Posted at 14:36 on 02/10/2004
The Des Moines Register

Federal prosecutors today withdrew subpoenas of Drake University and four Des Moines-area peace activists in a grand jury investigation of an anti-war conference and demonstration in November.

The subpoenas, delivered last week by a Polk County sheriff's deputy who is attached to the FBI-Joint Terrorism Task Force, stirred nationwide concern that the government was trying to intimidate activists opposed to the war in Iraq.

The government ordered the four protesters to testify before a grand jury, anddemanded records from Drake about the conference and a lawyers organization that sponsored it. Drake officials were barred from talking about the case by a sealed court order.

All of the subpoenas were withdrawn today and the gag order lifted.

Drake President David Maxwell said in a statement that university officials had resisted the orders.

"The university in America is, by definition, a free speech zone in which dissent, disagreement and multiplicity of views are not only tolerated, but encouraged," Maxwell said. "Rather than stifling the voices of those who disagree, we passionately believe that it is only possible to arrive at the truth through the rigorous examination of all options and all views."

About 150 people showed up at a rally early this afternoon in Des Moines to show their support for the protesters and decry what they call abuse of federal authority to stifle dissent.

The U.S. attorney's office in Des Moines and FBI on Monday broke nearly a week of silence to clarify the reason for the subpoenas, which included a demand for records related to a peace conference at Drake University on Nov. 15, the day before a dozen protesters were arrested for trespassing at the Iowa National Guard base in Johnston.

Federal authorities said Monday that the investigation was not into potential terrorism, but was limited to actions at the protest Nov. 16 and whether plans were laid at the Drake conference to break federal law. An FBI spokesman said the Polk County deputy was not acting in his anti-terror capacity when he delivered the summons, and the agency might look into whether he identified himself properly.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin this morning released a letter he sent to U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft expressing concern about the investigation.

³Prosecutors should be particularly vigilant about using extraordinary steps in cases when such a treasured American value as free speech is at stake,² Harkin wrote. ³I hope that the steps taken in this case are an effort to protect citizens and security, not to silence legitimate voices calling for peace. When law-enforcement measures are disproportionate to the activities they target, or when they appear to target activities that are legitimate expressions of dissent, then those law-enforcement measures have a chilling effect. They stifle liberty instead of protecting it.

³Mr. Attorney General, our country has experienced dark episodes in which the government has wrongly curtailed citizensı civil liberties in the name of fighting enemies. I call on you to give the Iowa case your personal attention to help ensure that we do not see another such episode in Iowa or anywhere in America.² 
 

Copyright © 2004, The Des Moines Register.