Disclaimer: Terry chemistry and American Politics inspired this story.
Quote: "…You have to understand. Most people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured and so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.' ― Morpheus, The Matrix
Edison makes a statement after Vikram Chand is arrested.
"Today the forces of evil think they've scored a win for the losing side in the War on Terror. They've tried to discredit a valid investigation; they've tried to throw mud on an organisation at the forefront of catching bad guys. To you and I, the bad guys may look like good guys, victims of overreach. They may look like community workers, like students, like the guy who lets you buy milk on credit at the corner store. But you and I aren't professionally trained to see through these carefully constructed facades, to see past the illusions of normalcy. We don't know, and we won't know, until the evil that lurks in our neighbourhoods is unmasked by the guys wearing badges, guys in uniform, guys who are trained, who are skilled, and who are part of a framework of intelligence agencies working together to keep us all safe …'
Olivia arrives to bail Vikram Chand.
Media: 'Mrs Grant, by being here today, are you letting American voters know that you condone Mr Chand's vigilante justice?'
Olivia: 'I am here today to demand the release of a man who was trying to present an alternative to the so-called facts in this much publicised trial-by-media of Obeid and Sameera Hussein. This is a prime example of shooting the messenger, so we don't hear his message."
Media: 'Mr Edison has intimated that Mr Chand was planted in the audience to discredit his views on national security.'
Olivia: 'Mr Edison can intimate any concept he chooses. The First Amendment, the very First Amendment, of the United States Constitution guarantees Mr Davis' Freedom of Speech. What we all need to remember is this freedom, is not a freedom for Mr Davis alone. It is not a freedom to be exercised by the rich, the powerful and those nominated to run for President. It's a fundamental right of all citizens of this nation. Mr Chand is a citizen of the United States."
Media: 'Mr Vikram Chand implicated Mr Edison Davis in an assassination plot; the kill target was you. Do you not have concerns about the constitutional freedoms that could be abused by citizens like Mr Chand?'
Olivia: 'Mr Chand was demonstrating the potential capabilities available to a Federal organisation which has tools that are not clearly understood or made known to the public or the judicial system."
Media: 'The RNC is looking at removing you as the Republican Party Candidate for President. Do you think that you should be focusing on your support base?'
Olivia: 'My support base, as you call it, is among the registered voters of America. The people who believe we live in a robust democracy, envisioned by our forefathers."
Media: 'Do you still have a shot at being the next President of the United States, when you have close connections to Islamic terrorists?'
Olivia: 'Alleged Islamic terrorists. Alleged. A word that is meant to protect the innocent until proven guilty. The next President of the United States, like all Presidents of the United States, must swear to protect the Constitution of the United States. A Constitution that was intended to protect citizens from the abuses of Federal government. Even alleged Islamic terrorists."
Vikram Chand is released. A condition of bail is that he cannot speak to the media.
FBI Director and Attorney General meet with Muslim civic leaders, and the Media.
FBI Director: 'My office has been inundated with questions around entrapment. I'll admit, the success of our counter-terrorism operations - and there have been many - depend on FBI undercover agents, and informants. We're not targeting Muslim groups in and of themselves. We have covert operations targeting everyone we see as a threat to our national security. Remember that old saying, 'you need to set a thief, to catch a thief?' That's what we're doing. We're not sending rogue operators out there to catch those who mean no harm to the United States Government and US citizens. We have trained, skilled, experienced agents who put their lives on the line to prevent deadly terror attacks from becoming the 'new normal'. And our agents operate within the confines and constraints of existing laws….''
Attorney General: 'Anyone who accuses the FBI of entrapment has no understanding of the law. No understanding of the surveillance and infiltration work required to prevent terror attacks. Prevention is the name of this game. That's the driving force behind what we do. I can confidently say that's the priority for the FBI and Justice Department. It's the brief we were given by Congress after 9/11, to keep homegrown terrorism from becoming a national disaster, ever again. Terrorism is like a virus, it evolves, it changes, there are variants. The group that pops out of nowhere to threaten our lives and liberty today, may not be the same group we'll be chasing tomorrow. That's the nature of the beast, and it's our job to catch these bad guys. To prevent, deter and disrupt homegrown terror networks which threaten our homeland and civil liberties….'
