The Ultimate Price of Freedom

Amil Imani (Faithfreedom.org)
April 29, 2005

This was Ziba Kazemi’s fourth interrogation, which was orchestrated in a very bright room in the presence of about six revolutionary guards and militia torturers and Tehran’s prosecutor. She was asked about her connections with other Iranian political oppositions, especially the MKO. She was severely beaten, struck on the head, punched on both sides of her chest and was also badly beaten with a rubber truncheon on her shoulders and her back. Later, she was stretched out on a bed to which her wrists were tied with metal-wire, causing sharp, painful extensions to her elbows.

Ziba Kazemi was an Iranian-Canadian freelance photographer who was arrested in July 2003 for taking photographs of Iranian demonstrators outside one of the most notorious prisons in the world.

The chief infamous executioner and Tehran’s prosecutor, Mr. Mortazavi and the members of the intelligence ministry of the Islamic Republic were standing there, vehemently urging her to confess to the crimes she never committed. One of the revolutionary guards started to gag her with a towel, while two heavy weight men started to take her cloths off and, in an shameful act of barbarity, savagely gang-raped the Iranian-Canadian photojournalist until she went into convulsions and lost consciousness. Finally, she lapsed into a coma.

Almost three weeks after her arrest and torture, (on July 11, 2003) she died in Islamic Republic custody in Baghiyyatollah Al-Azam Military Hospital. This was a premeditated murder by the mrmbers of the Islamic Republic.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, in a desperate attempt to cover up this brutal action, buried her body in Iran and refused the demand of Stephan Hachemi, her son, and the Canadian government to allow an international team of forensic scientists to examine Kazemi’s body.

This has been the story of many peace-loving Iranians for the past 26 years. One wonders if Ziba Kazemi had not been a Canadian citizen, would her case have attracted the front-page newspapers of the world?

The primary responsibility of any government is to protect its citizens. Since its inception in 1979, the Islamic regime has sentence thousands upon thousands of its innocent citizens to the gas chambers, Islamic slaughterhouses, public hangings, stoning, and other cruelties including the raping and the molesting of children. They are simply getting away with the crimes against humanity.

When is the world going to look at the Islamic Republic as the form of an absolute theocratic political terrorist state that it is? When is the world going to learn the lessons of history, not to appease the terrorists?

The current theocratic regime in Iran is also a totalitarian state, which has been imposed upon the Iranian people by force and brutal actions. Totalitarianism is defined as having absolute power over its citizens, especially when exercised unjustly.

We must salute Ziba Kazemi and all those brave journalists who have died for their passionate belief in truth, justice and making the world a better place. They do their job at great personal risk and they do whatever it takes to find the truth and get reveal the truth to the free world. For her great service to mankind, Ziba Kazemi paid the ultimate price with her life.

Zell Miller, my favorite democrat, fell ill Thursday night. Say a few prayers for the guy, will ya? He’s an old jarhead.

GAINESVILLE, Ga. Apr 29, 2005 — Former Sen. Zell Miller fell ill while giving a speech Thursday night and was taken to a hospital emergency room. His wife said he had flu-like symptoms.

Miller, 73, was in stable condition at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, according to nursing supervisor Tammy Harbison. She said she did not know what made Miller ill. The hospital said Miller was alert and cracking jokes, but would likely be kept overnight.

Miller, who gave a fiery keynote speech against fellow Democrats at last year’s Republican National Convention, left the Senate in January.

Down at my son’s High School, located in Harlingen, at the tip of Texas in the “valley” at the Marine Military Academy, they have a little museum which is close to the prototype for the Iwo Jima monument in Arlington. At the museum, I picked up Zell Miller’s book, Corps Values: Everything you need to know I learned in the Marine Corps. (Now you know why you’ve seen pictures of my youngest son in a Marine Corps Uniform. He was in the Jr. ROTC in High School, down in Texas, getting his butt kicked by a bunch of retired jarheads who are on staff down there.) Zell Miller is an incredible man, I read that book quickly on a flight down to Texas one afternoon and gave it to my son, who read it on the way back to Chicago. It’s an inspiring book about the time proven principles a person learns in the Marine Corps which can be applied by anyone in their everyday lives.

Here’s my favorite recent quote by Zell:

NRO: Why aren’t there more Zell Millers in the Democratic party?

MILLER: The Democratic tent has shrunk to the size of a dunce cap. There’s no room for conservatives like me. We used to have moderates and conservatives in the party. Then they ran us all out.

God bless him.

While being transported from the Fulton County jail to the courtroom, Nichols was stopped in a backroom of the courthouse so that the sheriff’s deputy transporting him could take his handcuffs off.

Under the rules in virtually all of America’s courts, defendants must have their handcuffs removed before entering the courtroom so that the jury will not see the defendants handcuffed. If the jury sees the defendants handcuffed, the reasoning goes, the jury will no longer presume that the defendants are innocent until proven guilty.

To have such a rule apply to defendants who are charged with violent crime is truly insane.
When accused rapist Brian Nichols was released from his handcuffs, he very easily overpowered his solitary guard and seized the officer’s firearm. As soon as Hall removed Nichols’ handcuffs - as the law requires - Nichols beat and knocked Hall down and stole her gun. Hall was left lying critically injured in the backroom of the courthouse as Nichols raced into the courtroom with her gun. While making his escape, Nichols allegedly killed four people–trial Judge Rowland Barnes, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Deputy Hoyt Teasley and federal agent David Wilhelm. (I love that. “allegedly” when there were witnesses to the crimes he committed.)

“Political correctness” was also responsible for the other great failure in the court security system: there were supposed to be two armed security guards watching on the television monitor of a video camera everything that takes place in the backroom of the courthouse where Hall removed Nichols’ handcuffs.

But the two “affirmative action” court security guards did not do their job of watching on the video camera monitor. Indeed, they were not even in the video camera monitor room when Nichols attacked Hall.

Using the gun he took from Hall, Nichols ran into the courtroom and shot to death Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes and court reporter Julie Brandau.

As he fled the courthouse, Nichols then shot to death sheriff’s deputy Hoyt Teasley.

To escape through the streets of Atlanta, Nichols engaged in several carjackings.

In one carjacking, Nichols murdered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent David Wilhelm, his fourth murder victim.

After evading a less-than-effective police dragnet, Nichols eventually arrived at the home of Ashley Smith, a 26-year-old widow and single mother. Smith, as is now well-known, spent seven hours as Nichols’ hostage, calmly reasoning with him and sharing Bible-based insight that persuaded the fugitive to surrender to the authorities.

