BUSH ADMINISTRATION DIRECTS FBI TO OUTSOURCE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN GEORGIA

BUSH ADMINISTRATION DIRECTS FBI TO OUTSOURCE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN SANDY SPRINGS, GEORGIA


By xxxx xxxx
February 25, 2006


There has been much media coverage of the outsourcing of human rights violations by the Bush administration. Most of this is regarding alleged "secret CIA prisons" in Romania, Poland and several Middle-Eastern countries. In addition, coverage has included the abuses of private security contractors in Iraq, many of which are owned and operated by former Special Forces military veterans and others in the United States defense community. However, based on my personal experience, I assert that the outsourcing of human rights violations is happening in the United States, using publicly traded companies. One of these companies is Peachford Behavioral Healthcare System of Sandy Springs, Georgia. A psychiatric hospital, it is owned and operated by Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania, one of the third largest hospital management companies in the United States.

As many are aware, the Soviet Union used psychiatric hospitalization to detain political dissenters. A few years ago, there were rumors that Senator Bill Frist wanted the American Psychiatry Association to classify "political paranoia" of the Republican Party as a mental illness. At this point in time, this is conjecture. However, many independent journalists have deduced that the purpose of George Bush's New Freedom Initiative is to screen the entire population for mental illness (Bush Wants to Be Your Shrink, Retrieved February 26, 2006 from http://www.interventionmag.com). Based on my personal experience, I contend that another connection between the Bush Administration and the private mental healthcare industry is to illegally hospitalize, detain and thus discredit citizens who are either victims of FBI human rights violations or have witnessed illegal FBI activities.

I want to recount what happened to me in the hope that if anyone else has had a similar experience, they will come forward. Also, I am seeking support from any human rights attorneys or activists who may be able to advise me as to how to pursue justice. I know you may read the following account and decide that compared to the human rights violations, suffering and genocide of people all over the world, my experience was minor. I wasn't beaten or physically tortured. I wasn't deported and my family wasn't murdered. I have read accounts of human rights atrocities that occur around the world, and I admit, I have read them with horror, yet remained inactive in the human rights struggle. I realize that in some ways, this is complicity. However, I must come forward. I have been suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress over what happened. I don't eat or sleep well. Quite simply, I cannot go on like this! Here is the true account of events that led to my kidnapping, forcible hospitalization, forced sedation, and psychological torture under direction of the FBI in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

HOSPITALIZATION

On August 4, 2004, under direction of the FBI, I was kidnapped and forcibly hospitalized at Peachford Behavioral Hospital in Atlanta. FBI agents had contacted an attending physician, Dr. A. and several other staff at the hospital prior to my hospitalization. I observed the stressful, worrisome looks from the Dr. and staff. When I came onto the unit, one nurse commented "I'm sick of this!" This leads me to believe that my hospitalization was not the first of this kind. I had been under FBI surveillance for several months prior to this. I imagine agents told hospital staff I was there to be watched and were under suspicion of terrorism. This was untrue. The FBI had watched me for several months and they knew I wasn't involved in anything. Rather, my kidnapping and hospitalization was part of a cover-up by the FBI because of my knowledge of their activities. Several unfortunate events preceded my hospitalization and are as follows.

RELOCATION

In August of 2003, I had the misfortune of moving into an apartment complex in Georgia where there is a large, affluent Jewish population, Sandy Springs. I have nothing against Jewish people, but wish I never moved there for several reasons. In 1997, there was a women's health clinic bombing at the Northside Family Services clinic, just down the street from the apartment complex I would move into. In response to this and events of 9-11, the Georgia General Assembly passed a senate bill, “The Terrorism Prevention Act of 2003” that increased funding for law enforcement and intelligence officers in “high-risk” areas of the state. Apparently the Sandy Springs area was high risk because of the prior bombing, and its large Jewish community.

On August 1, 2003 I had the misfortune of moving into an apartment that was right next door to a group of undercover FBI agents, as I would later discover. We shared a common wall in my bedroom and for the most part, they were quiet, however I heard them on several occasions, but it would be almost a year before I realized what was going on in my apartment building.

