Fbi monitored occupy wall street from its earliest days, treating the Nonviolent Movement as a potential terrorism threat. We will speak with mara verheydenhilliard of the partnership for Civil Justice. Then turmoil inside the two party. A former House Majority leader dick armey is attempting a coup than his own party. He is paid 8 million to leave. All of that and more coming up. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. President obama and members of the senate are back in washington today after a short break with just days before the onset of the socalled fiscal cliff. Obama and Republican Leaders remain at a crossroads on reaching a budget deal before the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes kicks in with the new year. On wednesday, treasury secretary Timothy Geithner told congress the u. S. Will reach its federal Borrowing Limit on new years eve, threatening the same default that was narrowly avoided last year. In a letter to lawmakers, geithner vowed to take extraordinary measures to avoid a new default but said any remedies would only be short term. The u. S. Has acknowledged for the first time a carried out a september drone strike that killed 11 people in yemen. The victims were packed into ain truck on a desert road in a town of radda when theyre struck by a missile. The Washington Post reports the Yemeni Government tried to hide u. S. Responsibility for the attack by taking credit for carrying it out. The Yemeni Government also initially claimed only militants were killed in the strike, or forced to withdraw that claim after mourners tried to bring the dead bodies to the gates of the president ial residence. According to the Washington Post, the attack has devastated the community and militants in surrounding areas have gained more recruits for their fight against the u. S. Backed Yemeni Government since it occurred. Diplomatic cables released by wikileaks in 2010 show the u. S. And yemen have repeatedly covered up the use of u. S. Warplanes to bomb yemen. According to the bureau of investigative journalism, covert u. S. Operations have killed up to 171 civilians there including 35 children over the past decade. A top syrian general responsible for preventing military defections has defected himself to syrias opposition brigit majorgeneral abdul alshallal, the head of syrias military police, crossed into neighboring turkey and a daring break with the regime of syrian president bashar alassad. In a statement to the news network, he accused the Syrian Military of turning on the people of syria. I am majorgeneral abdul al shallal, chief of the military police in syria. I declare my defection from the regimes army because of its deviation from its fundamental mission to protect the nation and its transformation to killing and destruction. His departure marks the key setback for the alassad regime, as he was tasked with preventing defectors and with overseeing the imprisonment of civilian dissidents. Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi has made a renewed call for National Dialogue following the enactment of egypts new constitution. In his First National address since signing the constitution into law, morsi called for unity in the aftermath of egypts divisive referendum. Because of this result, in order to build the nation, we must all come to gather, which is why dialogue has become a necessity we cannot do without. We all seek within this framework a dialogue of National Unity over issues we face in the future. President morsi spoke after egypts upper house of parliament held its first session following the constitutions passage. Egyptian opposition leaders have vowed to continue their protest against morsi, calling the constitution process unfair and too skewed toward islam is rules. At a news conference, a spokesperson called for a new demonstration january 25, the second anniversary of the egyptian revolution. The front reiterate its rejection of occurred formation of the upper house of parliament and the politics of distributing bribes and the spoils of battle and in sincere dialogue that has now been taking place for some time at the presidency, which is a dialogue through submission that lacks the minimum amount of seriousness. In this regard, the front calls on the people in the revolutionary spirit to protest against legitimacy of this constitution and the second anniversary of the great 25th of january revolution and the revolutions capital of tahrir square. The u. S. Has reached a tentative 1. 2 billion deal with south korea for the sale of four advanced Surveillance Drones to monitor north korea. Critics have voiced fears the sale heightened military tensions in the korea peninsula. New data shows the Obama Administration has deported more than 400,000 undocumented immigrants in the 2012 fiscal year, the most ever the nations history. The recent jump comes despite policy shifts in reportedly aimed at reducing deportations of people without criminal convictions. About half of deportees in the past fiscal year were convicted of crimes that included drug offenses and driving under the influence. In an apparent shift friday, the administration announced undocumented people arrested for minor offenses will no longer be targeted for deportation. The latest data follows do news the Obama Administration carried out more than 200,000 deportations of parents with u. S. Citizen children all over about two years. The Supreme Court has refused to block the requirement in the new federal healthcare