General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Has the FBI Launched a War of Entrapment Against the Occupy Movement? [View all]leveymg
(36,418 posts)particular targeted group.
1) Agency politics and budgets being what they are, DHS and the Bureau have to show dramatic results for the vast resources and manpower they pour into operations. That lends an internal pressure for Agents to concoct plots that are far and away more destructive than anything the targeted individuals would carry out themselves. The MO of the Black Bloc seems to be minor property destruction, not mass casualty WMD attacks. Nonetheless, the feds have tried their damnedest to characterize this as terrorism. Should possession of molotovs and beer making equipment be prosecuted under the anti-terrorism statutes? That seems a dangerous stretch that ultimately undermines the legitimacy of laws and efforts against terrorism.
2) The creation of terrorist threats has the effect of stigmatizing any movement that is any way associated with the targeted group, even groups that have tried their damnedest to distance themselves from the Black Bloc. Ultimately, stigmatizing dissent is an attack on all dissent, and is destructive of constitutional liberties. Law enforcement of this type is inherently political, and it does "take sides."
3) As we saw with WTC '93, the FBI and its agents provocateur sometime enable fatal mass casualty attacks that should have been stopped before an explosive device was allowed to be planted. This problem arose again with the CIA's handling of al-Qaeda prior to 9/11. Then there were the string of bomb attack plots associated with al-Alawki that came perilously close to killing people, and the Ft. Benning attack that did. Over and over again, we've seen that at the core of terrorist attacks that "succeed" or almost succeed are one or more agents provocateur.