My bad luck continued because across the hall from me was a Pakistani man name whom I will refer to as Mr. S. Mr. S was a good man who never hurt anyone. I befriended Mr. S and in April of 2004 he was forced to leave the country out of fear. Later, I found out that those agents were using Mr. S for his language skills to bait potential terrorists to the apartment building using the internet. Mr. S gave me several hints as to what was happening and later I would witness the results of his baiting with my own eyes! For these reasons, and other events, my phone was tapped, family and friends were enlisted to ask questions about “my Pakistan friend”, and surveillance equipment was installed in my apartment.

One can blame themselves for calamity and ask why they didn't see it coming. I wish I had been more alert as to what was happening around me, but when you are simply living your life and struggling, applying to nursing school and seeking employment at the same time, you are not always focused on your surroundings. I wish I had noticed that several people on my floor were moving out of the apartment building in a short period of time. I wish I had paid more attention to the helicopter that hovered above my building periodically. I rationalized it because I lived near a high drug-trafficking area on a main thoroughfare in Sandy Springs. And I wish I had paid more attention to the comments I could hear from the agents next door. For example, in February of 2004, my neighbor Mr. S asked me to help him respond to a letter from a potential employer in Pakistan. He wanted to ensure his English was grammatically correct. As I walked across the hall, I heard a female agent say “no, don't do it”. She further commented “he better not get her involved in this.” Her comments didn't make sense at that time; I didn't know they were FBI. Anyway, the letter was from a hospital administrator in Pakistan regarding a position Mr. S was applying for. The letter was all in Standard English, the only difference was of course the administrator's name was distinctly Pakistani. It was straight forward and business-like and it was not at all suspicious.

I now know that the agents wanted to isolate Mr. S so nobody would know what they were forcing him to do, thus the comment from the female agent, “he better not get her involved in this.” For some reason he reached out to me, and eventually after his hints I came to understand what was going on. Mr. S didn't want to return to Pakistan, he had lived in the states for over ten years and most of his family was in Atlanta. He was forced to go. I know he took a position in a major city in Pakistan, perhaps Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad. I fear for him and am unsure if he is still alive, as it has been over a year since I last emailed him. During his ordeal I would come to recognize the look of fear and death etched upon his face, because months later, I would experience the same thing.

SURVEILLANCE

I believe the surveillance started around April or May of 2004. In early April, about a week before my neighbor Mr. S moved back to Pakistan, we were having drinks at his apartment. He told me he had invited someone who lived in the building and I will refer to him as Mr. B. I had never seen Mr. B before. When Mr. B came up to join us, I noticed that at times he would make comments quietly about Mr. S and me. I looked to see if he had a cell phone ear piece and he didn't. After Mr. B left that evening, Mr. S said to me "do you want to know who he really is, Deborah?" To which I replied "who is he?" Then Mr. S just laughed and quietly commented, "why did I get her involved in this, now they will probably kill her!" His comments didn't make sense, so I ignored them, as I knew Mr. S had seemed sad and depressed lately.

In early May, 2004 two men of ambiguous ethnicity moved into Mr. S' old apartment, across the hall from me. I saw them once, the night I knocked on their door to introduce myself. They barely opened the door, but I caught a glimpse of one of them and heard the other in the back. They had olive skin. I introduced myself as their neighbor but the one said "no English." These men were very quiet and I rarely saw them. Shortly after that, eventually, I would notice several other men of ambiguous ethnicity, always following me on the bus and on the MARTA train. These men appeared scraggly. One in particular would always leave the apartment complex at the same time as me, however walking in the opposite direction. After I would board the bus, I noticed that he would be on the bus to. However it would be a few months before I realized what was happening. In addition to these men, eventually I would notice other people,some white and some black, frequently the same people, on the bus, train at the mall etc. These people looked like everyday normal people with the exception of the woman who wore a navy blue business suit, she looked like an agent. I also noticed that some transit workers on the bus and at the train station would frequently stare at me. In addition, I would frequently run into the man who identified himself as Mr. B, in public places. I thought it was coincidence. One day as I was walking home from the grocery store, I noticed Mr. B about 30 feet in front of me with a camera on a tripod on the sidewalk, pointed at me. I approached him and asked him what he was photographing. He claimed to be taking pictures of the duck pond on the grounds of the apartment complex across the street from my building.