law that requires some employers to offer Insurance Coverage for contraception. On wednesday, Supreme Court justice and sotomayor rejected a request by Oklahoma City billionaire david green for an injunction against the role as the challenges it in court. Two companies controlled by green say abiding by the contraception requirement would violate their religious beliefs. The mandate takes effect on january 1. Los angeles held an annual gun Exchange Program earlier than planned on wednesday after moving it up in reaction to the newtown massacre. The program is generally held in may, but the l. A. Mayor said he decided to hold it in december in part due to lack of federal oversight of weapons nationwide. For eight years the senate has stopped the confirmation of the head of the atf, the organization that is duty bound to enforce these laws. The nra said last week that we should have more enforcement of our gun laws, yet they have made every effort to block enforcement, every effort to have these gaping loopholes in the law that make it almost impossible to do that. Gun owners for offered a Gift Certificate worth up to two murder dollars a local grocery chain in exchange for their weapons. Were offered up to 200 at a local grocery chain in exchange for the weapons. Two down on her said there were moved up by the tragedy in connecticut. I always thought they should have Something Like it anyway. Regardless of what happens, too bad we wait for Something Like that to happen to decide to get rid of the pistols and the guns and rifles. Too many people get killed with guns, small guns, rifles, handguns or any kind of gun. I am here to help get rid of the guns i have. An york papers drawn controversy for publishing a list of the names and addresses of every single registered gun permit holder in its readership area. Westchester countys the journal news ran the feature in the aftermath of the Newtown School massacre, calling it a Public Service to inform the public of who may own guns in their community. The map is filled with thousands of dots that to be clicked to display a permit holders name and address. Its publication has set off a debate on privacy of Public Safety in a country where guns are rampant and legal. An nbc news anchor is under investigation in washington, d. C. After dispelling an ammunition magazine on a weekly show meet the press. Nbc news Host David Gregory held up the gun cartridges as he interviewed when lapierre. Here is a magazine for ammunition that carries 30 wallets. Isnt it possible that if we got rid of these, if we replace them and said, which can only have a magazine that carries by bullets or 10 bullets, isnt it just possible that we could reduce the carnage in a situation like newtown . I dont believe that will make one additiodifferent. He may have violated the law. Why lt. Governor brian schatz has been tapped to fill the senate seat left vacant by the death of longtime democratic inouye. Daniel anywain a inouyes purported choice was colleen. Russias Upper Chamber of parliament has approved a ban on u. S. Citizens adopting russian children. The bill is before president Vladimir Putin has indicated he will sign it. It is seen as a rich ought to remove after president obama signed a law denying u. S. Visas and Bank Accounts to russian officials linked to the death of imprisoned whistleblower sergei magnitsky. Dakota native americans held a ceremony in minnesota on wednesday to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the largest mass execution in u. S. History. 38 dakota men were hanged simultaneously on december 26, 1862 in front of thousands of onlookers. They were condemned to death for crimes allegedly committed during a brief but bloody war with white settlers and soldiers. The executions were allowed by then president abraham lincoln, despite sparse evidence. The conflict came amidst broken u. S. Treaties and desperate conditions that left some dakota starving. After the war nearly 2000 dakota noncombatants were marched to a prison camp where as many as 300 died. Some dakota marked wednesdays anniversary with an annual 300 mile horseback ride, ending with the unveiling of a public memorial in minnesota, at the site of the executions. Those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. This holiday weekend, the new york daily news, your newspaper, certainly honored you. An honor well deserved. Theres a twopage spread of 25 years of shaking up with many of the front page stories that you did. And then yesterday, the paper had an editorial titled new yorks hometown columnist. That was a real shocker. The Editorial Board and i have often disagreed on many positions over the years. It was quite a surprise. It talks he came to the paper from philadelphia. Youre born a puerto rico and grew up in east harlem, brooklyn, helped lead the anti war vietnam protests at the university there. It goes on to say juan became a beacon to whistleblowers and to round people for whom justice was lacking. For many viewers, a cohost with you here and at democracy now atwere not quite at 25, but 17 in february. It has been such an honor. It is always been a pleasure working with you here. We will have a link to the stories one at my favorites in the image of all the front page stories that you did is the picture that was not on the front page, i dont think, but of you in the 1960s at columbia, making headlines along with a group of other people. That one is in black and white. It is a good one. That was a long time