FBI Files Show Snipers Targeted Occupy Houston

[East Coast Pirate]

Large sections of the files are blacked out, including names of those believed by the FBI to be plotting the deaths of Occupy activists in Texas, perhaps nationwide.

"I...could've been shot and killed by a sniper just a little over a year ago." wrote Carl Gibson in an open letter to FBI director Mueller. "Your offices knew of this plot, yet none of us who were at risk of assassination were informed."
Gibson, one of the leaders of Occupy Houston who could have been in a sniper's cross-hairs, called on Mueller to resign his post.

What is this all about? Snipers?

A set of documents released to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund by the FBI as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request included a page, some of it blacked out, showing that there were early plans to use suppressed sniper fire to kill leaders of Occupy Houston.

An identified [DELETED] as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protestors (sic) in Houston, Texas if deemed necessary. An identified [DELETED] had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. [DELETED] planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles. (Note: protests continued throughout the weekend with approximately 6000 persons in NYC. "Occupy Wall Street' protests have spread to about half of all states in the US, over a dozen European and Asian cities, including protests in Cleveland (10/6-8/11) at Willard Park which was initially attended by hundreds of protesters.)

Remember, the Occupy Wall Street protests began in September of 2011, and the FBI was aware of a plan to kill Occupy leaders in October of that same year. How did they get such early news of these deadly plans? The documents do not say. Paul Kennedy, a Houston attorney who represented several Occupy Houston members arrested during protests, was concerned. In a story at TruthDig he says about the plot.

"f it is something law enforcement was planning," Kennedy said, "then nothing would have been done. It might seem hard to believe that a law enforcement agency would do such a thing, but I wouldn't put it past them."

He added that the phrase "if deemed necessary," which appeared in the bureau's report, further suggests the possibility that some kind of official organization was involved in the plan.

More: http://www.opednews.com/populum/pagem.php?f=FBI-Files-Show-Snipers-Tar-by-Gregg-Jocoy-130729-87.html

[PDJane]

1. So, peaceful protesters demanding change in the way the financial system is run,

Are enemies of the state? I thought the US was a democracy?

[TBF]

13. Have you heard of the Patriot Act?

There are socialist organizations that are currently classified as terrorist organizations, and Eric Holder can pretty much classify whatever he wants as a terrorist (and obviously does).

[arely staircase]

2. :-)

[East Coast Pirate]

3. So we should just shut up about it?

[randome]

22. You could have mentioned that in the OP.

And the contention that Kennedy makes that it was LE planning to assassinate Occupy is so far out there, it boggles the mind. Former Occupiers seem to relish the idea of being targets. I assume this is because of their overall ineffectiveness.

Secondly. if LE planned to assassinate someone, why would they put documentation about that into the public sphere?

Mind-boggling.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[East Coast Pirate]

23. If it'll make you feel better,

I don't personally believe the FBI was planning to assassinate them. But then you go off on your libertarian rant that Occupy served no purpose. I'll try to stay off your lawn, grandpa.

[arely staircase]

32. here is a scenario

Crazy old man in wheelchair at nursing home starts raving about his planned sniper attack on protestors. Vindictive or even well intentioned other resident calls the FBI. The FBI writes up the memo, looks into it realizes there is nothing to it. There is no reason to warn anybody about anything and plenty of reason not to release the names of people involved. Now that is complete speculation on my part, but makes infinitely more sense than the speculation offered in the OP.

[Zorra]

39. psssst

[randome]

43. The Debate Club winner!

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]

[Cali_Democrat]

4. That link is filled with some serious batshit crazy

Hot damn!

[L0oniX]

5. I find that the idea of a sniper having cross hairs on me to be far worse...

than someone with a permit and carrying a concealed hand gun next to me at Walmart.

[nebenaube]

24. they were there

when I marched in Madison... it was surreal because I was there with insiders. I know why they were there, but it didn't feel good.

[Lizzie Poppet]

6. Ah, the "proud" tradition of FBI snipers targeting unarmed civilians.

Fucking brownshirt vermin...

[Posteritatis]

9. I can't tell from the article if it was them, or if they were tracking others doing that. (nt)

[KharmaTrain]

21. Ain't That Something...

...the lead wouldn't get the same amount of poutrage if it stated "FBI prevent Houston shooting"...can't make it seem like the "police state" is stomping us into the ground if you represent the story properly...

[Posteritatis]

25. Definitely is a fascinatingly ambiguous bit of headline writing. (nt)

[Eddie Haskell]

33. Even if prevented, where are the prosecutions?

Conspiracy to commit murder used to be a crime.

[arely staircase]

34. maybe it turned out there was nothing to prevent nt

[randome]

7. So the FBI prevented someone from attempting to kill protesters?

That's what you're excited about?
[hr][font color="blue"][center]You should never stop having childhood dreams.[/center][/font][hr]

[East Coast Pirate]

8. They should have been informed.

That's what I'm excited about.

[snot]

10. K&R'd!

To clarify for anyone who might otherwise be misled: the FBI was aware that someone was planning sniper attacks against Occupy leadership; this is pursuant to internal FBI documents obtained through the FOIA.

The FBI did NOT warn any of the sniper targets that they were in danger.

The FBI knew who was planning the attacks, but their identity was blacked out in the documents.