Eventually, after I realized I was under surveillance and made the connections, I realized that the men who lived across the hall from me and had been baited there, thought I was their contact in Atlanta and therefore had me followed. Since they were under surveillance by the FBI, I was as well!

During May, June and July of 2004 I noticed that whenever I talked on the phone to two specific friends, a guy I was dating, and a relative, I would faintly hear another voice. When I asked my friends and family member if someone else was on the phone, they denied it or said they were talking to someone else in their presence. Also, these friends would frequently ask about my "Pakistani neighbor" who I had previously mentioned to them. I had never mentioned Mr. S to my relative; however this family member asked me on several occasions if I had "met any new interesting foreign people." Unfortunately, none of these friends and family members will come forward and admit they were contacted by FBI, out of fear I imagine. Frequently, when I was in my bedroom near the common wall I shared with the agents, I would hear them make comments about me. I didn't understand what was going on, so I ignored them.

During these months I also noticed my personal letters always had tape on the back of them and looked as if they had been previously opened. In particular, one package I received from FED EX was a mess. It had been ripped open and messily taped up. I also noticed that mail delivery occurred very late in the day. One day when I was walking by the apartment business office in the morning, I noticed one of the leasing agents going through a huge amount of mail. The postal carrier was just standing in the office waiting. The leasing agent gave me this suspicious look. On that particular day, even though the mail carrier was at the complex that morning, we didn't receive our mail until late afternoon.

During this time, I had been employed at a nearby dental office. Around the end of June I noticed staff was acting strangely toward me, frequently whispering or saying things under their breath about me. It was stressful. My last day was a few days before July 4, 2004. The owner of the office building made a comment to my employer, "why did she bring this here?" I had no idea what he was referring to at that time. I left the job because of the stressful, inhospitable environment.

During the month of July, 2004. I started to notice this gold Chevy suburban with black windows would drive by when I got off the bus, or I would sometimes see it at the train station. I also noticed a gold Chevy suburban with black windows in my apartment complex parking lot, but I never took down the license plate number.

One day in July, 2004 I was on the train. I heard a woman sitting behind me comment, "wake up, you're being followed, and you know it! Don't turn around and look at me!" I turned around, she looked like a teenager. At the next stop, she walked towards the exit and I said "Oh, look it's a kid trying to mess with me!" Then while she was standing near the exit doors, she said "yeah, I did but she thinks I'm a kid." I didn't see a cell phone ear piece, so I thought she was some mentally disturbed teenager. Later, I would realize I had seen this young looking woman before in the laundry room at the apartment complex. When I walked in I said hello, and she turned her head and looked at me out of the corner of her eye suspiciously. She seemed paranoid to me.

On July 26, 2004, I sent an international email to Mr. S asking how he was doing and if he had made to Pakistan OK.

On August 1, 2004, exactly one year after I had moved to Sandy Springs, I was talking to a "friend" on my cell phone, Mr. O. He had been previously contacted. I heard a few other voices on the phone and asked him who else he was talking to. He claimed it was someone else in his presence. I started telling Mr. O about all these strange occurrences. I told him I was also noticing funny things happening to my TV. A couple times I was watching and all of a sudden, this black rectangular box would appear in the middle of the screen, blocking part of the picture. I recounted how sometimes the volume on the TV would increase independently when I would leave the room and I would always have to turn it down. Mr. O then said "wakeup, you stupid bitch, they're watching you!" I asked him to repeat it, but he wouldn't.


FORCED HOSPITALIZATION

On the morning of August 2, 2004, exactly one day after I realized I was under surveillance, I sat in the bedroom of my apartment and told the agents I wasn't involved in anything, that I didn't know what my former neighbor Mr. S was involved in etc. I heard a female agent with a familiar voice say "she better not give us away." At that time, I didn't know that was a reference to the two foreign men who had moved in across the hall from me. I told the agents where I was going to go that day. I also said, "I'll move when I'm good and damn ready, because I didn't do anything." I didn't know that they were there for the men across the hall; I thought they were there for me.