Ashley Smith displayed astonishing strength of character of a sort rare in people of both sexes. However, this entire tragedy may have been avoided if only law enforcement officials in Atlanta had taken into account insurmountable realities about the differences between men and women where physical strength is concerned. Nichols was able to escape because a small-boned, 5′2″ female deputy (a grandmother) had been assigned o guard the 6′1″ muscular former college football player. (more…)

“The Elephant in the Room”

by Sean Osborne, Military Affairs Expert, Senior Analyst at NEIN

23 March 2005: You’ve probably heard a casual mention on one of the evening news programs recently of an “incident” involving a report of anthrax being found at the Pentagon and two other facilities in Washington, DC last week. This report was quickly followed by reports that the alarm was really the cause of “false positive” test results and the incident was actually a “non-event.” Lacking true investigative journalists for the most part, the press rarely follows through on getting answers to the more difficult questions and accepts the official denials, moving on to cover more sensational stories such as the Michael Jackson trial and the sad case of Terry Schiavo as the talk of terrorism is beginning to get tiresome anyway. More importantly, though, this most recent anthrax case brings to mind the old phrase about the presence of there being an “elephant in the room,” which is used to describe a situation where there is a very large problem or situation, but everyone pretends that it really isn’t there, and no one really wants to talk about it. Such describes the anthrax “incident” that began in Washington, DC on Thursday, March 10, 2005. (more…)

Listen up, moonbats: Cao is irish gaelic and it’s pronounced “key”.

Ready?

TWA KICKS MBA’S ASS!!!!!!

YEAH!!!!!!

HOO-AH MAS’ER CHIEF!!!!!

MBA’S A BUNCH WHINY SIMPS!!!!!

KEEP CADENCE!!!

I WENT ON THE WEB TODAAAYYY!!!!

FIGHTIN’ FOR TWA!!!

TROLLS AND MOONBATS BETTER FLEE!!!

WE’RE FIGHTIN’ FOR THE LADY CAO!!!!

SOOOOUND OFF!!!

I’VE BEEN ON THE WEB BEFORE!!!!!

WHERE I MET AN OLD FRENCH WHORE!!!!!

THAT’S MARRIED TO A COMMUNIST!!!!!!!

WHO’S ON OUR COUNTRIES NO FLY LIST!!!!!!

SOUND OFF!!!

THE WIDE AWAKES WILL SPREAD THE TRUTH!!!!

TO SOCIALISTS AND THOSE UNCOUTH!!!!!

WE’LL FIGHT THE EVIL TO THE LAST!!!!!

AND THE FUCKING FRENCH CAN KISS OUR ASS!!!!!

SOUND OFF….1 2, 3,4.

brought to you by Kender of Kender’s Musings, who is a real stitch and a half even though he gets a little raunchy with the language…I seem to be able to overlook that trait in some people…when I know ladies like the Anchoress don’t stand for ANY swearing.

From William Jasper (this is from 9/11 Conspiracy Fact & Fiction from the New American)

Although each of the four terrorist incidents involving aircraft on September 11 is being subject to vociferous challenges, the official version of the Pentagon attack has been the main target of critics.

Vraiment?

The catalyst for most of the Pentagon attack sleuths can be traced back to the incendiary propaganda of French author and radical socialist Thierry Meyssan, president of the virulently anti-American and pro-Communist French think tank Reseau Voltaire. In his best selling book, L’Effroyable Imposture (the Frightening Deception), Meyssan launched the claim that American Airlines Flight 77 did not hit the Pentagon. It has been translated into English and is sold in the US as 9/11: The Big Lie. Meyssan has followed up with a second book, Pentagate.

Many of the organizations and websites “investigating” the 9/11 attacks promote and/or sell the Meyssan books, Dave von Kleist, narrator and producer of the video 9/11 In Plane Site, on of the most popular “exposes” of the September 11 events, explains in his video that it was Meyssan’s 9/11 website: “Hunt the Boeing” that got him started investigating the matter.

Mr. vonKleist strangely refers repeatedly to Meyssan’s books and website as information “released by the French”, as though it were released by the French people collectively. In reality, Meyssan represents only a small fringe on the far left of French politics and his 9/11 materials have been denounced as disinformation and hucksterism by political and media representatives spanning the spectrum of French political thought, including many of those who strongly oppose US policies in response to the 9/11 terror attack. (more…)

Here’s a case of poetic justice:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. – Sgt. Hasan Akbar was sentenced to die Thursday night for a grenade and rifle attack that killed Army Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert and an Air Force officer and wounded 14 others.

Helen Seifert, of Williams Township, began to weep as she watched the man who killed her son chained and led away from the courtroom.

On March 23, 2003, Akbar rolled hand grenades into three tents and shot at troops that ran out at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait, while the troops prepared to invade Iraq. One of the soldiers he shot was Seifert, who died shortly thereafter.

Seifert’s widow, Theresa, issued a statement after Akbar’s sentence was read. She said the Seifert family was satisfied with the verdict but was “painfully aware” that neither Seifert nor Stone would return to their families.

“For those of us fortunate enough to have known Chris, he will always be remembered as a generous soul, a man of quiet strength and a hero. His friendship was an inspiration, his love a blessing,” she said.

Yet he continues his murderous agenda, grabbing a sharp instrument just last month and used it on an MP who was guarding him.

Akbar took a sharp item from an office where he was meeting with lawyers and attacked the M-P who was assigned to escort him to the men’s room.

The judge dismissed it (as an “opportunistic stabbing”-whatever THAT is) and didn’t allow it to be admitted into evidence in court.

mwahahaha Bill at Pirate’s Cove tagged me and I am compelled to respond…here goes, thanks, Bill. I think. You’re sick, you know.

The rules are simple: write a poem with “turd in a punchbowl in the first and third lines, that pass it on to 3 unsuspecting bloggers suckers.

Turd in a punchbowl
An addition to the grog
Turd in a punchbowl
At least it’s not a log.

I’m tagging Raven, Beth and Kender. I was going to name Superhawk, but…the problem there is he’ll have to use the word “turd” on his blog, which I don’t think he’s ever done before.

AND…you can always take a look at troll turds if you get bored, you know. The lefties went over there and trolled it on their own, so now it really is a spoof of a spoof! Kender, you are something else.

Cao’s note: This is Jay’s complete post for the blogburst today; I’ve been extremely busy and limited on time. Jay, this is one of the best pieces I’ve seen on the ACLU’s communist anti-American agenda….they are certainly all about destroying the America we love.

Perhaps there is no other issue as fragile to the preservation of our liberties than a careful balance between civil liberties and our national security. To its credit, the ACLU recognizes the danger if the scales are tipped too far to the side of national security, however it doesn’t seem to acknowledge the danger if the scales are reversed.

On July 12, 1990, Morton Halperin, who at that time was director of the Washington Office of the ACLU, testified before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: “The ACLU is deeply troubled by the notion that there is a national security exception to the Fourth Amendment or any part of the Bill of Rights. We regard those rights as fundamental and absolute.”

“Absolute” is the key word to understanding the ACLU. Its absolutist philosophies, just as any extremist view, endangers the very civil liberties it claims to protect.

In his book “Twilight of Liberty”, William Donahue compares Halperins views of liberty with that of Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson said, “A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country, by scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us: thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means.”

