EMAIL SIGN UP!
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
'So This is America': Veteran Ray McGovern Bloodied and Arrested At Clinton Speech
From the Partnership for Civil Justice:
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?" 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.
Mr. McGovern now works for Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.
 |
 |
Comments
Note: Disqus 2012 is best viewed on an up to date browser. Click here for information. Instructions for how to sign up to comment can be viewed here. Our Comment Policy can be viewed here. Please follow the guidelines. Note to Readers: Spam Filter May Capture Legitimate Comments...
202 Comments so far
Show AllWow!! The Title kinda says it all........
and then the Native American Indian cried. and soon the rest of us will too :(......
The Secret Service had grabbed Ray Mc Govern during a Rumsfeld speech.Ray directed a question to Rumsfeld about Rumsfeld having said he knew where the WMDs were.Rumsfeld flatly denied having ever said he knew where the WMDs were.RAY SHOT RIGHT BACK,& STATED,"YES YOU DID.YOU SAID THEY WERE BETWEEN TAKRIT & BAHGDAD".THE SECRET SERVICE IMMEDIATELY GRABBED RAY TO THROW HIM OUT......Rumsfeld realizing who RAY WAS & HOW THIS WOULD LOOK ON TV....He stopped the S.S. (S.S.=Secret Service).......>>>>>>>>>See,YOU LOSE YOUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH,THE MOMENT YOU LEARN THE TRUTH.........IN TIMES OF TYRANNY,SPEAKING THE TRUTH IS A TREASONOUS ACT.......THE BUSH CABAL,..TORTURED ME TO TRY & GET INFO (DIRT) AGAINST TED KENNEDY,BEFORE THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.THERE WAS NONE (BUT I HAD SOME ON G.W.BUSH,& DADDY'S DAMAGE CONTROL,BECAUSE OF G.W.BUSH'S DRUGGED / DRUNKEN / ESCAPADES....GOOGLE: DAVID FULTON TORTURE >>>SEE MY MANY COMMENTS TO JESSE VENTURA'S & SODA HEAD,..>>>GO TO : DAVID FULTON3.com >>>down load : DAVID_WORK >>FILE
Would this have happened to a FOX News "journalist"?
Who from FOX would stand silently and wear a Veterans for Peace t-shirt?
What in the world was going through her head when her men tackle a silent protester as she trumpeted about what the other guys did to keep protesters down? The protester's only comment came when he was being hustled out. Boy, this gave her a black eye! Forget the tears. Twitter away is what I say--and I'm not on Twitter, yet.
I don't Twitter either, but I'm thinking that this might be a necessity. If it's good enough for the Egyptians it's good enough for us.
Let's bear in mind that this action or something very like it was almost certainly planned and known by the Clinton camp and almost surely Clinton herself in advance.
As most of you know, Mr. McGovern is not unknown to the White House or the State Department; he is an old CIA hand who used to brief the presidents on foreign policy. This is an individual whose name at least Mrs. Clinton has surely known for most of 20 years. Moreover, he did at a public speech confront Donald Rumsfield for lying, did so on camera, and did use the term *lying* when he did.
One can assume that Mrs. Clinton's security people and her publicity people know who Ray McGovern is and why they do not want him to participate in Mrs. Clinton's speech and how they are expected to treat him.
Mrs. Clinton kept talking as she planned to in such an event involving McGovern or, probably, anyone else.
The reason is fairly straightforward. She has nothing against contradicting herself because she is not trying to put forth a coherent position and is not trying to inform her listeners and is not trying to lessen repression in China. She wishes to show an American public that largely likes at least some freedom of the press that she is in favor of it, probably particularly in the wake of her own and her administration's support for Mubarak's lies and censorship and her own and her administrations planned actions against freedom of speech in the case of demonstrations, Wikileaks, and Wikileaks-style revelations.