Civil Rights organisations launch a series of attack ads against the USA Patriot Act.
One black and white commercial features a pipe-smoking, spectacled man reading from George Orwell's work of fiction, '1984' about surveillance. This is interrupted by a news clip of Edward Snowden talking about the reality of mass government surveillance on a global scale in 2013.
Another ad shows 'James Madison' drafting the First and Fourth Amendments of the United States Constitution:
First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.'
Juxtaposed with these scenes were criticisms of the Patriot Act by Civil Liberties organisations: '…The FBI can investigate American citizens for exercising their freedom of speech, surveillance orders can be issued based on the books you read, your web searches, even your letters to the Editor. The Act violates the unreasonable search and seizure provisions, and the need for probable cause. The FBI doesn't need to show a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to invade a citizen's privacy, they just need to say it. There's little or no judicial oversight of these new secret government powers...'
A group of Graffiti artists in Washington DC begin spray painting Orwell's 1984 Mantra 'War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength, Welcome to 1984' – on public buildings, pedestrian paths, bridges…
The campaign spreads across the country.
Arrests are made.
A photograph of the graffitied message, 'if you think this is bad, you should see what our government is up to', begins circulating on social media.
Carlita Mendoza calls Olivia to alert her about a brief change to her regular radio schedule, then announces the changes to her regular listeners.
"I have had many, many calls from my listeners about the media focus on FBI entrapment allegations. These stories have triggered memories of past trauma in Americans who have suffered personally, or watched a loved one suffer, from the FBI's Counter-Intelligence Program, known as Cointelpro. This was a secret government program, officially in operation for fifteen years, between 1956 and 1971. It permitted Federal agents to aggressively disrupt and destroy any citizen group that the Federal Authorities saw as a threat to the status quo. I have spoken to people who were targeted. They feel their stories should be heard, must be heard. These skeletons must be pushed out of the cupboards of secrecy. That is what one of my callers told me. I agree but I feel that most are not ready to speak of these experiences in public, to reveal their long-buried past to their family, friends and coworkers. I would not like fresh trauma, fresh persecutions to be inflicted on people who have suffered greatly already. As a compromise, I will be airing a series of interviews with authors who have written non-fiction books detailing the FBI's Secret Wars against American citizens and anyone else seen as a threat….'
FBI's origins and its war on Left groups
Author speaks: 'The FBI was never about keep America safe, it was always about maintaining the status quo. Just look at its origins. It was established in 1919 as the General Intelligence Division (GID) by US Attorney General Palmer, to collect intel on radical groups. They wanted to stop the spread of Communism in the United States. But why stop there when a democracy can produce so many other 'undesirable elements'? J Edgar Hoover was the guy in charge of GID, which became the FBI, and he remained in charge for 70 years. He hated Commies, Lefties, Blacks, Independence groups… the list is long. One FBI method of operation was to use fake news and anonymous letters to spark divisions within groups. One infamous example is 'Operation Hoodwink' where the FBI tried to start a bloody fight between the American Communist Party and the Mafia group, La Cosa Nostra. As far as we know, it's one of the few campaigns that didn't have a deadly outcome…'
FBI's origins and its war on Student Activist groups
Author speaks: …'A FBI 'Agent Provocateur' is not a new concept. They've been using this type of informant for years. These guys infiltrate groups and try to get group members to commit violent or criminal acts. It's well-documented. There was a case involving Larry Grathwol, a US army veteran and FBI informant in the 70s, who infiltrated the radical student group the Weather Underground. He was among the Weathermen arrested in a conspiracy to bomb Detroit Police. Turns out Larry wasn't just an observer, he trained the group to build bombs and took part in the group's bombing of a Cincinnati Public School. Another provocateur, Tommy 'The Traveler' Tongyai travelled around College Campuses, encouraging anti-war students to bomb military research facilities…'
FBI's war against the Puerto Rican Independence Movement:
Author speaks: …'In 1965, the FBI wanted to bug Pedro Albizu Campos' phone. The guy was the head of the Puerto Rican National Party. Problem was Campos didn't have a phone. But his family used his neighbour's phone. So the FBI bugged the neighbour's phone. You know why? I'll tell you why – the FBI agents in San Juan wanted to know when the guy, who was dying, would be dead. According to a radiogram the agents sent J Edgar Hoover, the FBI wanted to be ready to stir up trouble – 'assassination attempts and other violence at the time of the subject's death' – you know the kind of trouble that terrorist groups usually get blamed. They wanted to discredit the Puerto Rican independence movement. Guess they succeeded, Puerto Rico is still an unincorporated territory of the United States... Yes, to this day Latin groups believe the US government killed Campos. He, himself, made that accusation… During the Cold War, the US Energy Department conducted 435 radiation experiments on 16,000 people, including infants, pregnant women, prisoners, and institutionalised children and adults without their knowledge. This was revealed by Eileen Welsome in her book, 'The Plutonium Files'. Campos firmly believed he was one of the prisoners exposed to radiation without his knowledge….'