That day I was followed around town by agents in a sick game of cat and mouse. I didn't know where to go or who to turn to for help. I called a cousin who is a police officer and was previously contacted by them. He offered to get a ticket for me to leave town that day, I wish I had but I didn't realize how serious it was. And even if I left, they still would have followed me. Regardless, I still wish I had called my family in Washington and told them to get me out of there that day!

At the end of the day, on August 2, 2004, after being followed by the agents all day, I came back to the apartment to regroup and figure out what to do. I opened all the blinds and turned on all the lights so the people in the condos across the yard from me could see into my apartment. I left my apartment after dark unsure of where to go. I boarded a bus, unsure of where to go. At a stoplight, I looked out the bus window at the gas station nearby and saw the same gold Chevy Suburban with black windows, only this time the driver was pumping gas. He looked directly at me, with this sadistic look on his face. I got off the bus in a neighborhood thinking I would ask someone for help. A white car pulled up out of nowhere, did a u-turn, rolled the window down and the driver stared at me. It was dark and I couldn't see him well, but I looked at the white of his eyes and begged him not to kill me! I heard him say “I can't do it”, and he drove off. The FBI sent someone to kill me and it was by the grace of God that he couldn't!

That night I came back to my apartment again and turned on all my lights so the neighbors in the condo building across the yard could see me. I thought the FBI was just there for me and since they didn't kill me earlier, I thought maybe I would be OK until the morning. I heard a female agent next door comment "I can't believe she thinks all of this is just for her." While in my bedroom, I commented that I wasn't involved in any terrorism and I also made an insulting remark about John Ashcroft. I heard a male agent say, "Is she crazy? Doesn't she know that they're listening?" Another male agent said "I'm sick of this, why are we keeping her alive? We killed that other guy!" A female agent responded "that guy was telling people and she hasn't done anything. Anyway he said not to." I'm certain the "guy" the female agent was referring to was a young Caucasian male who lived down the hall from me with a friend. They lived there before those foreign men who had been baited to the apartment moved in. One day I came home and saw this Caucasian guy standing in the hallway near the agents’ apartment listening quietly. At that time, I believe he was unemployed because I came home for lunch often and always saw him. At that time I didn't know that FBI was in that apartment, but apparently he did. After that I never saw him again and his friend moved out. I am certain that they killed him! I don't condone publicizing the location of undercover agents either, but I don't agree it should be punishable by death. They could have charged him with something and made him leave the state. In reference to "he" the agent referred to, I can only speculate. I imagine with all the warrantless surveillance going on that many people who like to call themselves leaders of the world, even though they have never lived in the real world, like to listen and watch intelligence surveillance as if it were entertainment!

The next morning, August 3, 2004 I left the apartment with no intention of returning. To make a long story short, I got involved in a sensitive FBI operation. The agents didn't know what to do with me so they had Atlanta Police pick me up in a public place for “disturbing the peace,” handcuff me and transport me to Grady hospital. At Grady I was forcibly sedated with narcotics, prevented from contacting family and put in locked observation with psych patients, several agents posing as healthcare workers, many of whom I had seen before in public places , and men who apparently were terrorism suspects as I had seen them following me before on the bus and train. The agents watched my response when I was put in the same room with one of these terrorism suspects, and then someone commented that "she recognizes him from the train and not anywhere else." I was forcibly sedated and watched closely. I lost track of time, but I believe I was detained for at least twelve hours.

I cannot believe that after investigating me, breaking into my apartment and reading my personal letters, checking my bank records, calling family and friends, and watching me for three months without a warrant (I checked using FOIA, also I have an acquaintance who is a career agent and he said there are no warrants on me or Mr. S) the FBI still couldn't figure out that I was not involved with any terrorists. I don't understand an intelligence agency that has such a culture of paranoia that they cannot critically analyze someone and determine their innocence.

