Dale Mills
More information has come to light on possible reasons for the arrest and detention in Australia of US peace activist Scott Parkin last September.
According to a report on the US Newsweek magazine's website, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich demonstration came to the attention of US Army analysts working in a secret unit called the Counter-Intelligence Field Activity. The CIFA's role was to collect and assess information that threatened US military security. Somehow, CIFA concluded that handing out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches compromised US military security, and they compiled a secret report on the demonstrators, including Parkin.
Parkin was part of one of about 10 peace activists who engaged in the 2004 street theatre outside the Houston headquarters of Halliburton, the private military contractor once headed by Dick Cheney. The free sandwiches were given to Halliburton employees to call attention to allegations that the company was massively overcharging on food contracts for troops in Iraq.
According to a senior Pentagon official, cited by Newsweek, the CIFA may have collected information like this on thousands of US citizens.
In a memo obtained by Newsweek, and presumably leaked as a damage limitation exercise, US Defense Department intelligence personnel will receive "refresher training" on what information they are to collect.
Information about the size and budget of CIFA is classified.
The Newsweek report on Scott Parkin can be found at
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060122/nysu011.html?.v=42>.
From Green Left Weekly, February 15, 2006.
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