FBI's war against the Black Civil Rights Movement:
Author speaks: …'It's no secret that the most vicious and aggressive Cointelpro operations were against Black Civil Rights campaigners. They were a threat to the established order. Why the FBI called Dr Martin Luther King Jnr, 'The most dangerous Negro of the future in this nation from the standpoint of Communism, the Negro and national security'. Dr King was never a Communist. He was a Theologian and Democratic Socialist. These facts were lost on the FBI. Days after Dr King won the Nobel Peace Prize, the FBI sent him a tape of his indiscretions – collected from FBI surveillance of his hotel rooms. Along with the tape, they sent a letter calling Dr King 'an abnormal beast…who engaged in sexual orgies'. They threatened to release the tape unless Dr King killed himself… Dr King believed the letter had been sent by the FBI, even though it was unsigned and made to look as if it had been written by an African American, and his belief turned out to be true...
…'The FBI's paranoia was based on unfounded fears that the Black Civil Rights movement in the United States would be like the 'Mau Mau' in British Kenya. Visibly militant groups like the Black Panthers Party which wanted to end police brutality, and utilised the open-carry laws of the day; were subjected to malicious propaganda to destroy free social programs like Breakfast for kids, community ambulances, free medical and legal clinics… But it didn't end there. When Chicago Police shot up BPP leader Fred Hampton's apartment, most people didn't know that Hampton's bodyguard, William O'Neal was a FBI informant. O'Neal gave the FBI the floorplan to Hampton's apartment, the FBI passed the floorplan to Chicago PD…
…'Even folks who donated to the Black Panther Party had their reputations destroyed; didn't matter if you were black or white. Actress Jean Seberg had vicious rumours spread about her when she was pregnant, saying she'd had an affair with a Black Panther member and the baby was his. The newspapers just ran with the rumour, didn't check the facts. Those stories caused Seberg to go into premature labor. The baby didn't survive. Seberg's former husband says she tried to kill herself every year, on the anniversary of her baby's death. Every year, she tried until she succeeded…'
Talkback Radio across the nation is abuzz with details of the show, with callers sharing their own histories and forgotten bits of history…
'The thing is we wouldn't know about Cointelpro, if it hadn't been for a ragtag bunch of antiwar activists – calling themselves the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI… They broke into the FBI offices in Media, Pennsylvania in 1971 and stole a bunch of files, that included the stuff they were doing in Cointelpro. Until then, we didn't know a thing about the FBI spying on activist groups, their disinformation and deception campaigns to silence protesters, and the FBI's attempts to get Martin Luther King to kill himself…'
Former members of Congress and historians appear on television talkshows…
'All of this happened, because of John Edgar Hoover's paranoia. It was a revelation to hear what came out of the Church Committee, chaired by Idaho Democrat Frank Church. …Cointelpro wasn't the only thing Frank and his committee managed to reveal. That was shocking enough. But we didn't know about the CIA's Operation MKULTRA, they were doing mind control experiments on Americans using drugs. It's the stuff of horror movies or what we're told the Chinese and Russians are doing. Well guess what... yeah, it was all happening in the good ole US of A. You probably know all about the one involving the media, Operation Mockingbird, which had American and foreign journalists working for the CIA, fake news was in the news before social media came along, that's for sure. And we had the NSA spying on telegraphic messages that came in or out of the United States. They called it Project Shamrock…'
White House Press Briefing
President Zeke faced the packed room.
