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Read other letters about this article
Glenn -
I posted this on Joe Klein's blog, but I think he gave up reading his comments long ago. It thought it might be something to speak to in this Ayers b.s.
I wrote:
I think Ayers is a self-serving media whore and loving every minute of his renewed exposure in the national spotlight - the NY Times article itself pointed out how interested he was in a movie being produced about him and Dohrn. I agree with Mike Davis' pronouncement on the Weather People - instead of playing at revolutionary, they should have been in the communities organizing people.
However, you might want to point out the reason Ayers, Dohrn and others were never indicted or served jail time for their crimes. I know this is ancient history, but the US government, particularly the FBI under Hoover, used blatantly illegal tactics to combat "subversion" in America that included illegal evidence gathering activities, police brutality, bribery, extortion, agent provacateur tactics and, if some sources are to be believed, extra-judicial killings. The collective program was known as COINTELPRO and exposed by the Church Commission.
It might be worth using this as an object lesson for our own time. Just as several 1960's radicals got off scott-free because the government tainted the evidence and used illegal means to extract and gather information, so there is a decent chance that several unsavory characters might escape justice today because the Bush Administration - with John McCain's support - has approved unethical and illegal tactics for "War of Terror" prisoners, including torture, illegal wiretapping, tainted evidence, denial of habeas corpus rights, and other shameful methods.
Just as Ayers avoided justice for his crimes because the government screwed up, so too might members of the Taliban and perhaps even Al-Qaeda.
Worth thinking about.
