Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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PDF Controversy sharpens as man arrested in connection with shooting revealed to have links to rightwing militias
The US ordered increased security for abortion doctors and clinics todayas details emerged of close links between the man held for the murder of one of the country's most prominent abortion �doctors and rightwing militias with strong anti-government views.
The killing of Dr George Tiller at his �Kansas church on Sunday, and the arrest of 51 year-old Scott Roeder as he fled the scene, has added fresh impetus to the abortion debate shortly before congressional hearings begin for Sonia Sotomayor, Barack Obama's nominee to the supreme court, at which she is certain to be pressed for her views on the issue.
In Washington the attorney general, Eric Holder, ordered the US marshals service to step up protection of abortion doctors and their clinics, many of which have routine protection after years of being �targeted by extremists and mainstream anti-abortion groups. Nine abortion �doctors, clinic workers and others have been murdered in recent years. Tiller was wearing a bulletproof jacket when he was shot in the head, and frequently travelled with bodyguards after he was wounded in an earlier assassination attempt.
Obama denounced the killing. �"However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence," he said.
But some prominent anti-abortion activists came close to justifying it. �Randall Terry, founder of the largest anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue, issued a statement that fell short of condemning the murder and tried to shift attention to the political fight by warning that Obama would now use it to pressure organisations which describe themselves as "pro-life".
"George Tiller was a mass murderer.We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God," he said."I am more concerned that the Obama administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name: murder."
Dave Leach, editor of an anti-abortion newsletter, Prayer and Action News, to which Roeder occasionally contributed told the New York Times he had once met the alleged killer. "To call this a crime is too simplistic," Leach said. "There is Christian scripture that would support this."
Roeder's family said in a statement they were "shocked, horrified and filled with sadness at the death of Dr Tiller". "We know Scott as a kind and loving son, brother and father who suffered from mental illness at various times in his life," the family said. "However, none of us ever saw Scott as a person capable of or willing to take another person's life."
Others painted a picture of a more extreme man. Roeder has been identified as the likely poster of questions about Tiller on Operation Rescue's website. Among other things, a man with his name suggested going to Tiller's church to confront him and other members of the congregation over his work.
"Blaess (sic) everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp," he wrote. "Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there?"
In 1996, Roeder was convicted over the discovery of explosives and bomb-making equipment, along with a military rifle, gas mask and ammunition, in his car and sentenced to two years in prison. But his conviction was overturned on appeal on the grounds that the police had illegally searched his car.
The FBI identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, which described itself as made up of Christian patriots, whose leaders were sentenced to prison terms after a three month armed stand-off with law enforcement forces in Montana 13 years ago.
The Kansas City Star newspaper quoted a man identified as commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia in the mid-1990s, Morris Wilson, as saying he knew Roeder at the time. "I'd say he's a good ol' boy, except he was just so fanatic about abortion," Wilson said. "He was always talking about how awful abortion was." Operation Rescue denounced the killing as "vigilantism" and cowardly.
It said it instead wanted to see Tiller "brought to justice" for what it regards as the murder of the unborn.
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Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
[Source: Good Times Society - by The American Illuminati]
Security stepped up at abortion clinics in US after killing of Dr George Tiller
posted by 71353 @ 6:43 PM,
1 Comments:
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At July 16, 2009 at 3:29 AM,
Kansan said...
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I'm a bit puzzled. This post seems to have been written about six weeks ago.
I do, however, appreciate the story about white racist terrorism in the U.S., but Scott Roeder, who assassinated Doctor George Tiller, was as closely allied with anti-choice activists as he was with "Freemen."
The anti-choice movement is trying to distance itself from Tiller's murder. They deserve no slack as they were completely responsible. It came as a result of decades of fomenting hate specifically with regard to Tiller.
As the article points out, Roeder was previously convicted of transporting mostly assembled components for lethal bombs in Kansas. He was in touch with the "Army of God." He got the necessary information about the doctor's church attendance from Cheryl Sullenger, according to one account. She is variously listed as the "spokesperson" and "senior policy adviser" for Operation Rescue, which regularly stalked Tiller and his staff and picketed for decades outside his clinic. Sullenger has done time for plotting a clinic bombing in California.
They were joined in demonstrations by virulently homophobic, anti-Catholic anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim pastors such as the defrocked Mark Holick of Wichita and Fred Phelps of Topeka's Westboro Baptist church, famous for its disruptions of the funerals of slain GIs. Holick even denounced Tiller's Reformed Lutheran denomination as "apostate."
Clinic physicians, staff and escorts have been murdered by such as John Salvi, Rev. Paul Hill and Atlanta Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph. Flip Benham, OR leader, has tried to minimize anti-abortion violence by stating that "only" four doctors have been murdered since 1993, ignoring what I presume he regards as "collateral damage."
Operation Rescue demonstrator and clinic arsonist Shelly Shannon tried previously murder Tiller, shooting him in both arms. Anti-choice activists continue to correspond with and send money to these imprisoned murderers, and to praise them as "saints."
July 16, 2009 3:21 AM
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