"I have today instructed the Department of Justice to transfer Obeid and Sameera Hussein from military custody to civilian custody while they wait for a trial date. I've given the same instructions for the men alleged to be part of their 'terror' network. I want to ensure the Husseins and their so-called gang do not have their rights violated by being classed as Unlawful Combatants, who generally fall outside the conventions of International Law. It has also been brought to my attention that Guantanamo Bay, which is under our control, is not on US soil, that could leave those detained on the military base without the protections of the US Constitution. I want to ensure the Husseins have those protections."
Media: 'Are you critical of the powers given to Federal intelligence and security agencies after 9/11?"
President: "Every administration serious about protecting our Constitutional Rights, needs to do a pulse check on reality. We need to compare that reality to our stated objectives. Indefinite Detention, sanctioned by previous administrations, contravenes our obligations to protect citizen rights."
Media: "Indefinite Detention for enemy combatants was made legal after 9/11 by the Republican Party, your party. Is this a criticism of the actions taken by the Bush administration?"
President: "It's not a criticism. It's an understanding that times change, and we must change with the times."
Media: 'Do you intend to repeal the Patriot Act?'
President: "To the best of my knowledge Congress hasn't signed away its legislative powers to the Executive. I'm not saying it can't happen. It did. Not in America. It happened in Nazi Germany when the Reichstag gave absolute legislative power to Chancellor Adolf Hitler by passing the Enabling Act of 1933. We haven't done that in the United States. Congress still makes the rules in this country. That's law under Article 1 of the United States Constitution."
Media: 'The ACLU claims sections of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional, that Congress was rushed into signing the Act into law without proper debate or an understanding of its consequences?'
President: "We'd just witnessed planes flying into the World Trade Centre. Three thousand people died. There was a rumour there would be a second attack. Congress didn't have time to debate this law. Just like the Germans didn't have time to debate the fallout from the Enabling Act. They'd just witnessed the Reichstag Fire; an arson attack that nearly destroyed the German equivalent of Capitol Hill. In either case, it turns out that fear and panic don't make for good laws, that protect the rights of citizens.'
Senior members of the RNC meet with President Zeke.
"You're a maverick. We get that, but we don't want you telling America, we're one step away from becoming Nazi Germany."
Zeke shook his head. "I don't know where you got your information, but I was out there telling folks, we are nothing like Nazi Germany. Congress hasn't given over its legislative powers to me."
"I know that what you said but that's not what folks be hearing. Why just this morning, I had the mother of my biggest political donor tell me I wouldn't get a job as a shoe shiner, if someone like Adolf Hitler ends up in the White House. I told her there's no chance of that since both candidates are black, but you see what we're up against."
Zeke gazed at the man patiently. "What we're up against is allegations of FBI misconduct vs FBI allegations of homegrown terror networks. I can tell you that the former is gaining traction over the latter. There are folks alive who remember what the FBI did to Dr King."
"Hell, I remember what they did to Dr King. What they did to the Blacks, Lefties, the Puerto Ricans, the Indians, Anti-war protestors, anyone on Hoover's Hate list.'
'The Klu Klux Klan," added another.
"Hoover didn't try to get a Klan member to kill themselves."
"The Klan were a bunch of troublemakers.
"Martin Luther King was advocating for change, a change in the status quo. The KKK helped uphold it."
Zeke interrupted these musings among his visitors. "Gentleman, we're at a tipping point. Are we going to wait for another citizens' commission to investigate the FBI; for a bunch of renegade students to get their hands on a lot more dirt that hasn't been redacted? Or wait for another Church Committee to reveal how many administrations since Nixon have abused their secret powers and violated the fundamental rights of our citizens?"
"Hell, no!"
"Then we have to take control of this beast before it destroys us all."
RNC member grumbles, "Why are we talking about beasts? You talk about beasts; the Attorney General talks about beasts. What is this - Big Game hunting?"
Zeke gave a humourless smile. "More like canned hunting. The cowards are shooting pet lion cubs and making it look brave."
Four men travel to Cuba on a luxury jet for their favourite rum and cigars.
"Is this a set up?"
"It's a set up."
Doug Cosh raised his glass for a refill. "Rigging a congressional hearing isn't beyond our control. We just need to select the members of the Select Committee."
"What's selecting the Select Committee going to achieve?"
"Obfuscation or better yet re-focusing of national priorities from entrapment, back to National Security."
"But the focus has been on National Security."
"Ah, but has it been on National Security from the lens of our opponent? I think it's time we put Mrs Grant in the hot seat."
"Well, now, I always say you can't play a player," Doug's brother, Cosh, chuckled breaking open another bottle.
Olivia contacts the FBI Director.
"I would like to see my client, Sameera Hussein."
"We're still processing her details. It's a complicated case."
"Are you refusing to let me see my client?"
"Look we haven't started official interrogations. She isn't talking anyway."
"But you have started unofficial interrogations without her lawyer present?"
"I didn't say that."
"Nor are you denying it. Has Obeid Hussein been given access to a lawyer?"
"He hasn't asked for one. He wanted to speak to his wife."
"His wife is a lawyer."
"She's under arrest."
"In an unlawful use of the Material Witness Statue."
"We've read Mrs Hussein her rights."
"She cannot be detained as a criminal suspect when she's a material witness."
"We're in the process of obtaining her testimony. The statute allows us to detain her until we get that testimony."
"In a violation of her rights under the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the US Constitution."
"Look, Lady, talk to Congress. What we're doing is legal."
A whistleblower site releases a tape. It goes viral on international media…
'In the ongoing saga involving an American Presidential Candidate with purported links to Islamic terrorists, new evidence sheds fresh concerns of the validity of the claims that have been made against the suspects involved and Mrs Olivia Grant's connections…
…'A well-known whistleblower site has just released interrogation interviews of one of the main players – Mr Obeid Hussein – after he arrived at Guantanamo Bay…the following are edited extracts from those interviews...
Interrogation of Obeid Hussein. Day 2, Interview 4
Subject has been given no food, and is sleep deprived after having loud rap music blasted into his cell for the past 24 hours.
Obeid [sounding hoarse]: "I keep telling you and telling you, but you will not listen. There was no plan to bomb the church."
Interrogator: "The boys had backpacks filled with explosives."
Obeid: "I don't know about that."
Interrogator: "Why don't you admit to what we already know – you were the mastermind behind the plan to bomb the church."
Obeid: "There was no plan to bomb the church. There was only a plan to rescue my wife, Sameera. The men who knew Ahmed El Shabib, the FBI agent, they said my wife had been kidnapped by white supremacists. That she was being held in the basement of that church."
Interrogator: "You and the kids were going to rescue your wife from white supremacists?"
Obeid [sounding deflated]: "Ahmed said the FBI and police would be there to rescue her but the boys had volunteered to help."
Interrogator: "You really expect us to believe that story?"
Obeid: "I called the police when my wife didn't come home. They told me the FBI would help me find her. I want to talk to my wife."
Interrogator [gets to his feet]: "No can do. Your wife is in as much trouble as you are."
Obeid [as he is led away]: "My wife and I are not terrorists!"
-end-
Day 3. Interview 2.
The subject has been given one meal. Pork sausages, which he did not eat. Nor the bread that had touched the meat.
Obeid: "I want to know what has happened to my wife."
Interrogator: "We ask the questions here."
Obeid: "I will not answer any questions until you tell me about my wife!"
Interrogator 1 to Interrogator 2: "Feisty."
Interrogator 2: "Your wife drinks, huh?"
Obeid: "What?"
Interrogator 2: "Your wife is a closet drinker. Bet you didn't know that about her, did you?"
Obeid: "My wife does not drink."
Interrogator 2: "The sheriff found her stinking of alcohol. Had bottles of red wine littered all over the front seat of her car."
Obeid: "My wife cannot drink red wine. She's allergic. If she drinks it, even it is by accident, she goes into shock and has to be hospitalised because she cannot breathe…"
-end-
Day 5. Interview 2.
Subject has been strip-searched again. He has asked for a shower. He's been told he'll get one next week.
Interrogator: "Mr Hussein, how you doing? You holding up okay?"
Obeid: [No response]
Interrogator: "Mr Hussein, this will be easier on you if you help us, help you."
Obeid: "I am not a terrorist."
Interrogator: "I don't want to argue with you, but the evidence proves otherwise."
Obeid: "What evidence?"
Interrogator: "You were discussing formulas for an incendiary device."
Obeid: "Incendiary… oh you mean the firecracker?"
Interrogator: "You admit to discussing the formulas for a firecracker, and other explosives for a projectile?"
Obeid: "Is this why I am here? It is all a big misunderstanding. One of my students, Bilal, wants to be an aerospace engineer but he hates chemistry and physics. I thought if he made a toy rocket, it would be a fun way to learn."
Interrogator: "A fun way to learn?"
Obeid: "Yes, he stopped hating chemistry and the laws of physics when he was trying to find the perfect way to send that rocket into space, or at least as high as the flagpole in front of the school."
Interrogator: "You detonated a rocket in front of a school?"
Obeid: "We launched a rocked. It was on a weekend. And we handed out flyers to let everyone know, including the school principal that we'd be doing the experiment."
Interrogator 2: "Did it work?"
Obeid: "Bilal is very intelligent. He just needed motivation."
Interrogator 1: "He was your star pupil? The guy most capable of using the knowledge you gave him to make a bomb?"
Obeid: "Bilal did not make a bomb. We set off a toy rocket on school grounds that is all."
-end-
Day 10; Interview 7.
Subject has been in isolation. His cell has no light. He's had one cold shower. Today he was given a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He ate the sandwich.
Interrogator: "Mr Hussein, you are a qualified and experienced mining engineer."
Obeid: "Yes."
Interrogator: "You are familiar with dynamite?"
Obeid: "Yes."
Interrogator: "Yet you would have us believe you had nothing to do with the plan to bomb the church?"
Obeid: "Yes."
-end-
News anchor: 'Those were a few segments from hours worth of questioning that alleged terror suspect Obeid Hussein has endured. We now go live to the man who smuggled those recordings out of Guantanamo Bay.
[A white man in a hotel room appears on the screen.]
News anchor: "Would you like to introduce yourself to our audience?"
"My name is Malcolm Lambden. I am, or was, a member of the Military Police Corp at Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. These are my credentials. And this is a photograph of a commendation presented at the camp for my services."
News anchor: "A commended employee who turned whistleblower?"
Malcolm: "Yes."
News Anchor: "Being a whistleblower is a dangerous pastime at the best of times. More so, since 9/11. You could be arrested on espionage charges and other legalities, similar to those meted out to former US Private Bradley Manning now known as Chelsea Manning. Even if you are not arrested and sentenced to 35 years imprisonment like Ms Manning, you could suffer the fate of Joe Darby. Mr Darby blew the whistle on enhanced interrogation procedures used on Abu Ghraib prisoners, which were essentially methods of torture. Subsequently, he received death threats and his home was vandalized. Now Joe Darby and his wife are in protective military custody, whereabouts unknown. Are you anticipating a similar future?"
Malcolm: "Darby didn't want to go public. He reported violations of the Geneva Convention to the US Military Command. The Administration at the time, told the public who was."
News Anchor: "Hoping that mob rule would take care of him, because the sense of patriotism and Islamophobia was at its peak?"
Malcolm: "It turned out that way. Knowing what happened to Darby, I didn't want to take the same route. I realised the odds would be better if I followed Edward Snowden's path. That's why I am talking to you from my hotel room in a country that doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States."
News anchor: "Why did you do it? Why did you throw away your career and go into indefinite exile? I mean we're talking about one man, not a systematic regime of abuse?"
