File it under: watch this one unfold
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/295023_ranger07.html
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Today's developing story about Spc. Elliott Sommer, of both the US Army Rangers and house arrest at his mom's place in Peachland, BC, is going to be very interesting.
Spc. Elliott Sommer is accused of leading a Bank Robbery in which four gang members took $50,000 in less than 3 minutes. This tactic is reminiscent of the Weathermen. This kind of praxis hasn't been commonplace for political ends during my life time.
Meanwhile, the CIA, Task Force 626 and the US Government are accused of war crimes. Sommer has publicly stated he intends to avoid extradition by putting the US Government's activities in Iraq on trial. "We are looking to be able to prosecute 30 to 40 members of Task Force 626 for war crimes, including rape, murder, et cetera," states Sommer in an interview with the Seattle PI.
He specifically refers to 16 illegal deaths and makes explicit references to torture and killing a candidate standing for democratic election by elite US forces and CIA operatives. Vancouver area lawyer Michael Bolton seems to believe there is some capacity for these arguments to be successful with the right Justice Minister's intervention.
The recent election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua heralds the return to power of a man who used bank robbery as a political tactic when he was leading the Urban Guerilla campaign of the Sandinistas in the late 1960s. Chavez in Venezuela also tried taking a gun to his government well before he tried the tactics of electoral success. Given the likely connections between the Hells Angels and those Sommer accuses, it may not be so far-fetched, that he was looking to challenge for control of his own BC community.
Political crimes are not unheard of in British Columbia. It has just been a long time since anyone stood up and openly stated that the US Government was going to have to prove their legitimacy in order to support an extradition. Let's hope Sommer has the documents or the witnesses to prove his claims. I don't doubt that the kind of activity he suggests took place and is on-going in Iraq. What I doubt is his ability to prove his allegations against the US Military, as usual, here's hoping I'm wrong.
I never approve of carrying guns around, but luckily in the end no one was hurt by the bank robbery. Sommer probably has more to answer for in participating in US military operations in Iraq than he does for taking a bit of green, but as a 20-year-old, this young man has a lot of potential to do his time, then go straight and do things right.
Let's watch this one unfold.
Spc. Elliott Sommer is accused of leading a Bank Robbery in which four gang members took $50,000 in less than 3 minutes. This tactic is reminiscent of the Weathermen. This kind of praxis hasn't been commonplace for political ends during my life time.
Meanwhile, the CIA, Task Force 626 and the US Government are accused of war crimes. Sommer has publicly stated he intends to avoid extradition by putting the US Government's activities in Iraq on trial. "We are looking to be able to prosecute 30 to 40 members of Task Force 626 for war crimes, including rape, murder, et cetera," states Sommer in an interview with the Seattle PI.
He specifically refers to 16 illegal deaths and makes explicit references to torture and killing a candidate standing for democratic election by elite US forces and CIA operatives. Vancouver area lawyer Michael Bolton seems to believe there is some capacity for these arguments to be successful with the right Justice Minister's intervention.
The recent election of Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua heralds the return to power of a man who used bank robbery as a political tactic when he was leading the Urban Guerilla campaign of the Sandinistas in the late 1960s. Chavez in Venezuela also tried taking a gun to his government well before he tried the tactics of electoral success. Given the likely connections between the Hells Angels and those Sommer accuses, it may not be so far-fetched, that he was looking to challenge for control of his own BC community.
Political crimes are not unheard of in British Columbia. It has just been a long time since anyone stood up and openly stated that the US Government was going to have to prove their legitimacy in order to support an extradition. Let's hope Sommer has the documents or the witnesses to prove his claims. I don't doubt that the kind of activity he suggests took place and is on-going in Iraq. What I doubt is his ability to prove his allegations against the US Military, as usual, here's hoping I'm wrong.
I never approve of carrying guns around, but luckily in the end no one was hurt by the bank robbery. Sommer probably has more to answer for in participating in US military operations in Iraq than he does for taking a bit of green, but as a 20-year-old, this young man has a lot of potential to do his time, then go straight and do things right.
Let's watch this one unfold.
Labels: unfolding
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