ago. We will have a link to all of that. We begin with a look at newly revealed documents that show the fbi monitored the occupy wall Street Movement from its earliest days last year. Internal government records show occupy was treated as a potential terrorism threat when organizing first began in august of 2011. Counterterrorism agents were used to track occupy activities despite the internal acknowledgement that the movement opposed violent tactics. The monitoring expanded across the country as occupy grew into a national movement, with fbi agents sharing information with businesses, local Police Agencies, and universities. One fbi memo warned that occupy could prove to be an outlet through which activists could exploit general government dissatisfaction. Although the documents provide no clear evidence of government infiltration, they do suggest the fbi used information from local lawenforcement agencies gathered by someone observing occupy activists on the ground. The heavily redacted fbi records were obtained of the partnership for Civil Justice fund through a freedom of information act request. We invited the fbi to join us on the program and discuss the latest revelations, but they declined. Instead, spokesperson paul bresson issued a written statement saying for more were joined by mara verheydenhilliard, executive director of the partnership for Civil Justice fund, which obtain the documents showing how the fbi monitored occupy wall street. Joining us from washington, d. C. , welcome to democracy now tell us what you found. Tell us what you found in these documents. The documents, as you stated, show the fbi, the american intelligence agencies, or monitoring and reporting on occupy wall streets before the first tent went up in zuccotti park. The documents show the fbi Community Committee can with the Stock Exchange in august 2011 about the upcoming occupied demonstrations, about plans for the protests, showing the meaning, communicating with private businesses. It threw out the materials, theres repeated evidence of the fbi and the department of Homeland Security, american intelligence agencies really working as a private intelligence arms for corp. For wall street, for the banks, for the very entities that people were rising up to protest against. Interesting they came out on friday before christmas . We certainly thought so. Weve been trying to get these documents for more than a year. We filed the original foia demands with municipalities and Police Departments all around the u. S. , and did so in the fall of 2011 when there is evidence of a coordinated crackdown on occupied all around the country. We wanted to get the documents out, to be able to show what the government was doing, and the fbi has stonewalled for a year. We were finally able to get these documents, came to us, as you said, the friday before the holiday weekend. We wanted to get them out to people right away. We assumed the fbi was expecting it would just get buried and we think it is great to get these up and that people around the u. S. Be able to see what the fbi is doing. What about the issue of actual infiltrators either paid or sent in by Law Enforcement or the fbi into the occupied groups . The documents are heavily redacted. There is a lot of material on the pages themselves we cannot see. The documents, in terms of the scope of the production, we believe there is a lot more that is being withheld. Even when you look at the text, you can see there is much more that must exist. Were filing an appeal to demand and fight for more material to be released. Even in the heavily redacted documents, you can see the fbi using at least private entities as a proxy force for what appears to be infiltration. There are documents that show the Federal Reserve in richmond was reporting to the fbi, working with the Capitol Police in virginia, and reporting and getting updates on planning meetings and discussions with any occupy movement. It would appear minimally there were sending undercover is, if not infiltrators come into those meetings. Another document shows an fbi meeting with private Port Security officers and anchorage, alaska in advance of the west coast port action. That document has the private Port Security person saying they were going with attending a planning meeting with the demonstrators and reporting back to the fbi. The fbi said it would put them in touch with someone from the Anchorage Police department, that that person should take the Police Department officer with them as well. These documents show the intense coordination both a private businesses, with wall street and banks, and with state Police Departments and local Police Departments around the country. We will take a break and then goes specifically to several of the documents you got under the freedom of information act. We are talking to mara verheydenhilliard who is the executive director of the partnership for Civil Justice fund, which got the documents under the freedom of information act and has been trying to get them for the past years. We will be back in a moment. [music break] im tired, im tired, im tired by Marva Whitney. Marva whitney, as we turn, died this weekend at the age of 68. We go back right now to mara verheydenhilliard, executive director of the partnership for Civil Justice fund the released documents showing how the fbi monitored occupy wall street. I want to turn to one of the documents. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Part of a memo from the at the ipods f