“There is no doubting the ACLU’s concern that there are untrustworthy public officials who will invoke national security as a cloak to cover their own wrongdoings; the pages of history are full of them. But does that mean that the only proper response is to make absolute the Bill of Rights, even in those clear-cut instances when the nation’s viability is seriously called into question: It is fair to say that most who have studied the question would prefer to side with Jefferson on this matter” Twilight of Liberty pg 172

There is probably no other time that a proper balance between civil liberties and national security becomes more important than in wartime. During times of war, sometimes unusual responses are implemented, often requiring suspension of certain liberties. Of course war opens the opportunity for abuse by governments, and the ACLU are right to watch for them. However, the ACLU in its absolutist perception of freedom, only worries about one side of the equation, civil liberties. It pays no attention to the national security side of things, not only ignoring it, but in many cases working against it.

It is nothing new for the ACLU. The grew out of an organized effort to protest World War I. The only exception to their anti-war stance was World War II, and part of that is due to the investigation during this time into the theory they could be a Communist Front group.

After 9-11, the ACLU and its leftist cohorts spearheaded a movement to depict the US in general – and the airline industry in particular – as a snake pit of bigoted vipers eager to abuse and humiliate Muslims and Middle Easterners. The statistics, however, tell quite another story. During the nine months immediately following 9-11, the ADC received a mere 60 reports of incidents where airline security personnel prevented “Arab-looking” male passengers from flying as scheduled. While this may have been an annoying inconvenience for those affected, six or seven complaints per month is hardly an epidemic – particularly in light of the fact that the most devastating attack in American history had just been carried out by nineteen men of virtually identical physical, ethnic, and religious characteristics”.

“What the ACLU is actually rebelling against is the Justice Department’s recent removal of Clinton-era intelligence-gathering restrictions that had crippled the government’s ability to fight terrorism. These restrictions prohibited intelligence investigators from conferring and sharing information with criminal investigators, even if they were both trailing the very same suspect who was plotting a terrorist act. On August 29, 2001, for instance, an FBI investigator in New York desperately pleaded for permission to initiate an intensive manhunt for al-Qaeda operative Khalid Almihdar, who was known to be planning something big. The Justice Department and the FBI deputy general counsel’s office both denied the request, explaining that because the evidence linking Almihdar to terrorism had been obtained through intelligence channels, it could not legally be used to justify or aid an FBI agent’s criminal investigation; in short, it would constitute a violation of Almihdar’s “civil rights.” “Someday, someone will die,” the agent wrote to his FBI superiors, “and the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain problems.” Thirteen days later, Almihdar took over the cockpit of American Airlines Flight 77 and crashed it into the PentagonExerpt Front Page Magazine

One of the most revealing occurances towards the ACLU’s absolutist position on national security and its recent evolution can be seen in the action the board of directors took at its Oct 1989 meeting: It dropped section (a) from its policy, “Wartime Sedition Act.” Before, the ACLU held that it “would not participate (save for fundamental due process violations) in defense of any person believed to be “cooperating” with or acting on behalf of the enemy.” This policy was based on the recognition that “our own military enemies are now using techniques of propaganda which may involve an attempt to prevent the Bill of Rights to serve the enemy rather than the people of the United States.” In making its determination as to whether someone were cooperating with the enemy, “the Union will consider such matters as past activities and associations, sources of financial support, relations with enemy agents, the particular words and conduct involved, and all other relevant factors for informed judgement.”

All of this is now omitted from the Official ACLU policy!

As these policy changes indicate, balancing national security interests and civil liberties is not a goal of the ACLU. Its only goal is the absolute pursuit of unlimited civil liberties, with no regard to any consequence or negative impact upon our security. Not only does it ignore the issue of national security, but there are many examples I have shown where they actually work against it, even to the point of defending the enemy. The absolute tragedy is that it is not only the nations’s security the ACLU’s absolutist philosophy puts in danger, but the very cause of liberty itself. We’ve also saw recently the attitude of the ACLU to securing our borders, again civil liberties trump national security.

It pursues its radical agenda with your taxdollars.

Sign The Petition To Get The ACLU Off The Taxpayer’s Dole

This was a Stop The ACLU Blogburst. If you would like to join please Email me!

Help Put A Stop To The Most Dangerous Organization In America. We are trying to organize a march on all of the ACLU state offices in all of the 50 states. To help in this matter, we are trying to raise money to pay for advertising in our nation’s newspapers promoting the march. You can help. Visit Bulldoze The ACLU online store and buy a bumper sticker or t-shirt. All of the proceedes will be going into advertising for this march. Thank You.

Statements from Lt. Pantano, Sgt. Coburn and other Marines at the scene agree on basic facts: that Lt. Pantano had the two Iraqis search their car, which the Marines had stopped outside a house that served as a bomb-making factory. He shot the two on that spot.

But according to Lance Cpl. Jason Gillian, Sgt. Coburn told him a different story that same day back at base camp.

“Best I recall, Sgt. Coburn told me that they came under attack while assisting another platoon,” Cpl. Gillian told the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. “I think he said they were taking sniper fire from a house or a building. Sgt. Coburn said Lt. Pantano and one of the corpsman assaulted the house where the sniper fire was coming from. I think Sgt. Coburn told me he saw Lt. Pantano kick the door in and shoot two insurgents. Sgt. Coburn said the insurgents’ weapons were away from them. Sgt. Coburn then told me he … hated Lt. Pantano and said he did not think the lieutenant should be here anymore.”

Lt. Pantaon’s main accuser had an ax to grind.

Lt. Pantano said he fired Sgt. Daniel L. Coburn as a squad leader for incompetence and demoted him to radio man days before the April 2004 shooting of two Iraqi insurgents in the notorious Triangle of Death south of Baghdad.

Sgt. Judd Word, another squad leader in Lt. Pantano’s platoon, which fought in al Anbar province in the violent spring of 2004.

“There were several incidents that led to his firing,” said Mr. Word, now back home in Tennessee. “He didn’t know how to read a map, which is kind of important over there. … He did not have accountability for three of his guys in his squad. Three of his guys went unaccounted for for some time. Lt. Pantano had no choice but to fire him because he couldn’t trust him anymore.”

Photo credit: Associated Press
Marine 2nd Lt. Ilario Pantano, charged with a military count of premeditated murder for shooting two Iraqis during a search for a terrorist hideout on April 15, 2004, is shown at his home in Wilmington, N.C.

Of course, there’s no question in my mind (after the MSM was defending John Kerry’s abismal “war hero” story, Dan Rather’s fake documents and how they admitted the documents were fake but kept saying the story was true (yeah right), and now trying to nail Pantano for killing those two scumbag Iraqis…) that Pantano is getting a bum rap. If this is going to happen with our boys who go over defending our freedom, it’s a sad state of affairs.

Lt. Pantano’s platoon was dispatched to a bridge that the day before had taken mortar fire. Later on, on April 15, the incident in question occurred.

Pantano was investigated and cleared at the field level last year and continued combat operations. But civilian defense lawyer Charles Gittins said that a disgruntled enlisted man complained after Pantano’s unit returned to Camp Lejeune. A new probe led to the charge.

So what’s with this guy, radio operator Sgt. Daniel Coburn? Is anybody investigating his charges or what motivated him to do this?