The text quoted in the OP is somewhat garbled because the excerpt contained certain info in brackets; here it is again, with the brackets replaced with whatever you call those fancy parentheses things:

An identified {DELETED} as of October planned to engage in sniper attacks against protestors (sic) in Houston, Texas if deemed necessary. An identified {DELETED} had received intelligence that indicated the protesters in New York and Seattle planned similar protests in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin, Texas. {DELETED} planned to gather intelligence against the leaders of the protest groups and obtain photographs, then formulate a plan to kill the leadership via suppressed sniper rifles. (Note: protests continued throughout the weekend with approximately 6000 persons in NYC. "Occupy Wall Street' protests have spread to about half of all states in the US, over a dozen European and Asian cities, including protests in Cleveland (10/6-8/11) at Willard Park which was initially attended by hundreds of protesters.)

Who could {DELETED} have been?

It was a person or agency not just politically opposed to Occupy but interested in receiving and gathering intelligence on the Occupiers and their plans. "Rifles" - plural - suggests there was a belief that more than one might be deployed, i.e. someone with colleagues or who could hire people.

The FBI knew who it was. How might the FBI have come to identify a person or agency planning to murder Occupiers -- had the FBI been worried about Occupiers' welfare and been busy doing preventive detective work just in case anyone might possibly wish to do them harm?

What became of DELETED -- were they arrested? Given the government's eagerness to display any plausible success in fighting "terrorists," you'd think we might have heard more about this.

Just sayin'.

[nashville_brook]

15. great exposition. thank you!

[Igel]

11. So somebody planned it.

As of a certain month.

Opportunity?

Means?

Were they infiltrated or otherwise monitored to ensure that it wasn't going to happen?

The assumption is that the FBI knew that the plans were realistic and near to fruition and that the OWS folk were in some sort of real danger from this particular plan, yet did nothing.

There's another take. The FBI knew the likelihood of the plans being carried out and decided that there was no real danger to the OWS participants.

Even the "if deemed necessary" has as its mostly likely agent whoever's planning the attacks. Don't know why "deem" has to indicate an official agency, instead of just the phrase used by an official agency.

Ill-will --> outrage --> ill-will --> outrage ... A nice vicious circle. Or, as it's been re-cast by many of the illiterati, a "vicious cycle" .

[snot]

12. So if the FBI learns that some goofball is talking about having a sniper kill you,

but they think it's unlikely to be carried out, are you good with the FBI's not mentioning anything to you about it?

Note, the "goofball" has already figured out your travel plans (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin) and has also explicitly specified how they'd gather additional info on you and how they'd kill you ("suppressed sniper rifles&quot .

[geek tragedy]

36. If it's two yahoos who live 2000 miles away, probably no need to freak the occupy people out, nt

[snot]

37. If the FBI knows about threats by 2 yahoos 2000 mis. away,

Last edited Wed Jul 31, 2013, 10:12 AM - Edit history (1)

they're DEFINITELY spying on us too much.

[geek tragedy]

38. They can read Free Republic. nt

[kas125]

14. I've seen snipers on roofs at lots of protests, from protesting Bush when he was in

Chicago, to the RNC in St. Paul and lots of times before and after. Having snipers aiming at us is nothing new. I think it's supposed to scare us, but it only makes me more determined to keep protesting.

[DirkGently]

16. And we still don't know who conspired to murder these activists? Why is that?

Hard not to think it wasn't either law enforcement or a private security contractor working with DHS. Who else wouldn't have been charged and marched across our television screens in cuffs?

[socialist_n_TN]

17. The question I had when this first came to my attention....

is why didn't the FBI arrest these people for conspiracy to commit murder?

[arely staircase]

19. maybe they looked into it and it was bullshit

Some informant told them something and they tracked itvdown and it turned out to be nothing. Who knows? The least likely thing is the FBI was in on some plot or cover up and wrote themselves a memo so they wouldn't forget about it then decided not to do it then released their memo to an open records FOI request. The stuff that is blacked out are agents' names ' those of informants etc.

[snot]

26. Then let's have the FBI tell us who it was and their grounds for dismissing it.

Why should the identity of someone planning murder -- however non-seriously??? -- remain secret?

Again, given the government's eagerness to share about other "terrorists" they've entrapped, the secrecy re- this plotter seems odd.

And again, should the identity of the plotter be concealed?

[arely staircase]

27. all sorts of conceivable and legitimate reasons for them not to do that

Ongoing investigation, names of informants, names of undercover agents, the privacy of some person falsely and annonymously accused.

[socialist_n_TN]

40. Well, when a guy threatened me by phone......

I called the cops and swore out a warrant against him and he was arrested. And he wasn't "serious" either. At least he claimed he wasn't. I take any threat seriously. I thought the FBI would too.

I wonder what would have happened if Occupy had threatened to hang bankers and Wall Street traders from NYC lampposts. What would the FBI's reaction have been to that?

[arely staircase]

42. please see post 32 nt

[Wilms]

18. ^

[Enthusiast]

20. This is what happens when you speak out against the criminal banksters.

What has happened to this country?

[arely staircase]

28. what happens? nt

[Enthusiast]

29. If you are targeted the FBI will ignore it.

They might even load the gun and shine the lenses of the scope.

[arely staircase]

30. no evidence of that nt

[Enthusiast]

31. There is no evidence of a lot of things that people believe nonetheless. nt

[UglyGreed]

35. Carry a AK47

and get a pat on the back, protest greed and get a glowing little red dot on your head.......

[Octafish]

41. FBI ever get its story straight about that unarmed guy they shot 7 times?

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/30/nation/la-na-nn-fbi-shooting-boston-bombing-20130530

Guy wasn't even a suspect, just a friend of one.