There was a time in the 1960s when the FBI's illegal surveillance of left-wing groups seemed, and maybe even was, sinister if not broadly menacing. Parts of today's Justice Department report on its more recent activities, however, evoke that old saw about history repeating itself as farce.
The Inspector General's report covered a number of FBI targets following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh; a Catholic peace magazine; a Quaker activist; and members of the environmental group Greenpeace as well as of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA.
My favorite story was about the rookie FBI agent who was dispatched to an antiwar rally in Pittsburgh with a camera and told to look for terrorism suspects.
It was “a slow work day,” the IG report said -- the Friday after Thanksgiving 2002.
The “possibility that any useful information would result from this make-work assignment was remote,” the report said. The sponsor of the rally was the Thomas Merton Center, named for the Catholic priest who advocated pacifism and interfaith dialogue.
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