam.

...

During the 90-minute hearing that included on the agenda whether to build a fish channel, Bensman says, he reiterated he's no fan of dams, contending they're environmentally destructive and amount to billions of dollars in corporate welfare for boating interests.

...

Workers at the corps' St. Louis office "took a dim view (of the article) and questioned if it was a potential threat," and a security manager forwarded the clipping to the FBI, said corps spokesman Alan Dooley.

Within days, the FBI had Bensman on the phone, asking whether he was any threat.

"To think I'm a terrorist is utterly ridiculous," Bensman, 46, said from his home in Alton, just north of St. Louis. "How could any reasonable person think a terrorist is going to come to a public meeting held by the Army Corps, let them know who they are and announce their terror plot? It just doesn't make sense to me."

[tanyev]

1. And yet they haven't shown up at Coulter's door to ask her about

her comments on Justice Stevens, the New York Times, or the anthrax mailings.

[Quakerfriend]

2. How true?! Very well said.

This pathetic attack on the innocent is going to bring about a revolution sooner or later!

[nam78_two]

3. heh heh I posted about that earlier today

I can tell you that as a perfectly peaceful environmentalist and animal activist, this sort of thing chills me....
They just want to intimidate anyone whose political views they don't like...

They had the "food not bombs" people -a group that promotes vegetarianism and gives food to homeless people- under surveillance :eyes:

yet Bin Laden's relatives and Bush's Saudi ruler buddies were flown out of the country with their blessings...go figure :eyes:

[Metta]

4. Ah, yes. The strong arm of the law.

Franz Kafka says, "I told you so."

[kurth]

5. The Reign of Terror continues

as long as the Bush cult controls EVERYTHING that moves in Washington.

[peacetalksforall]

6. It doesn't make sense? Sense is at the heart of all th e extremism of

the right. They are without it.

Doesn't it seem that there is a thread of misplaced activism running through their heads? Their world and ours is jam packed with planted fear about what is going to happen next. And it shines a light on their psyche - something very weird and mixed up.

The FBI probably thought they needed to follow through - giving them the benefit of the doubt.

But who reported this - a zealous, non-thinking self-declared patriot ot someone who took sides against you politically?

This country is not working together because some WANT it to be divided.

Peace is a very foreign word here within the U.S. of America.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Criticizing the US Army Corps of Engineers is tantamount to heresy!

Many corporate fat cats depend on USACE's extensive projects to line their pockets. What do we get from the Corps? Expensive projects and shoddy workmanship. Look at New Orleans today, still a target for a minimal hurricane!

[RC]

10. Not the Corps fault.

bu$h took approved money from approved projects to upgrade and repair the levies and gave it to Halliburton to pour in the sands of Iraq. The Corps objected to no avail.

[EFerrari]

9. The FBI called him and asked if he was a threat?!

I don't know what is more bizarre. Someone sniping about this man or the FBI calling him and asking him if he's a threat.

"Yes, Osama? This is the F B I. We were wondering if you're serious or, just pulling our leg?'



:wtf:

[azurnoir]

11. It sounds like the FBI

knew what was really going here but, being a Federal agency they had to dot the i's cross the t's and file a report in triplicate.

[EFerrari]

12. You may be right. The FBI has never turned down an opportunity

to make themselves look ridiculous.

:hi: Mike!

[Generic Other]

13. I think if the FBI is calling you to ask if you are dangerous

you must not scare them much.

I suppose if this were the Pork Rind Festival or somesuch they were protecting rather than a dam, they would have sent out a SWAT team.

[EFerrari]

15. A Courtesy Threat Check!

lol

Once my kid was ripped off on the net and craig was helping me figure out what happened. I eventually called the FBI. The guy that answered the phone sounded sleepy . . . or, stoned . . . and they never could get it together to help us.

We're on our own.

[Roy]

14. This sounds reasonable, Mr. Bensman just don't get it.....

"To think I'm a terrorist is utterly ridiculous," Bensman, 46, said from his home in Alton, just north of St. Louis. "How could any reasonable person think a terrorist is going to come to a public meeting held by the Army Corps, let them know who they are and announce their terror plot? It just doesn't make sense to me."


This is the kind of info these idiots need to stop a 'terrorist' act!

Remember.... if they had the names, flight, and seat numbers, hair color, eye color, and a description of the clothes worn by the hijackers on 911, they would have stopped them cold.

[EFerrari]

16. Right. Getting their rent checks in San Diego wasn't enough.

They need to monitor my phone calls and email and open my mail because they can't bother to read reports their own agents turn in.

:wtf:

[treestar]

17. Yet they are noticeably absent from the ungoverned tribal areas

of Pakistan, where Al Qaeda is most likely to be.

[Eugene]

18. The root of this terror scare was bad reporting by the local paper.

From the July 26 article...

Fish passage plans outlined
By LINDA N. WELLER, The Telegraph 07/26/2006

-snip-

The meeting was held at the National Great Rivers Museum by the dam,
with half of the attendees representing the corps, museum or dam.

After a 30-minute presentation, corps representatives fielded questions
and noted comments from residents. Jim Bensman of Alton said he would
like to see the dam blown up and resents paying taxes to fix dam problems
when it is barge companies that profit from the dam.

-snip-

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16966672&BRD=1719&PAG=461&dept_id=25271&rfi=6

He never said that, but the misquoted statement set off this alarm.
I don't fault the FBI for wanting to check out a reported threat.
The people who reported the threat didn't get the facts right.

[Vidar]

19. Man doesn't like beavers. FBI concludes gays will blow up Hoover Dam.

[Master of Disaster]

20. This is a joke, right?

[MadHound]

21. Another incident from the encroaching police state

Yesterday you had to actually *do* something to be considered a terrorist. Today you merely have to be a leftist who says something that could somehow, in some RWers fevered imagination be considered a terrorist threat to get the third degree. Tommorrow, we're all going to be considered terrorist just because of our political beliefs. When do the camps open up, I call dibs on the top bunk:banghead:

Meanwhile people on the right wing of the political spectrum can continue to spew whatever hateful garbage they want, and instead of being considered terrorists, they're given a national media platform to spew from:banghead: Even if they carry weapons like the Minutemen and these various RW militias.

[Jbensman]

22. Here is their powerpoint slide

http://webpages.charter.net/jbensman1/Documents/ACOE-Powerpoint.pdf

This is from their PowerPoint Presentation (I got it via FOIA today).

Tell me how the ACOE could have reasonably called the FBI on me after showing this in their presentation even if the quote in the paper was accurate. It is funny how the Army only sent the FBI the one newspaper article (I was also quoted in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and it was not sent) and not a copy of their powerpoint presentation with this slide!

[ReadTomPaine]

23. Welcome to DU!

:thumbsup: