printThe excerpt is from my new WND column, “Take This, Mr. President, For Ramos And Compean“:
“Their names are nowhere on the list of pardons and commutations George W. Bush has issued before saying adieu. They are the brave Border-Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.” …
“There was no justice, poetic or other, in the convictions of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.”
“Had Ramos and Compean been shooting up Iraqis while defending that occupied country’s borders, Bush would be pinning purple hearts to their lapels.”
“As luck would have it, a brave Baghdadi journalist stood up to the bully. In what will go down as the high-water mark of his career, journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi lobbed a loafer at Bush for invading his country, during the president’s last official trip to that country.”
Iraqis, tens of thousands of whom were killed and millions displaced, have every reason to throw boots, baklava and even bombs at Bush. But they’ve come a long way. Shoe tossing is much better than bomb throwing.
“Speaking of significant progress, the Muslim world responded to the melee in a thoroughly American way. The man—Muntadhar—and the moment became iconic, immortalized on YouTube, and replayed over and over again around the world.”
“Even better: the shoe became a best-selling brand. …”
Read the complete column, “Take This, Mr. President, For Ramos And Compean,” on WND.
Update II (Jan. 2): “withered little cretin” aka George (Bush), according to W. Grigg. That’s about right.
Update III (Jan. 3): “The trial of the Iraqi man who threw his shoes at US President George W Bush earlier this month has been postponed. … A spokesman for Iraq’s Central Criminal Court said the decision to postpone the trial was made following an appeal by Mr Zaidi’s lawyers. A new trial date would be set later, Abdel Sattar Beyraqdar told the AFP news agency. The lesser charge would incur a maximum sentence of two years.”
I posted the WND petition address on Baen’s Bar, Ilana. Ought be good for anywhere from a couple of dozen to a couple of hundred more sigs.
Sometimes the scorpion stings itself, and it is perhaps black poetic justice.
To be “tough on Guns” we have MANDATORY sentences when guns are used in commission of a crime (someone noted in some states you should not carry one if your $101 cheque bounces). And they were convicted in Texas, hardly a soft on crime enclave.
Then there’s “the war on drugs“. This is a market, albeit a black market. There is demand and the restrictions are not different in kind than those imposed by national health care, or agricultural subsidies and boards who control production.
Drugs may corrupt individuals, but restricting the market corrupts the state even further.
Many innocents pay the price of the attempts to regulate guns and drugs. Had there not been disproportionate penalties for either much less both, this would never have happened.
But keep the corruption and pardon those who are actually guilty of violating the corrupt laws? I’d be for a pardon, but the fact they need to be pardoned points out that the system is corrupt as well, but it seems everyone who wants them pardoned want the very laws and process they were convicted under to be made even more draconian.
Thanks for your article about Compean and Ramos. I’ve been following this story since it first broke, while they were pending trial. I feel very sad for my country when justice can be abused this badly against the very people defending the country. As a former Bush supporter, this case turned me strongly against the man. Seemingly, his only reason for not pardoning these men is that his good buddy Johnny Sutton was the prosecutor. I would expect this sort of moral reasoning from thugs and political hacks, but not from the man occupying our nation’s highest office.
[“The only reason, etc….“: Not so; Bush he believes in Third World illegal immigration and the demise of the nation.–IM]
Speaking of Bush and his fellow neocon rabble, here’s another neocon lie exposed by the inestimable Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/024665.html
I too have followed this story since it happened. How could it be possible that the very man touting “Home Land Security” in endless speaches have any credibility at all? The answer to that is> NO, NONE at all. Also, what many do not consider is, where in the world is the outcry from the Border Patrol? If it has been there, I am not aware of it.If I had been working for the Border Patrol after this happened, I would have layed my badge down on the table and exited the building. Not before I made my voice heard to the C.O.It would be impossible for me to work for them. This is one of the most slimy deeds that I have ever seen. I feel for these men and their families. That it has went to this level for 2 years is crystal clear testimony of Bush’s character, or lack of. Martin Berrow
Ms Mercer: While, as I have already observed on other occasions, you and I disagree stoutly on the matter of President Bush’s decision to go into Iraq, I do agree heartily with your sense that justice has been denied/betrayed in the case/s of Ramos & Compean — two men for whose pardons I have prayed. However, I will say this: President Bush is not out of office, yet. Perhaps he will yet relent. Putting myself in the most sympathetic mindset, I can understand how the President may be conflicted between loyalty to a friend (who was wrong) and doing justice. I hope he chooses the latter before his term ends.