Here’s the background on Pantano’s story. Whoever the lady is that said that Pantano is making over $50 grand a year–may be right since he’s in a war zone. Can you put a dollar value on living in a combat zone? I ask you. How many people can live through what he has? How many people would want to, and what is your freedom worth to you? How much are you willing to pay a young man who’s standing in harm’s way so you can sleep in peace tonight?

Photo credit: Katy Grannan

It was not far from Camp Mahmudiyah, where the unit was based, and Lt. Pantano was told that a nearby house was the suspected lair of insurgents responsible (for the mortar fire).

After a meeting on the bridge, one of three 13-man squads walked toward the house, which was enclosed by a wire fence, according to accounts from a former rifleman.

Following up behind the rifle squad was Lt. Pantano, along with a radio operator, Sgt. Daniel Coburn, and a Navy medical corpsman, George A. Gobles. Marines who were at the house have since related concerns that the entire operation could have been an insurgent setup, and there were fears of an ambush.

With the Marines 500 to 600 feet from the house, two men attempted to flee in a white, four-door sedan.

The car was disabled by rifle fire. Sgt. Coburn, Corpsman Gobles and Lt. Pantano headed for the car while the rifle squad entered the house, where they were met by two screaming women and crying children. The civilians were taken to a place of safety.

Inside the house, Sgt. Judd Word and his riflemen found mortar aiming stakes, rifles, ammunition and bomb-making equipment, and they radioed Lt. Pantano.

IN HIS OWN WORDS

Outside the house, according to reports, the two men emerged from the car with their hands raised.

They were ordered to the ground, and Corpsman Gobles searched the car for weapons under Lt. Pantano’s order. According to Lt. Pantano’s attorney, nuts, bolts and cans - commonly used to make bombs - were found in the trunk of the car.

After learning that there were weapons in the house, Lt. Pantano ordered Corpsman Gobles to handcuff the men, identified as Hamaady Kareem and Tahah Ahmead Hanjil. The pair, believed to have resided in the insurgent-infested town of Latifiyah, resisted but were eventually subdued.

Shortly after that, reports state, Lt. Pantano ordered that the plastic flexicuffs binding the prisoners be cut, and he ordered them to search their own car. He expressed a concern that there could be booby-traps.

Sgt. Coburn and Corpsman Gobles were ordered to take positions facing away from the car, and Lt. Pantano stood approximately 10 feet from it.

“As the sergeant and the corpsman served as my guardian angels, I told the two Iraqis via hand signals to search the car and to pull apart the seats,” Lt. Pantano said in his statement, given after he was advised of his rights against self-incrimination. “They were talking the whole time … I told them several times to be quiet by saying ’stop’ in Arabic. They continued to talk.”

NO BETTER FRIEND

One of the men was searching the front seat, leaning in from the driver’s side, while the other man was searching the rear driver’s side.

In the statement, Lt. Pantano said he could not see their hands and that they had their backs to him.

“After another time of telling them to be quiet, they quickly pivoted their bodies toward each other. They did this simultaneously, while speaking in muffled Arabic. I thought they were attacking me and I decided to fire my M-16A4 service rifle in self-defense,” Lt. Pantano’s statement reads. “I believed that they were attacking me, and I felt I was within the rules of engagement to fire.”

Lt. Pantano said in the statement he set his weapon to fire three-round bursts; his magazine held anywhere from 25 to 30 rounds of ammunition.

“I hit the men with my rounds and continued to fire until my first magazine was empty. I then changed magazines and continued to fire until the second magazine was empty … I had made a decision that when I was firing I was going to send a message to these Iraqis and others that when we say, ‘no better friend, no worse enemy,’ we mean it. I had fired both magazines into the men, hitting them with about 80 percent of my rounds.”

Mr. Kareem and Mr. Hanjil were moving for a while after he started to fire, Lt. Pantano said, but he was not sure if that was because of muscle contractions or bullet impact.

“I simply knew that I had told my platoon that if we were engaged in a gunfight, we would send a strong message that we were not going to be attacked. Again, I believed that by firing the number of rounds that I did, I was sending a message that we were ‘no better friend, no worse enemy.’È”

The phrase, Marines have said, means that they can be a good friend to the Iraqi people but, if attacked, can be a formidable foe.

The platoon received a call to respond to an improvised explosive device and began to move out, Lt. Pantano said.

“I decided to leave the two bodies as they were, face down into the car, with their upper torsos inside the car and their lower bodies outside of the car, feet, knees, etc., on the ground. I believed this would send a message to the local people that again, we were no better friend and no worse enemy.”

He changed his mind, however, and asked another officer to order the Red Crescent for body pickup.

The sign left atop the car was removed by Lt. Pantano, according to his lawyer, Charles Gittins. But photographs of the bodies with the sign above them were taken at the scene by Marines, copies of which may end up being used as evidence at the hearing.

Another statement, that of Corpsman Gobles, verifies information supplied by Lt. Pantano but conflicts in some key areas. Taken two days before Lt. Pantano’s, the corpsman’s written statement describes the men as running away from Lt. Pantano when they were shot.

Military officials say that statement has been amended; the defense has expressed concerns that the corpsman has been “browbeaten” by investigators.

LAWYER RESPONDS

Attorney Gittins disputes the contention in the charge sheet filed against Lt. Pantano that the men were shot in the back. The bodies were not forensically investigated, he said, and cannot be exhumed because they are buried in an insurgent camp area.

While details of the incident - including the repeated “no better friend, no worse enemy” references in Lt. Pantano’s account - may relate to how prosecutors are viewing his state of mind at the time of the shooting, Mr. Gittins maintains it is irrelevant.

He did not use the slogan or even make the sign up until after the men were dead, Mr. Gittins notes.

“After he had been placed in a position to have to use deadly force,” Mr. Gittins said. “The sign is indicative of a young lieutenant who just had the stuff scared out of him, using Gen. Mattis’ words as a little bravado under the stress of the moment. And he took it down on his own after thinking about it. The sign doesn’t have anything to do with the exercise of self-defense.”

A suggestion in the charges that Lt. Pantano ordered Corpsman Gobles and Sgt. Coburn to “look away” from him and the car - the order to take sentry positions facing outward - does not hold water, Mr. Gittins said.

“He didn’t tell them where to look,” the attorney said. He ordered them to take up positions to provide security. They knew what that meant and acted accordingly.”

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

At the preliminary hearing, Mr. Gittins is expected to attempt to discredit Sgt. Coburn, who is believed to have first voiced complaints about how Lt. Pantano handled the shooting. He declined to be interviewed but said, when reached at his Jacksonville home, that he holds no grudge against Lt. Pantano. Members of the platoon differ on that point.

What Mr. Gittins does expect to do at the hearing is raise questions about the rules Lt. Pantano and other Marines were operating under at the time of the incident. Called Rules of Engagement, they are similar to use-of-force guidelines followed by police officers.

But police guidelines do not change frequently.

“They were always changing the ROEs,” one Marine from Lt. Pantano’s platoon said. Another complained about the rules Marines were given to follow but said it was his duty to do so because he is a Marine.