By whatever narrow margins that some democracy, some civil rights, and some freedom of information exists within the US, they do so not because the US has enlightened leaders who support these things, but because customs and legal mechanisms have come into place that demand greater consensus among more governing individuals to misuse. The US has greater freedom of information than some places, though at this point less than others. But this is for the likes of Julian Assange (not American, but not less a factor for that), Bradley Manning, Daniel Ellsberg, the ACLU, FAIR, Glenn Greenwald, green and antiwar and other activists, King's marchers, Allen Ginsberg, James Joyce, Henry Miller, Amendments 1 and 2-9 the people who clamored and pushed Madison to present them, the folks who forced the King of England to sign the Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215, and thousands of others whom I am too tired or too ignorant to name.
My primary point, since I have probably gotten tiresome, is that neither Ms. C nor others in similar position deserve that we presume them ignorant of their actions nor innocent of intentional action until and outside of such time as they stand formal trial for their felonies.
The problem is that in our current system of government (fascism) there are no charges made against our 'leaders'. Even a change of administration does not change a thing. Obama did not, and will not, allow any charges of war crimes against Bush II, or Cheney or any of the other criminals of the last administration. He is going to 'Look forward!"
and so am I....looking forward to more 'democracy' such as was seen while Madam Clinton lied to the public about how we honor the people in Egypt for over throwing their rotten government. Betcha our 'leaders' will work full time to see that the Egyptians stay under control and that the American people will remain inert as our standard of civil rights and economic rights go down the corporate drain.
Your primary point would appear to be the point that most people find totally unacceptable.
Hypocrite is far too anemic a term for scum such as this wretched creature.
Amen. I love the way she lectures other countries on their civil rights, and especially telling the Iranians to let the college student go when this country has so many Muslim men locked away in private prisons and are being tortured daily. This is has got to be the biggest bitch this country has ever seen. I used to have respect for her. God only know why. I guess I didn't realize that she was a sociopath at the time.
She has no problem with this country killing thousands upon thousands of innocent civilians to help line her purse.
I do hope she rots in hell with the rest of this government.
And this deal with the guy in Pakistan. Some one wrote in another article, what if 2 Pakistanis had killed 2 guys in Texas? My guess is lynch mob.
Her hypocrisy knows no bounds. Wonder where we would be if she had become President. Oh that right. She would have nuked Iran already.
What you have said is absolutely true. I saw the clip of Mr. McGovern's manhandling on Democracy Now!, and I think what bothered me the most (aside from the violence attended upon a senior citizen), was the reaction of the people in the room. By that, I mean, NONE! They looked around as if nothing was happening, as Hillary banged on. It was chilling that not one of these wankers said or did anything. Business as usual in the insulated DC halls. What a den of vipers DC has become.
I am going to play the "devil's advocate" here, particularly because I'm in a particularly "satanic" mood at this time;-)
I was just wondering if perhaps for some reason security personnel have been trained to be on the lookout for any "unusual" behavior in individual audience members, possibly on the basis, for example, that an individual deliberately turning has back on a VIP of this stature might have actually been a "secret signal" to other "conspirators" for the start of an assassination attempt, or something on that order, and for that reason they decided to "play it safe" and not take any chances (sort of like that individual suspiciously opening that umbrella on that grassy knoll, if my recollection of the JFK assassination film serves me well).
I know this argument is a long shot, and it would really help to know something about the kinds of training that security personnel actually receive when the individual to be protected is of such "high value". This is not the first time, unfortunately, that security personnel have overreacted to what would normally be quite innocuous behavior.
Nevertheless, I definitely agree with all of the other posters here that this action seems extremely hypocritical, particularly in light of the persecution of protesters in the Middle East at this time.
Peace
"I was just wondering if perhaps for some reason security personnel have been trained to be on the lookout for any "unusual" behavior in individual audience members"
Hey, anyone remember Tucson?
'it would really help to know something about the kinds of training that security personnel actually receive '
Agree, however, if they wait until after the gun is fired it is too late.
We know freedom is on the defensive today. So are the free, including you, me, and Hillary.