The agents decided to transfer me from Grady to Peachford on August 4, 2004. I resisted further sedation. In the hallway I pleaded with a nurse to help me and told her the FBI was going to kill me. She took my paperwork from the cabulance driver and told a co-worker to copy it so they could give it to the press. Near the elevators there was an Atlanta police officer, I begged him to help me, told him where I was from and my name. One of the agents intervened and asked the officer to escort me to the cabulance and said “if she tries to run, could you kill her, it's a matter of national security?” The officer said no. Then the agent asked a security guard the same question, adding “it's going to be a lot worse if "they" get a hold of her.” I am assuming "they" was a reference to the terrorism suspects they let follow me around town to determine if I was involved with them. The guard and the driver took me to the cabulance and I was transferred to Peachford August 4, 2004.

On my first day of hospitalization at Peachford, the social worker who brought my admissions paperwork to me commented, under her breath, not to sign the voluntary admissions papers. I did it out of fear for my life. Prior to that I had never been hospitalized on a psych unit. I sat in that hospital for one month and was not allowed to leave except under supervision. Several agents were at the hospital. One agent or informant , the man who called himself "Mr. B" communicated with me by phone almost daily. He told me they would let me know when I could leave! Every day in there was a struggle. I heard patients comment that I was going to be killed. In addition to forced injection of narcotics, I was also forced to take the oral anti-psychotic meds, Zyprexa and Risperidone, and who knows what else. I was so afraid that they would eventually give me an overdose. I complied out of fear for my life.

Everyday of hospitalization was a struggle and I feared for my life. Other people were suspicious of my hospitalization. During this ordeal there was one man who gave me hope, Dr. P. On my second day there, he came into my room and asked if "I felt safe there." I imagine someone told him about my forced hospitalization. After one forced injection, they put a false lab report on my chart indicating I was HIV positive. I know because I heard comments from nurses and other staff who actually thought that one of my injections was HIV. Dr. A and Dr. P saw this, and were horrified. Dr. P tried to get me out of the hospital that day, coming on to the unit saying that we were leaving the hospital so “I could get my meds." Shortly after this he called the press as I heard a nurse at the nurse’s station make a comment after a series of phone calls stating that "the press is already calling." I know they didn't actually infect me with HIV; it was a form of psychological torture. Also, I think they knew that Dr. P would stand up and they wanted to discredit him. After this, staff came to me and suggested that I "switch doctors" and compose a letter indicating why I was switching. I wrote a letter requesting a new doctor and complaining about Dr. P out of fear they would kill me and him.

MAKING CONNECTIONS

I was threatened, humiliated by staff, dehumanized and demeaned. I was forcibly kidnapped, detained, and sedated under the direction of the FBI with the complicity of Atlanta PD, Grady Hospital and Universal Health Services, the owners of Peachford hospital. My human rights were grossly violated. Complicit in this violation is Universal Health Services, a billion dollar company that donates to the Republican Party and has a ceo, Alan B. Miller, who donated to the campaign of George W. Bush(open secrets.org has the information on campaign contributions). I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I believe it is no accident that agents had me taken to Peachford.

I tried to research Universal Health Services (UHS) and find pertinent information, other than official company statistics. The only thing I found was confounding. A name came up along with Universal Health Services, the name of Charles G. Curie, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October 2001 as administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and is a director of the New Freedom Initiative, which I referred to at the beginning of this article. Charles G. Curie and Universal Health Services are both linked to a website named asherhealth.com


(Charles G. Curie, MA, ACSW ... for ... http://health.yahoo.com/ Universal Health Services Home Page welcome to the Universal Health Services Home Page. ...
asherhealth.com/sep/home-health-services.php - 18 k-)

When I accessed asherhealth.com I couldn't find any information about Curie, UHS or the owners of Asher health. If anyone out there can access this information, it would be greatly appreciated.

The only other possible connection between Curie and UHS is that Curie use to be deputy secretary for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for the Department of Public Welfare in Pennsylvania, the headquarters location of Universal Health Services. Curie was appointed by then Governor Tom Ridge(progressivegovernment.org/appointee_data4.) Before his service there, Curie was the director of risk management services for Henry S. Lehr Inc., an insurance company in Bethlehem, PA. Curie served as director until 2001. Henry S. Lehr was bought by the big insurance intermediary, Brown & Brown in 2001 (http://www.bbinsurance.com/pages/annual2003/pdfs/BRO_2003AR.pd). Brown & Brown has many health and human services clients, although this information is confidential. Many of their clients are behavioral healthcare clinics and hospitals (http://www.bbinslv.com/default.asp). If any one out there has additional information, please share it.