“These guys are killing us …,” a Marine in current service said. “Out of hundreds detained by the battalion, only one was prosecuted in any kind of court system and the majority of the others were released within 72 hours or a couple of weeks or months. And then they kill us by the dozen … It is the higher leadership that doesn’t want to acknowledge that it is a war.”

The actual Rules of Engagement for the area where the platoon was working for April 15 are not available for public inspection because they are considered classified information, military spokesmen said.

One Marine officer said both a display of hostile intent and an outright hostile act were required for deadly force to be used. Additionally, as with all Rules of Engagement, deadly force may be used if the service member’s life is in danger.

Pantano

Pantano: “I was told to go do a job. My job is to locate the enemy. In this case, the enemy threatened me and I killed the enemy.”

The Marine corps wouldn’t comment on Pantano’s case. It’s scheduled to be heard at the end of April. He goes into the legal battle with plenty of support, from strangers to fellow Marines. But no one has been more active in his defense than his mother. She started an organization called “Defend the Defenders” and it has generated thousands of letters and emails and tens of thousands of dollars in donations.

But it also inspired a macabre imitation, a Web site whose threat Pantano has taken seriously. To protect his wife and two sons, the combat veteran installed a sophisticated home security system and armed himself with an old stand by as well. He’s digging in for a long battle.

Pantano: “This is my fight now.”

Phillips: “The Corps trained you and now you’re fighting the Corps.

Pantano: “The saddest day of my life is this day, is this moment where I have to use my, my passions to defend myself against my Corps instead of defending my country against our enemies. That is what breaks my heart.”

Please note: Any anti-war activists with their Tom Hyaden/Jane Fonda type communist vitriole will be deleted if they try to comment on this post. This is out of respect for Pantano and all the guys who are serving over there.

See Blackfive’s take on Pantano here.

Breaking with 200 years of Senate tradition, Democrat senators are refusing to let President Bush’s judicial nominees get an up or down vote. You can do something about this. Contact your senators and let them know how you feel. A phone call works better than e-mail; so don’t be shy. But do be polite.

Today is Wictory Wednesday. Every Wednesday, hundreds of bloggers ask their readers to donate to an important Republican campaign.

If you’re a blogger, you can join Wictory Wednesdays by e-mailing polipundit at wictory@blogsforbush.com. Polipundit will add you to the Wictory Wednesday blogroll and also send you a reminder e-mail every Wednesday, explaining which candidate or initiative to support that day.

Here are the bloggers:

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

American troops seized the computer of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qa’eda’s leader in Iraq, when they came tantalisingly close to capturing the terrorist after chasing a truck in which he was travelling, it was disclosed yesterday.

Oh darn. Well if we don’t have the guy, I’m sure the laptop has all kinds of interesting information hidden within it that can help us nab some more of these terrorist scumbags.

The two men inside, Zarqawi’s driver and bodyguard, were taken into custody.

The Americans said they had since learnt that Zarqawi jumped out of the vehicle when it passed beneath an overpass to avoid detection from the air and hid there before running to a nearby safe house.

That house was raided and the owner arrested.

We’re hot on your trail, you terrorist scum!

I’m starting today’s post off a little bit differently.

Blackfive wants you to sign your 180

Help John Kerry fill out his 180.

Watch the video at Trey’s, here.

So many old military guys want to see that 180, John Kerry.

Help John Kerry fill out his 180.

Get off the shifting sands, Sen. Kerry, once and for all. You told Tim Russert that you would sign Standard Form 180 releasing your military records to the public. On Wednesday this week, Judicial Watch sent you a copy of Standard Form 180, with instructions where to send it once you signed it. Go to their website (JudicialWatch.org) and you can find documentation that they did send you the form. Would you like pre-addressed, stamped letter, to make sending it in easy? I’m sure we can arrange to have an envelope delivered to your Senate office, along with a ready-to-use Standard Form 180. We can probably even highlight in yellow marker the place where you need to sign your name.

Polipundit has a script you can insert into your blog -a countdown -and Polipundit issues a bipartisan message.

Join the blogbursts for Kerry’s 180 every Tuesday!

John Kerry never released his military records, in spite of his bragging about being a “war hero”. So let’s encourage him to release his military records to “clear things up”.

Here’s the link to the form

Email John Kerry his 180 at this address

We’ve formed a blogburst group and here are the bloggers who are contributing so far. If you want to join the blogroll for Kerry’s 180, click here to email me, include the url for your blog. The blogburst is every Tuesday, so don’t forget to blog about it. All you have to do is encourage people to send him his 180, I’ll send you the code for the blogroll.

The more people we have, the merrier!

NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

Engels to August Bebel, March 18-28, 1875: “All these things have been done by our people to oblige the Lassalleans. And what have the others conceded? That a host of somewhat muddled and purely democratic demands should figure in the programme, some of them being of a purely fashionable nature — for instance “legislation by the people” such as exists in Switzerland and does more harm than good, if it can be said to do anything at all…. Now, since the state is merely a transitional institution of which use is made in the struggle, in the revolution, to keep down one’s enemies by force, it is utter madness to speak of a free people’s state; so long as the proletariat still makes use of the state, it makes use of it, not for the purpose of freedom, but of keeping down its enemies.”

Context here

The German

Engels an August Bebel, 18./28. März 1875

“Daß ein Haufen ziemlich verworrener rein demokratischer Forderungen im Programm figurieren, von denen manche reine Modesache sind, wie z.B. die ‘Gesetzgebung durch das Volk’ (…)
Da nun der Staat doch nur eine vorübergehende Einrichtung ist, deren man sich im Kampf, in der Revolution bedient, um seine Gegner gewaltsam niederzuhalten, so ist es purer Unsinn, vom freien Volksstaat zu sprechen: solange das Proletariat den Staat noch gebraucht, gebraucht es ihn nicht im Interesse der Freiheit, sondern der Niederhaltung seiner Gegner (…)”

MEW a.a.O. 34, 130., Rotbuch S. 209

Since this turd came over here and chose to threaten me on my website instead of through private email, I’m sharing the whole thing again. He has a blog at tblog that he just put up, but I gather, amujahideen, that he’s in Fairfield, Iowa, not in Singapore.

I’m asking anyone and everyone who blogs or not to get in touch with tblog at support@tblog.com and encourage them to have this guy’s website knocked out of commission.

Allah will punish you inshallah. You will soon all be punish badley inshallah inshallah from god allah the creator who created you and your mother. Your time will soon be coming. Allahu Akbar!

Shahid Zafar
allahuakbar.tblog.com

Beth blogged on this here.

I’ve been in touch with the authorities over these threats because he originally emailed me on March 4.

