The Amazing True Story of 8 Ordinary Americans Who Blew the Lid Off Government Spying

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from truthdig:


The Amazing True Story of 8 Ordinary Americans Who Blew the Lid Off Government Spying

Posted on Jan 13, 2014
By Bill Boyarsky


Eight more patriots can be added to the roll of whistle-blowing heroes Daniel Ellsberg, Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.

Joining them are Bonnie and John Raines, Keith Forsyth, Bob Williamson, the late William C. Davidon and three others who broke into an FBI office in Media, Pa., on March 8, 1971, and stole up to 1,000 documents revealing that the law enforcement agency was spying on Americans. The FBI targets were political groups that opposed the Vietnam War, fought for civil rights and committed other acts that struck J. Edgar Hoover as dangerously liberal.

The Media 8 were unknown until their names were revealed in a just-published book, “The Burglary: The Discovery of J. Edgar Hoover’s Secret FBI,” by Betty Medsger. As a reporter for The Washington Post at the time, she had been given the documents anonymously by the burglars shortly after the break-in and published them in the paper.

They had stolen the documents a month before The New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, which had been taken by Ellsberg. Although Ellsberg, Manning and now Snowden are well known for their resistance, the Media burglars were anonymous until Medsger interviewed them for her book. The names of three of the eight have still not been revealed. ....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_amazing_true_story_of_8_ordinary_americans_who_blew_the_lid_off_governm