Malcolm: "I don't agree. Whether it's done to one man, ten or one hundred. There are rules to prevent us from behaving the same way, or in ways that are hell of a lot worse than the countries we see as enemy states or people we see as enemy combatants."
News anchor: "What triggered this drastic action?"
Malcolm: "I heard some agents and guards laughing about this guy who'd been set up as a patsy in a sting operation."
News anchor: "A sting operation?"
Malcolm: "Yes."
News anchor: "Did they expand on the purpose of that sting operation?"
Malcolm: "They wanted to destroy Olivia Grant's chances of becoming President."
[After a long pause] News anchor: "They said that? They mentioned Mrs Grant by name?"
Malcolm: "No. They used words that I cannot use on national or international television. But she's the only African American woman running for President in the United States."
News anchor: "You did this out of misguided loyalty? Or are you a fan of Mrs Grant's?"
Malcolm: "Neither. I've witnessed a lot of bad things since 9/11. I've taken part in some of them myself. Things that don't sit well with my conscience. I guess I did it to prove to myself that I still have a conscience. It's easy to forget that at GITMO. This, you could say, was the last straw. I just couldn't let this one go…"
White House Press Briefing…
President Lucas Zeke: "I have today ordered Obeid Hussein to be transferred from Guantanamo Bay with immediate effect to the mainland. He will be under house arrest, pending an internal investigation into certain revelations made public in the last few hours, regarding his arrest and detention. No, I will not be ordering the arrest of the whistleblower who made those revelations public…"
Dough Cosh fields a flurry of calls.
"Heck. Calm the eff down. We still have an ace up our sleeve…"
Senate Inquiry into FBI entrapment allegations
First witness: Olivia Pope-Grant
Senator 1: 'Mrs Grant, there was a serious security breach at a US military detention camp. The individual who endangered national security is still at large. Will you instruct the Department of Justice to issue secure an indictment should you become President?"
Olivia: "If the allegations are true, then I will not be pursuing an indictment."
Senator: "Are you saying for the record that you will not pursue an indictment on matters involving the leak of classified US government information to an unauthorised source, violations under the Espionage Act of 1917, theft of US Government property and aiding the enemy?"
Olivia: "For the record, I will not be pursing an indictment if the allegations are true of an egregious breach of a US citizen's Constitutional Rights under the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizures, the Fifth Amendment against the abuse of government authority in legal proceedings, the Sixth Amendment which gives the right to a speedy and public trial, and the Fourteenth Amendment that guarantees all citizens equal protection under the law."
Senator: "Mrs Grant, are you saying the US government has operated outside the law?"
Olivia: "Senator, I am saying that the United States is a testament to the fact we will not stand for unjust laws. 'No Taxation without Representation' was the trigger for the American Revolution; the Civil War was intended to abolish slavery and preserve the union of states. Time and again, throughout history, we the people of America, have shown that we will literally stand and fight for what is right, when the law is at odds with what is just."
Senator: "Mrs Grant, are you condoning vigilante justice?"
Olivia: "Senator, I have told my kids that in our house, we don't punish people for telling the truth. My kids are watching these proceedings. As a mother, I insist that they be truthful whatever the cost."
Senator 2: "You think the breach of national security is a price worth paying?"
Olivia: "What is the breach, Senator? Do you think it is our nation's best interest to unlawfully detain a potentially innocent man, an American citizen?"
Senator 3: "There are certain rights we must sacrifice for the good of all."
Olivia: "We cannot sacrifice the bedrock of our nation – our Constitutional freedoms since those are the principles our nation has been founded on."
Senator 4: "You have to agree that Constitutional Amendments were a goal, not a reality, as many minorities were not included in the framework of those rights."
Olivia: "Dr Martin Luther King Junior told us in 1963 that he had a dream. In America, Senator, we strive to make our dreams a reality."
Senator 5: "Mrs Grant, President Lucas Zeke is a good friend of yours. He has made it clear on several occasions that he would like you to be the next President of the United States. He has also compared the United States to Nazi Germany. Do you share his views?"
Olivia: "I would like to clarify those assertions, Senator. President Zeke was asked if he would be repealing the Patriot Act by the White House Press Corps. He reminded the journalist that Congress still makes the laws in this country, and that he does not have the same executive legislative powers, signed over to Chancellor Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, under the Enabling Act of 1933."
