it's sort of a catch-22

they (you know the federalies) really DO know these are PEACE organizations, but in order to SPY on them, they have to consider them TERRORIST THREATS (oh please). instead of watching these groups why don't these feds get stationed at our ports and start checking containers and the like?

FBI spied on Pittsburgh pacifists, papers show


By Jonathan Barnes Tue Mar 14, 3:13 PM ET
FBI anti-terrorism agents spied on a peace group simply because it opposed the Iraq war, part of an "unprecedented campaign" to spy on innocent citizens, the American Civil Liberties Union said on Tuesday.
FBI documents acquired under the Freedom of Information Act and provided to reporters show the FBI conducted surveillance of the Pittsburgh-based Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice at anti-war demonstrations and leaflet distributions in 2002 and 2003.
One of the FBI documents, unveiled at a news conference by the two groups, carried the headline "International Terrorism Matters" and referred to the FBI's work with an anti-terrorism task force that includes several agencies.
Another FBI document said the Pittsburgh Joint Terrorism Task Force had learned that "The Thomas Merton Center ... has been determined to be an organization which is opposed to the United States' war with Iraq."
A separate document noted, "One female leaflet distributor who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, inquired if (confidential source's name withheld) was an FBI agent. No other TMC participants appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent."
FBI officials in Pittsburgh said the bureau was engaged in legitimate investigations, and in one case dropped the probe upon determining a person photographed at one demonstration was not whom they were looking for.
"We had a legitimate purpose for being there," FBI special agent Bill Crowley said, referring to a November 2002 protest........

....The FBI acknowledged the report sounded as if it were reporting on the activities of an anti-war group, but said "such a characterization would be factually misleading."
The agent was pursuing leads "from another source possibly establishing a link between an ongoing investigation and the group engaging in anti-war protests. Finding no such link, he terminated his surveillance," the FBI said in a statement............

and from the aclu

ACLU Releases First Concrete Evidence of FBI Spying Based Solely on Groups’ Anti-War Views

Pennsylvania Group Labeled “Pacifists” Targeted for Handing Out Flyers in Town Square

PITTSBURGH – The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Pennsylvania today released new evidence that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting investigations into a political organizations based solely on its anti-war views.
Two documents released today reveal that the FBI investigated gatherings of the Thomas Merton Center for Peace & Justice just because the organization opposed the war in Iraq. Although previously disclosed documents show that the FBI is retaining files on anti-war groups, these documents are the first to show conclusively that the rationale for FBI targeting is the group's opposition to the war...........