Allah will punish you inshallah! You will be punished badley inshallah from god allah the creator who created you and your mother… Be ready any time he will tell you ……………ya khuda is insaan par ghazab dhal dei amine sum amin. My name is shahid, I’m a muslim by the grace of allah, I want to tell you that you are a satan and inshallah allah will punish you and you will cry but then no body will be there to hear you but allah will be there….you will cry for death but your death will not come sooner….be ready for this. Allah will punish you…. You did very wrong, you hurt me and my heart, and I’m crying right now, I have tears in my heart because what you are trying to do is not harmless for us but is for you because you are saying bad about your master allah ??? Nauz u bila…. I want you to say toba because his (”allah”) rehmat and blessings are always every where but if you will not regret on your sin then you and your team will see the allah this time…. And no body will save you this is my promise. Keep this mail save and reply me when he will punish you … I know you will tell me by the grace of lord allah, the creator of all the creations… May allah take care of this metter… Amine sumamine.. Allah hafiz a muslim of allah , who is sweatest among the sweatest and beautiful among the beautiful., And greatest among the greatest.

If he’s looking to see what kind of attention he can get, he’s sure going to get it. Beth has a great letter put together, I encourage you to use it or something similar to get this guy’s blog kicked out of the sphere.

With Clinton out of the Whitehouse, it’s about time there was an investigation as to WHAT REALLY HAPPENED

21 April 2005: California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, is actively pursing possible hearings on the New York Times best-seller, The Third Terrorist: The Middle East Connection to the Oklahoma City Bombing. Chairman Rohrabacher has been working with author and award-winning investigative journalist Jayna Davis to investigate the riveting body of facts linking the Oklahoma City bombers to an Iraqi hit squad in the 1995 heartland massacre – evidence which was has been endorsed and vetted by former CIA Director James Woolsey. Woolsey has accepted Rohrabacher’s invitation to testify before his committee. Former Chief Impeachment Prosecutor David Schippers will assist with interviewing the confidential witnesses.

The volunteers of the Northeast Intelligence Network are asking every visitor to our site to contact Congressman Rohrbacher by fax, requesting him to move forward with hearings into Middle Eastern involvement in the bombing. To assist you, we have created a letter template in MS Word format or Adobe Acrobat PDF format that you can download, sign and send - it is just that simple. You can make any desired additions or corrections, and if you are a constituent, you can send the Congressman an e-mail. NEIN sent the Congressman their letter expressing our strong backing of his efforts.

We believe that there is a Middle Eastern connection to the 171 deaths on April 19, 1995, and hearings are needed to get to the truth of the matter. Although we feel very strongly about this and request your involvement, please DO NOT SPAM the Congressman - just make your wishes known in a respectful manner. PLEASE become involved - your voice matters.

Here’s Jayna Davis’ press release

I am asking all readers of Cao’s blog to respectfully request an investigation as to the OK City bombing, as per NEIN’s request above.

Zacarias Moussaoui pleaded guilty on Friday to participating in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

“Zacarias Moussaoui now joins shoe bomber Richard Reid, John Walker Lindh and more than 200 other individuals who have pled [sic] guilty or been convicted of terror-related charges since 9/11,” Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said in a press conference.

Four of the six counts against the Moroccan-born French national carry a maximum sentence of death.

This old article points to all the reasons why Moussaoui is being held:

A burly, French-born Moroccan with a shaved head and a history of Muslim radicalism, Moussaoui, 33, entered the United States last February (2001) and immediately began trying to learn to fly. He washed out of flight school in Norman, Okla., and moved on to the Pan Am International Flying Academy in Eagan, Minn., where he paid $8,000 to use flight simulators designed to train commercial pilots. His instructors became suspicious, and the school called the FBI, which detained Moussaoui on Aug. 17 on immigration charges. Held as a material witness after Sept. 11, he has been in jail ever since.

At the time of his arrest FBI agents found flight manuals for the Boeing 747-400, a flight-simulator computer program, binoculars, two knives, fighting shields and a laptop computer. They later learned that French intelligence officials suspected Moussaoui of involvement with Islamic extremists. The FBI team applied to Washington for a special warrant to go into Moussaoui’s computer but were turned down: as it turned out, a disc contained information about spraying pesticide from a plane. “All I can tell you is that the agents on the scene attempted to follow up aggressively,” FBI director Robert Mueller said this week. “The attorneys back at the FBI determined that there was insufficient probable cause for a [warrant], which appears to be an accurate decision. And September 11 happened.”

In the aftermath, investigators turned up still more bits of evidence. Moussaoui, they say, was carrying the phone number in Dusseldorf, Germany, assigned to Ramzi bin al-Shibh. Al-Shibh, now a fugitive, is allegedly a member of the Hamburg Al Qaeda cell that also included Mohammed Atta, who flew American Flight 11 into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. Al-Shibh served as a financial coordinator for the conspiracy, the Feds say, and in early August sent $14,000 in two wire transfers to Moussaoui, who was evidently using some of the cash to enroll at Pan Am.

Then there are the disturbing similarities between Moussaoui and Mohamed Atta, federal sources say. Atta visited the same flight school in Norman, Okla., that Moussaoui attended, although Atta wound up taking flight training in Florida. Atta and Moussaoui both researched using crop dusters for what might have been a biochemical attack, and Atta and Moussaoui both bought “flight deck” instructional videos for the Boeing 747 from the same retailer, Sporty’s Pilot Shop in Batavia, Ohio. Based on an interview with a woman who lived downstairs from Moussaoui in Norman, Okla., NEWSWEEK reported in mid-October that Moussaoui ordered videos on the 747-200 and 747-400—a finding now included in the indictment.

Moussaoui by all accounts had not cooperated with U.S. investigators prior to his indictment this week. Fellow inmates said he cheered at the news of the Sept. 11 attacks and in October he wrote a confident letter to his mother, Aicha, in France. “As far as the American story is concerned, don’t worry, I didn’t do anything, and I’ll prove it when the time comes,” Moussaoui wrote. “They are going to try to fabricate proofs and witnesses, but I have proofs and witnesses, and Allah will make their plot ridiculous.” In the meantime, Moussaoui said, “do not think I am unhappy or that I am desperate. I am fine.”

Yeah you’re fine, alright. Just fine behind bars where you belong.

Of course, the people at demoscummic underpants would never admit that we’re actually doing good in Iraq. They’re talking like Jane Fonda and John Kerry did during the War in Vietnam. They’re trying to get us to pull out before the job is done; they’re calling our men in uniform murderers.

Interesting. I was over at Parrot Check and read his beautiful post about WWII and how everyone sacrificed because we were clear on what was at stake. Somehow, with the media spin and the socialists and communists complaining about American imperialism, the message about what we’ve been doing in Iraq has fallen on deaf ears. Too many people are complaining that we went over there for the wrong reasons; nevermind that Saddam Hussein was a middle eastern version of Hitler, complete with many, many mass graves and hundreds of thousands of people he persecuted and tortured, some of whom were ripped out of their beds in the middle of the night. Generations of Iraqis were murdered like this…it will take a long time for the Iraqi people to recover from what he did to them.

Parrot check’s post’s subject is What did you do for your freedom today? He says:

This poster reflects the American spirit of the Second World War. There was a spirit of patriotism that meant more than just exercising your right to free speech and protesting the evils of war. It meant sacrificing. It meant have ration cards for sugar and other things today we take for granted. My grandparents talking about going door to door for metal scrap, etc, in order to build equipment and weapons for the fight against Nazi fascism and Japanese imperialism. Today’s patriots from the right talk about supporting the troops and the war effort. They understand that we did not start this war on terror anymore than we did in WWII. Today’s patriots on the right understand that we must defend this country lest we be defeated and lose our land.