Senator 6: "Do you think the United States of America, this proud democratic nation, could ever become another Nazi Germany?"
Olivia: "Senator, Nazi Germany came into existence by law. By the German equivalent of Congress passing a law that enabled a democratic nation to become a tyranny. They did this out of fear. After an arson attack on the German parliament, which allowed Hitler and his party to claim that a Communist uprising would be next. This fear was the reason the Enabling Act of 1933 was rushed through the Reichstag without much debate or consideration of its consequences. The same has been said of the United States Congress passed the Patriot Act in 2001, when Congress was led to believe there would be a repeat of 9/11. Nazi Germany shows us that we cannot let fear guide our laws. Because there is a possibility that one day Congress could make itself redundant like the Reichstag did, if we let fear override the founding principles of our nation…'
Republican Presidential Hopeful Mrs Olivia Grant appears on NBC's Meet the Press…
Presenter: 'Mrs Grant, you brought up some interesting points about how easily a democracy can become a tyranny. That echoes a view shared by one of our previous guests on this show, Democrat Senator Frank Church when he spoke on this show in 1975. Here's a clip from that interview …
Senator Church: 'In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air. ...Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left: such is the capability to monitor everything - telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn't matter. There would be no place to hide.
'If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government, no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology…
'I don't want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return…'
Presenter: That is how Senator Church felt in 1975. Today, in Australia, the Federal Government has passed a law called the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2020 which allows the nation's policing and intelligence authorities not only to spy on the information your electronic devices – your email and social media accounts – but they can take control, they can alter, even delete messages without your knowledge and without a warrant. If a law like that can exist in a democracy, what then makes it different to a tyranny?"
Olivia: "That's a good question. You could say Australia doesn't have a Bill of Rights, and the rights of its citizens do not have the same protections that we have in the United States. We would be certain that could never happen in the United States. But the experience of Mr Obeid Hussein, a citizen of this country tells us that we cannot sleepwalk into the future believing our inalienable rights have guaranteed protection. That the Bill of Rights, enshrined all to see at the National Archives Museum, alone is enough to inoculate us against tyranny. We have to be vigilant, we have to be aware that the abuse of power targeted at a minority, could one day be turned against anyone who now considers themselves in the majority."
Presenter: "In 2009, Reuters published an article on Pol Pot's chief torturer saying the Khmer Rouge would not to have gained power, if the United States had not been involved in Cambodia. He said Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger allowed the Khmer Rouge to grasp 'golden opportunities' that led to the rise of Pol Pot's regime which was responsible for the genocide of 1.7 million Cambodians. Do you think this country could see a similar future?"
Olivia: "If you mean could the genocide of natives happen on this land? That's not a hypothetical for our foreseeable future. It is a fact of our past. Historians estimate between 75 to 100 million American Indians died after Europeans settled on their land. Since then, have we progressed to respect and celebrate the glorious diversity of humanity in this great nation? We'd like to think so. Yet, we don't realise the work it takes to be and remain a democracy, to be and remain a just and equal society. We cannot achieve those goals if the government and its agencies actively work to subvert justice, entrap citizens and lie about their operations. Then the American Dream turns into an American Nightmare..."
White House Press Briefing…
President Lucas Zeke: "The Director of the FBI has today formally announced his resignation and I have accepted it. The Attorney General is taking a leave of absence to spend time with his family for health reasons, and the deputy Attorney General will be taking charge of the department. Mr Obeid Hussein, Mrs Sameera Hussein and the two young men, Ali and Bilal, who were detained on terror charges have been released from custody. The two FBI agent provocateurs who were arrested with the group, have been transferred to protective custody after giving evidence to support FBI entrapment allegations..."
A/N: In an alternative universe a presidential candidate would be called in as a witness on a Senate inquiry among other mishmashed facts abused in this work of fiction. But, hey, what would Scandal be without its scandalous stretch on reality – specially the roller-coaster kind, through the heebee jeebee jungle.
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Native American genocide - World Future Fund