Like I said, I'm no conspiracy theorist, but the implications of this are extremely disturbing! Whenever a billion dollar corporation like Universal Health Services conspires with the government to kidnap and imprison innocent citizens you have a defacto corporate-controlled police state, not at all unlike former Communist countries of the Eastern bloc. When intelligence agents, acting under direction of their leaders, murder and attempt to murder innocent civilians because they cannot conduct surveillance inconspicuously, you are living in a despot controlled police state. Whenever innocent civilians can be conscripted to get involved in intelligence operations, under threat, you are living in a lawless, corrupt government.

After they released me from Peachford on August 31, 2004 I returned to Washington State and tried to adapt to “normal" life again, but I couldn't. Shortly after arriving home, I was accepted to Kennesaw State University School of Nursing. I returned to Georgia in January of 2005 for two reasons, to go back to school and pursue a lawsuit. Shortly after I arrived in Kennesaw, my phones were tapped again and my personal letters that I received by mail always arrived with scotch tape on them, having been previously opened. I realized this was occurring because they were still operating from the apartment complex and had two choices: either kill me or contain me. At that point they couldn't kill me because too many people knew, so they choose containment. I endured, but still tried to pursue a lawsuit, despite the grueling pace of nursing school and the constant surveillance.

In March of 2005 I sent a letter to a Human Rights Law Professor with no return address. I don't know how the FBI found out; perhaps they tap the phones of academicians involved in human rights. Anyway shortly after I sent the letter, an FBI agent came to my job posing as a patient. I was working part-time for a dentist in Kennesaw. On March 23, 2005 this agent came to my office. When I took him back to the treatment room he pretty much told me they were going “to kill" me, because “I knew too much” and my only alternative was to "work for us." I subsequently left work, went to my dorm on campus, packed what I could and went to Hartsfield airport. I had to stay at the airport overnight because I missed the last flight to Seattle. There were agents at the airport watching me, I saw and heard several of them.

My forced hospitalization in Atlanta occurred for several reasons. I knew the agents were operating out of the apartment complex I used to live in, I knew they used my neighbor, Mr. S to bait potential terrorists to the apartment complex, and the agents were unsure of exactly how much I heard. To this day they do not know that I actually heard them say "why are we keeping her alive, we killed that other guy?"

I know that what I experienced probably doesn't compare to what innocent people of middle-eastern descent are experiencing. I'm sure you have heard of the cases of mistaken identity based on similar last names resulting in the detainment and physical torture of innocent people. And I know that there are terrorists, right here in this country who want to maim and kill innocent people, especially Jewish people. But I question the current administration's policy of actually baiting them to densely populated Jewish communities to contain them. And I question the legality and human rights violations of an intelligence agency that kidnaps, tortures, threatens, murders and attempts to murder innocent civilians because the FBI cannot conduct surveillance inconspicuously.

I am still alive today because I used my voice to speak up, and people listened. Throughout this ordeal there were people who helped me. I don't believe all FBI agents are corrupt. There was a particular female FBI agent who I could hear next door to me. She defended me throughout this ordeal and I know I am alive today in part because of her efforts! There are many people out there who witnessed what happened to me and helped me. I know that eventually my doctor called the press.

I have not given up on this country yet. My ancestors came here as slaves, lost their lives in the genocide of slavery, fought in wars for this country, endured unlawful imprisonment, fire bombings, apartheid and the daily indignancy of racism for this country, and they voluntarily sacrificed their lives on motel balconies in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968 for this country. Out of respect for all the sacrifices that my people have made, and many others, to help this country evolve into a democratic society of equality and justice, I will not back down and accept human rights violations!

I have written letters to my former doctors, staff and others who witnessed what happened to me with hope they will be emboldened to come forward. If anyone out there has a similar story, please come forward. And if any human rights attorneys and/or activists know of ways to help me pursue justice please contact me. We are living in a police state; George Orwell's 1984 is right here, right now! Unfortunately, I am just now becoming active in the human rights struggle, after my human rights were violated. When this starts happening to more people, then perhaps there will be a true, mass revolution!