Eric Harley: What about the real terrorists?

By ERIC HARTLEY Staff writer

Published 10/02/08

The scariest part of the 93-page report released yesterday on a Maryland State Police spying program isn't the violations of civil liberties. It's the bad police work.

Yes, the fact that an undercover state trooper attended meetings of anti-death-penalty and anti-war groups with no evidence the groups were any threat is disturbing. But the fact that this surveillance continued in the name of "homeland security" for 14 months although there was still zero evidence of any potential violence or property destruction, let alone terrorism? That's downright stupid.

If there are real terrorists in Maryland, I...

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I'd bet - October 6, 2008

The State Troopers are covering all their bases not just the two examples so highly publicized by The Capitol and other news outlets. Maryland State Troopers are considered some of the best in the nation and do quite a lot more than patrol our highways or 'spy' on so-called 'non-violent' groups. Indeed one must look at what the 'non-violent' Anti-War groups have done in the past and even quite recently. They not only disrupt but do indeed engage in violence, deadly violence in some cases. The 'Peaceful Hippies' you see are not always so peaceful but are easily manipulated to do whatever their leaders can convince them to do. This of course applies to any group with strong feelings from Black Nationalists, White Supremacists, or even tree huggers. As we all know, they are all capable of violence and need to be watched. And in Maryland, our Troopers are on the job.

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Paul Flanagan - Shady Side, MD - Karma: Bad