Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Saturday, October 11, 2008

CHIEF PROSECUTOR OF THE WEATHER UNDERGROUN SPEAKS OUT ON MCCAIN CAMPAIGN TACTIC OF GUILT BY ASSOCIATION

To the Right Wingers who believe Sen. Obama is somehow a "terrorist" because of his association with Bill Ayers, please read the following:

NEW YORK In a surprising a letter to the editor published in The New York Times this week, the chief prosecutor of the Weather Underground in the 1970s expressed outrage over the linking of Barack Obama to Bill Ayers by the McCain campaign, adding, "Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen."

William C. Ibershof also corrects a charge in the Times: "I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of 'prosecutorial misconduct.' It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director." Felt, of course (you may have already forgotten), was also known as a guy called "Deep Throat."

The full letter follows, published again at:

The E&P Pub


"As the lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s (I was then chief of the criminal division in the Eastern District of Michigan and took over the Weathermen prosecution in 1972), I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.

Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.

Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers one cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.

I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of “prosecutorial misconduct.” It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director.

William C. Ibershof
Mill Valley, Calif.,
Oct. 8, 2008

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Cute. Obama, of course, is not being linked to Ayers' and Dohrn's terrorist activities.

He's being linked to the terrorists.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Right. I know.

Can you believe the idiocy of people thinking that the US government would have a person "linked to the terrorists" running for president and not have hauled someone with "terrorist" links off prison?

It's really comical how certain obvious truths seem not to bother people who think with their Limbaugh instead of their brains.

No one with an IQ over 70 believes Sen. Obama has links to terrorists.

But that seems to be all the McCain/Palin campaign has left in their playbook.

Anonymous said...

I'm eager for a good look at McCain's longtime relationship with John Singlaub.

Singlaub seemingly never met a right-wing death squad member or unrepentant Nazi he didn't want to 'spread Democracy' with.

Now Bill and Bernardine and the other Weather Underground folks certainly had the rhetoric down cold but at the end of the day it was guys like Singlaub who actually killed innocent people.

And in large numbers.

Go figure.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Gosh, Shaw. You think Obama has an IQ that low? I don't believe he does.

Because Obama has consistently downplayed and denied his ties to Dohrn and Ayres. If he didn't think his ties to them were a problem, why would he? One would think he would be proud of the fact that Ayres chose Obama to head his $50 million foundation.

Anonymous said...

Hey Gordon.

This might clear a couple of things up for you regarding 'the fact that Ayres chose Obama to head his $50 million foundation.'

You seem confused.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of confused I forgot your link Gordon.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/163396

Enjoy.

No need to thank me.

Anonymous said...

Why, thanks, Arthurstone! It was an interesting read.

But it doesn't change the fact that Obama has had friendly relations with terrorists Ayres and Dohrn for many years--back to 1987, when both he and Michelle Obama worked at the same law firm as Bernadette "They stuck a fork in those pigs' bellys!" Dohrn. And the relations go forward to 2005--gosh, about the time Obama started his plans to run.

And it wasn't just a 1960's bit of exhuberant youthfulness. The Weather Underground operated into the late 1980's; and Ayres and Dohrn apparently only regret that more folks didn't get blown up.

And it may well be that Richie Daley thinks Ayres is the bees' knees. But that says something about Chicago politics, of which Obama is an alumnus.

The rest of us don't think it was something to pooh-pooh. Here in Minnesota we had our own little bomber, Kathleen Soliah. She hid out for a long time, too. Now she's finishing up her prison term for murder, bank robbery and terrorism. Ayres and Dohrn should be prison pen pals of hers, but they had money, good lawyers, and they got lucky.

Anonymous said...

giper,

sorry, but your take on Ayers is wrong.

If you insist on guilt by association, then Ronald Reagan is guilty by degrees of separation from Ayers and Dohrn, too.

The only people pushing this story are the Republican base.

There is no one else in their right mind who believes for a nanosecond that Barack Obama is a terrorist sympathizer.

And the Right are monumental hypocrites if they continue to bellow about this idiocy and say nothing with the very real antiAmerican AIP, of which BOTH Palins were associated--and recently while it advocated secession (which is treason).

A majority of Americans DO NOT believe Barack Obama is a friend to terrorist.

Okay?

Only desperate, hate-mongering wackos think that.

Anonymous said...

Gordon. Gordon. Gordon.

What weenies you Repubs turn out to be. Claiming to save the world from Islamofascism (& worse) you quiver and quake at the rhetoric of a couple of '60's radicals who have, by the way, gone on to lengthy careers in public service.

If you were really concerned about 'terrorists' you would ask Senator McCain to repudiate his and his beloved GOP's associations with the likes of G. Gordon Liddy, John Singlaub and Luis Posada Carriles.

While the Weather Underground was theorizing, smoking pot, engaging in seemingly endless protests (while admittedly occasionally blowing themselves to bits) and having a great deal of sex these guys were out there actually killing innocent people.

Lots of them.