But the “patriots” on the left, oh those great warriors of the Republic, those who claim to support the troops but not the war, those whose ideas of sacrificing for the war effort is to actually go to the land of the enemy to act as human shields. Can anyone else ever imagine an American going to Germany or Japan to act as human shields against the very bombs that were being dropped by American fliers who were dying by the thousands each month. No, the American left generally won’t fight for their country. They’d rather wring their hands over the deaths of insurgents amd celebrate each American casualty.

The poster above asks, “What can I do tomorrow that will save the lives of men like this and HELP THEM WIN THE WAR” (emphasis mine) The left thinks that by running away.. lives will be saved. Yeah, in the short term. Until we face more deaths here at home due to terrorist strikes. We lost 3000 innocent souls in a few hours. The enemy lost 19 cowards. We have lost over 1500 brave heroes in over two years of fighting. The enemy has lost tens of thousands of scumbags. I think that it is better to give than it is to recieve in this case.

That is simply insanity. Running from a fight doesn’t win you anything except maybe to live another day. The Arab world sees STRENGTH, not cowardice, as a winning trait. If we are to command any respect whatsoever, we’re going to have to continue taking the strong position; rather than the Clintonista position of weakness and cowardice. This is going to be a war that’s won over generations; the Islamists certainly see it that way. This is not going to be something that we can turn away from and figure our enemies have given up the fight.

And at Iraq the Model, Mohammed writes about April 9:

I don’t think I need to tell you how close is the 9th of April to my heart. And now, after two years happiness is still the same for me; one person among millions who were freed on that great day.
The 9th of April had turned one of the darkest pages in our history and opened the door wide before the people and their dreams, just as when the idol was knocked down, fear and oppression were knocked down as well.

No day matches you, my brightest day. We will keep reaping your fruits while the entire neighborhood follow your light and wait for other days like you to sweep away the remaining rotten idols.

The 9th of April has proven that the free world now has the guts and the required determination to make the change and throw the legacy of the past century behind its back; dictators shall be endorsed no more and the struggle will continue until humanity is freed from its dark nightmare that lasted way longer than it should have.

The winds of change that have blown away the tyrant in Iraq have begun to reach more and more people everyday and the heroic stand of Iraqis is inspiring freedom lovers in Beirut and Cairo, Kuwait and Bahrain, Arabia and Damascus; people are screaming enough is enough; enough for tyranny, enough for repression and enough for slavery.

Some naysayers and losers will say that terror had marked the past two years in Iraq but we the Iraqis believe that terrorism is merely the defeated remnants of evil fed by the other tyrants who got terrified from the fall of their demonic master. They’re holding onto a weak thread that will soon be broken no matter how hard they try.

Today we can see the idol of terror shaking and losing balance from the powerful strike Iraqis had given it on the glorious election day; the day when the world stood amazed before the extraordinary bravery of Iraqis defying fear and walking through bullets and bombs to say their word and give terror the purple finger.

The 9th of April paved the way for that historic revolution and I think this is more than enough to make us keep this day in our hearts forever.

We have passed the cruel tests of terror, we went to cast our ballots and we’re rebuilding what was destroyed and we’re looking forward to building more and more but most important is that we’re going to write our holy book, our constitution, by ourselves to preserve our freedom and stop tyranny from invading our land again.

After decades of isolation enforced by Saddam on Iraq, today Iraqis come back to join the free world and catch up with what they had missed; slowly but surely.

Some shortsighted people doubt the outcome of this day and think that it’s not suitable to announce it a success but we say to them:
You’re free to think whatever you like, we got on the train, but you’re standing still.

I will save the effort of explaining to them what they missed because several years from now when Iraq becomes a beacon of civilization in the region you will find out the truth solid and clear but unfortunately I’m positive that they won’t admit it and they will try to find another funeral to practice the only hobby they’re good at; whining and weeping.
So today we’re offering a last chance to choose between joining the real world and joining Muqtada and Harith Al-Dhari.

Go and chant with them, condemn democracy and march against freedom if you like but don’t forget that those thugs represent no one but themselves. They rejected democracy from the beginning and missed the chance of joining the greatest election of our time.
And don’t forget that millions of Iraqis had also rejected those fanatics when the people marched to the boxes ignoring the threats and “fatwas”

Those who really represent me and my people are the men and women we voted for and put our trust in; men like Ibrahim Al-Jafari and Jalal Talbani who are grateful for the nations that helped Iraq in the darkest times and freed its people when our “brothers” ignored us and silently watched the Ba’ath murder and torture our people and more worse, gave the Ba’ath a hand more than once.

These are the people who represent us now; they promise us freedom and prosperity and I intend to trust them and believe them as long as they prove to be honest to us but I will never listen to those who want to bring back the rule of the dark ages.

Finally, I would like to say it again and say it loud:
Thank you our liberators.

But the leftists will never read such an eloquent and grateful soliloquy, a solemn testament to all that we’ve suffered, to all that we’ve given, to all that we’ve worked for, on behalf of the Iraqis…no, that is simply asking too much. The progressive left has been wrong on every single conflict since we’ve been engaged in conflicts. Why should they change and learn from their experiences now? They’re insane. And the definition of insanity is:

“Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.”

To me, that’s the perfect definition of the progressive left. They will deny it, they will change the subject, they will attack you. But they will never face the truth; or history; and admit that their view has always been and still is now, a total failure.

Mohammed is right; there will be much to say years from now, when the young generations have been able to breath deeply the sweet perfume of freedom without fear of Saddam’ mukharabat, or the Fedayeen Saddam breaking into their homes and kidnapping and murdering their men…or the Fidayi Saddam–part of what they perpetrated against the Iraqis was the beheading the women campaign, sticking their heads on posts outside so everyone can see…new generations of Iraqis will be born into a completely new and free country. And they will learn how to stand up for themselves; without fear; something they’re struggling with right now after 35 years of not being allowed to do or think on their own.

When I received my Human Events this week, I was troubled to see a very large picture of the aging Jane Fonda holding up her fingers in a peace sign. But what was worse was reading what she meant by her “apology” for participating in the “peace protests” against the War in Vietnam back in the days of Barbarella when she was married to the well-known communist activist Tom Hayden.

In her book, My Life So Far, she says:

” . . .I do not regret that I went. My only regret about the trip was that I was photographed sitting in a North Vietnamese antiaircraft gun site.” (See page 291.)

Jane Fonda sitting on a seat of an anti-aircraft gun

Jane Fonda looking admiringly at an NVA gun crew

Jane Fonda applauds an NVA anti-aircraft gun crew. These guns were used to shoot down American planes and contributed to the deaths of American Airmen.

