Who’s a Terrorist?

On Thursday, May 8. 2008 Eric McDavid stood before a judge in a courtroom in Sacramento, California to hear the sentence the judge would give him. Although he knew that the court was not friendly to him in any way – a lesson that had been driven home many times over the many months of and leading up to his trial – Eric’s knees must have wanted to buckle when the judge read his pronouncement – 19 years and 7 months in federal prison to be followed by parole that includes mandatory psychiatric treatment. No, not to help resolve any psychological issues Eric may face. The declared purpose is “to determine the source of his anti-government beliefs”.

And what was Eric’s crime? Conspiracy to commit arson. He did not commit arson. He did not even hatch a plot to commit arson. The person who did that was the same person who made the plans for fire starting bombs available to Eric and his disgruntled friends. The person who supplied them with operating funds and transportation. The person who turned out to be an FBI paid and funded spy whose methods and testimony would lead anyone who read about the whole incident to question whether any sentence at all should have been passed with the possible exception of one related to entrapment. (See: http://veganxjen.livejournal.com/4471.html)

This kind of thing is far too common in our “justice system”; take the case of “The Cuban Five”.

They: Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González were accused of committing “espionage conspiracy against the United States” back in June of 2001. So what triggered this charge against them?

In their defense arguments, the men insisted that they were Cubans engaged in monitoring the actions of Miami based terrorist groups in order to try and stop terroristic attacks on Cuba. The government of the U.S. admitted that the men were not armed and that they did not plan or carry out any terrorist actions in or on the United States.

They were agents of the Cuban government, but their mission was not to attack the U.S. in any way, it was to learn about imminent attacks on Cuba and then inform the Cubans so they could be ready to repel those attacks.

So the FBI arrested the five and imprisoned them in 1998, holding them for 17 months before bringing them to trial in 2001. The result -- four life sentences and one for 75 years. In realistic terms that’s five life sentences for preventing terrorism.

What was the U.S. doing in the meantime about terrorism related to Cuba? Why, funding it, of course. And that effort not only continues, but grows:

Just this past Monday, the Cuban government revealed that the Bush administration's ambassador to the U.S. Interests Section in Havana, Michael Parmly, handled cash transfers from convicted terrorist Santiago Alvarez to Martha Beatriz Roque and other individuals on the island who have been championed by Bush in their effort to overthrow the Cuban government and the Cuban Revolution.

The U.S. has long refuse extradition of Luis Posada Carriles, who is known to have longstanding connections to the CIA and is accused of planting a bomb on a Cuban civilian airliner, which took the lives of 73 people, and the bombing attacks against Cuban tourist hotels in the late 1990s.

Of course, Cuba has long been declared an enemy by the U.S., though Cuba has not given itself that designation, and the Amerikan frame of mind endorses terrorism as long as it is in support of Amerika and in opposition to Amerika’s declared enemies.

If you want to read more about the on-going legal battle in this case, here’s a reference that discusses the points of law under consideration and the defense’s approach to them: http://www.freethefive.org/legalFront/LFWeinglass112206.htm

We are also back in the business of supporting the bin Ladens of the world in our efforts to support Israeli foreign policy through clandestine actions in Iran. (See: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/04/17/060417fa_fact)

All in all, the U.S. just keeps on churning out reasons for the rest of the world to detest us. And here at home, we sit complacently in front of our TVs sipping beer and watching the Cubs try once again to hold onto the number one slot past June.

Eric McDavid’s greatest friend put it beautifully in her last message:

“Any other species would fight back tooth and nail. But we just watch.
Because this machine eats those who fight back. As they’re trying to eat eric. because this machine is so all encompassing and because the masses have bought into it, which gives it it’s power in the first place. But it’s the very thing that’s destroying them.

. . . And of course, this conversation could be expanded. Because this is what people do on a daily basis – we sit and watch as everything is taken from us. Clean air and water, ancient trees and forests, the creatures we share this earth with, our human rights, our freedom to live and love as we please. Everything is being taken from us. And people barely bat an eye, let alone lift a finger. And always the fear...”

And that, my friends, pretty much says it all. Without our complacent compliance, these deeply harmful lies could not be perpetrated upon the world, and people like the cretin that now represents our county could not be elected dog catcher in Crawford, Texas.


Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- M. K. Gandhi

Individually we have little voice. Collectively we cannot be ignored.
But in silence we surrender our power. Yours in Peace -- BR

The reason for going was to keep the crude flowing and raise a false flag abroad. – from a poem by Jack Evans titled 3500 Souls - http://www.myspace.com/paralegal_eagle