Updated: Feb. 18, 2011; added an interview with Ray McGovern and a video from Democracy Now!
by Sibel Edmonds
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Originally published by Boiling Frogs Post
February 16, 2011
To Those Who Second-Guess Our Police State Status: Shame on You!
I just received the following news and I am way too upset to write a coherent piece on this. Ray McGovern is a good friend of mine. We live less than 10 miles apart. Together we have participated in many events and protests. He is one of the most informed, articulate, gentle, peace-loving and peace-seeking human beings I’ve ever known…For me, this hits too close to home: My father was similarly brutalized by dictator regimes, and that was only the beginning, before it escalated to being tortured and having his toenails pulled out by the state police. Why? He was a doctor, a surgeon with an inquiring mind, and he spoke out whenever he could against dictatorships and for liberties. Participating in peaceful demonstrations, encouraging others to rise up for their rights, and reading authors such as Steinbeck (the American author black-listed there as ‘communist and anarchist’) landed him on the list of to-be-punished and pacified…
Right now, at this point, all I have to say to those who second-guess our nation’s police state status is this: “Shame on you!” As for my irate minority friends over here at Boiling Frogs, please help disseminate this news, because the scum bag media won’t; thank you.
At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised & Arrested for Standing Silently
As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday, condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a C.I.A. analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt.
Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, “So this is America?” As you see, Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the assault.
Mr. McGovern is being represented by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). “It is the ultimate definition of lip service that Secretary of State Clinton would be trumpeting the U.S. government’s supposed concerns for free speech rights and this man would be simultaneously brutalized and arrested for engaging in a peaceful act of dissent at her speech,” stated attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the PCJF.
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[DS added the videos.]
Hillary Doesn’t Even Break Stride in “Freedom” Speech as Vet Is Roughed Up Right in Front of Her
mmflint | February 16, 2011
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Ray McGovern Brutalized & Left Bleeding by Hillary Clinton Police, “So this is America!”
Rys2sense | February 16, 2011
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Updated:
Scott Horton Interviews Ray McGovern
http://dissentradio.com/radio/11_02_17_mcgovern.mp3
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Ex-CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Beaten, Arrested for Silent Protest at Clinton Speech
Democracy Now!
Feb. 18, 2011
This week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a major address calling for Internet freedom around the world. As Clinton condemned the Egyptian and Iranian governments for arresting and beating protesters, former U.S. Army and CIA officer Ray McGovern was violently ejected from the audience and arrested after he stood up and turned his back in a silent protest of America’s foreign policy. Ray McGovern joins us from Washington, D.C. [includes rush transcript]
via Ex-CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Beaten, Arrested for Silent Protest at Clinton Speech
mediagrrl9 – Feb 18, 2011
see
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Dan..the attack on McGovern has nothing to do with socialism…try not to prove youself a dumb american living in cold war days.
Yes folks, that’s what happens in a corporate socialist system. Free speech is incompatible with top down rule. There’s no room for the Bill of Rights.
BTW, would Hillary have made a better president than her boss, Barack Bush?
Has the US reached a new low in targeting people to brutalize? Ray McGovern? … Ray McGovern?! …
Too bad MLK or Ghandi aren’t around anymore; they would be the next logical step in this insane police-state machine. Sickening beyond words.
Ray McGovern takes a back seat to No One in the very best kind of Real patriotism. He is a Real ‘profile in courage’ and an object-lesson in the very best that humanity is capable of. No words, no flag …. can cover up this shame.
Just what one should expect from Madeleine Albrights successor. http://wn.com/Madeleine_Albright__500000_Iraqi_Deaths_Are_'WORTH_IT‘
Just what one should expect from an SOS who in recent days supported Mubarak then Suleiman the torturer. The very same SOS who warned US college students if they want a job in government someday they best not discuss wikileaks at all on places like facebook.
Step down, Hillary… right now, today!
“The whole world’s watching”
Good one, David.