Pictures from 1stCavMedic. What’s really interesting is you can google up pictures of Jane Fonda and these pictures DO NOT SHOW UP.

mheh! That series of pictures–as disappointing and disheartening as they are–are not the only appalling thing about that trip of hers. The horrible truth is if there hadn’t been so much news coverage, she probably was perfectly ready and willing to shoot down American pilots. At the time she was in Hanoi, Fonda, for all practical purposes, was a Communist herself. She was certainly rooting for Ho Chi Minh’s military to defeat the “imperialist” United States of America involved in the supposedly “criminal” war against that lovely Red regime in the north. She fully embraced Communists, communism and revolutionaries in 1972 and way beyond that date. Her heroes were Black Panther thugs such as Huey Newton and Red dictators such as Fidel Castro.

We know of her revolutionary ardor because she used to run off at the mouth about her views. The Detroit Free Press, for instance, quotes her as saying in a Nov. 22,1969, Michigan State University speech: “I would think that if you understood what communism was, you would hope, you would pray on your knees that we would someday become Communist.” That statement has been quoted for years (in HUMAN EVENTS among other places) and has never been denied and is certainly not apologized for (or explained away) in her new memoir.

Want more? Here’s another red pearl from Fonda: On July 18, 1970, the People’s World, the West Coast’s Communist Party publication, carried a telephone interview with Fonda in which she said:

“To make the revolution in the United States is a slow day by day job that requires patience and discipline. It is the only way to make it. . . . All I know is that despite the fact that I am one of the people who benefit from a capitalist society, I find that any system which exploits other people cannot and should not exist.”

Great. Another one who talks like a socialist but lives like a capitalist. If these regimes that she admires so much produce so much happiness and fairness, why is she still selling her videos and living in the US?

Here’s just a small sampling of her Leninist polemics against America:

To South Vietnamese soldiers she said: “We understand that Nixon’s aggression against Vietnam is a racist aggression, that the American war in Vietnam is a racist war, a white man’s war. . . ” And then: “We deplore that you are being used as cannon fodder for U.S. imperialism.”

To Saigon students: “A growing number of people in the United States not only demand an end to the war, an end to the bombing, a withdrawal of all–all U.S. troops and–an end to the support of the Thieu clique, but we identify with the struggle of your people. We have understood that we have a common enemy: U.S. imperialism. We have understood that we have a common struggle and that your victory will be the victory of the American people and all peace-loving people around the world.”

Again, to the students: “As an American woman, I would like to tell you that the forces that you are fighting against go far beyond the bombs and the technology. In our country, people are very unhappy, People have no reason for living.”

To U.S. servicemen: “I don’t know what your officers tell you that you are dropping on this country. I don’t know what your officers tell you, you are loading, those of you who load the bombs on the planes. But, one thing that you should know is that these weapons are illegal and that’s not, that’s not just rhetoric. They are outlawed, these kinds of weapons, by several conventions of which the United States was a signatory. . . . And the use of these bombs or the condoning the use of these bombs makes one a war criminal.

“The men who are ordering you to use these weapons are war criminals, according to international law, and, in the past, in Germany and in Japan, men who were guilty of these kinds of crimes were tried and executed.”

What boggles my mind is what communism stands for, and the fact that history demonstrates it is the most oppressive and ruthless system ever, in practical reality. The killing fields of Vietnam, China, Russia only punctuate the point, but communists always skirt that reality…people with one iota of sense don’t overlook those simple facts, but then–facts never bother leftists.

She also does not honestly address the immense human tragedy that took place after the North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam and Pol Pot conquered Cambodia. Other anti-war activists had been bothered by what happened. Singer Joan Baez took out full-page newspaper ads in May1979, condemning Vietnam’s Communist rulers in the harshest language, urging them to “end the imprisonment and torture” of innocent men, women and children in the South. In addition to the ads, Baez sent out special packets to reporters detailing the horrors that had been documented in such publications as Le Monde and Le Figaro.

When this reporter asked Peter Necarsulmer, a Baez publicist, whether Fonda had been contacted on the mater, Necarsulmer said that Baez had twice tried to reach her by letter, one a “long and detailed” report explaining the situation. Unfortunately, said Necarsulmer, Jane never did respond. This incident, of course, is not even mentioned in Fonda’s book, let alone apologized for.

In short, Jane Fonda hasn’t really shown she’s sorry for anything, other than being “caught on camera” in a pose she almost certainly intended as an act of defiance against her own country.

Mr. Ryskind, HUMAN EVENTS Editor at large, is writing a book on Communism in Hollywood.

Is it any wonder the recent story of a disabled Vietnam Vet who was arrested for spitting on Jane Fonda?

From Worldnet Daily:

Smith told the Kansas City Star that Fonda is a “traitor” who had been spitting at war veterans for years.

“There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did,” Smith told the paper.

From some online messageboards:

# “I would like to pay Mr. Smith’s bail. He is a true patriot.”

# “I don’t like what [Fonda] did and will never forgive her. If I was on a jury to sentence the tobacco spitter I’d say ‘if she deserved the spit, you must acquit.’”

I just loved this article, from WND “Why The Greens Won’t Vote For Bush”:

Greens have been enormously successful in advancing their agenda. They think that it is horrible that in the last half-century, development has “chewed up” 60 million acres. But the 105.6 million acres designated as wilderness during the same period, they argue, is grossly inadequate. The 111 million acres of “non-federal wetlands” is nowhere near enough, and the Bush administration has designated less than half of the additional 80 million acres the greens want set aside as “critical habitat” for endangered species.

Only 6 percent of the land area in the lower 48 states is developed. That’s far too much for the greens. Their agenda calls for the removal of ranchers from the rangeland and replacing private farms with public/private partnership farms operated in the buffer zones surrounding sustainable communities. Their agenda calls for stopping “urban sprawl” and forcing people to live in “high-density, low-rise” structures within walking distance of their work and shopping centers.

Greens will not be happy until government controls every inch of land and every aspect of human behavior. The Clinton/Gore administration championed this agenda; greens see the Bush administration is an obstacle to it.

The Bush administration is far from anti-environmental. Property-rights groups, ranchers and many private landowners are extremely disappointed that the Bush administration has not been more forceful in reversing the green agenda of the Clinton years. The Forest Service, in particular, is still reducing grazing allotments on federal land and managing the land for the benefit of bugs and weeds, rather than letting the risk-taking resource producers manage their own allotments.

So although we’re looking elsewhere at the dangers that the environmentalists pose to our freedoms, the Bush administration is advancing these causes, anyway.

Agencies of the federal government are still using tax dollars to buy up private property at an alarming rate and to provide grants to the very environmental organizations that are working overtime to elect John Kerry. The NRDC, for example, one of the Bush administration’s most ferocious critics, received $1.3 million in grants in 2001 and 2002 alone.

The Bush administration is trying to implement an environmental strategy that has infuriated the greens and disappointed a broad segment of conservatives. The strategy, called “cooperative conservation,” seeks to recruit individuals into voluntary conservation practices, rather than use regulatory power to force conservation measures.

Greens cringe at “voluntary” anything; they want government to exercise total control. Conservatives tend to believe that much, if not most, of the conservation agenda is ill-founded, preferring instead to leave land management up to land owners. Consequently, President Bush has lost the green vote and much of the conservative vote.