Part of me is sad because we are so 'trigger happy' that a person might not even be able to get up from his seat to leave the room for any reason without being swept-up by security.
Part of me wonders what really did happen before the guards and McGovern are visible on the video. Did he make any threatening motion? Did he say anything? Did he move toward the center aisle? What more was he going to do?
Old people bruise easily and these guys don't use kid gloves when the grab you.
However, how was McGovern treated after he was removed? Was he asked to explain what he was going to do? Under what law was he jailed?
We can't be truly free when violence is abroad in the land.
Guns abound.
Everyone is afraid and on edge.
Those who can afford it have security to protect them.
These guys did what they are paid to do to a guy who I want to believe was doing something he has the right to do.
In this climate, at this forum McGovern's behavior was going to get someone's attention.
Ray could have done it differently.
Hillary could have reacted differently.
It's so so sad.
"Hey, anyone remember Tucson?" --
It's ironic that you bring that up. I've already mentioned this a few times here at CD, but it just so happens that I have a sister and a brother who both live in Tucson, AZ. My sister also knew the US Representative who was shot in the head during the gun massacre; they were buddies back in their college days, and the rabbi who officiated at my sister's wedding is also Gabby Gifford's rabbi at the synagague that she and her husband attend. As I understand, my sister had actually been planning on going to that ill-fated poltical presentation that day, but she felt a litte sick in the morning, and so she decided not to go. That decision may very well have saved her live!
Unfortunately, it appears that security for US representatives is not nearly as tight as it is for a so-called US Secretary of State:-(
Peace
One minor quibble with your post. Hillary is not the VIP; McGovern is. She's just a hack corporate spokesperson.
You're right AA1. The US Secret Service agent was considering EXACTLY those things when he removed Vet.CIA Agent McGovern who likely expected to be removed as well. It was a good show on his part, and look at the predictable reactions it got!
Ray was on tape when he went off on Donald Rumsfeld back in 2006. He loves butting heads with "higher-ups" to make social statements. He hope he doesn't get too banged up doing it. Peace.
"What .... was going through her head?" Why did she just ignore what was happening? Was it out of habit? Was she happy about what she saw? Ditto for the audience members and the cops.
Hillary serves essentially the same role in the Obama administration as Cheney did for Bush ---- but without the Dick!
Hillary --- the worst scum bag in this entire ruling-elite global corporate/financial/militarist EMPIRE only posing behind the facade of a two-party 'Vichy' sham of faux-democracy.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
"Democracy over Empire" party headquarters
No former first lady will ever second-guess the U.S. Secret Service for removing a security breach. That's what they do. Peaceful protests never happen within a stone's throw of any first family ever. That all ended after April 14th, 1865.
Umm, then how did Kennedy get assassinated? How did Robert Kennedy get assassinated? Please, give us another excuse for this hypocritical woman and the sheep in the audience. Peaceful protests are legal everywhere. It is just that we no longer live in a free society.
Re "Peaceful protests never happen witin a stone's throw of any first family ever."
But Ms. Clinton is not currently a member of the first family. She is our nation's Secretary of State.
Yes, this is the United States of America.
This is appalling and horrible, but this sketchy account raises a lot of questions. I hope that Mr. McGovern and credible eyewitnesses will fill in the blanks.
As far as I know, standing up and passively turning one's back on a VIP speaker, while perhaps perceived as rude and disrespectful of the speaker (and the people whose view is being blocked), is not a crime.
Surely even law enforcement authorities wouldn't be stupid enough to argue that yelling "So this is America!" AFTER being manhandled constitutes a breach of the peace! One might as well call it "aggravated mopery".
If McGovern was indeed simply blindsided, i.e. physically assaulted without preamble and dragged off to the pokey, I hope he'll file appropriate lawsuits.
Given Secretary Clinton's penchant for high-minded pontification on the sanctity of "human rights", it will be interesting to see if she comments on this incident-- or is even asked about it. Even without a media "hook" like, "Don't tase me, bro!", this seems far too serious to disappear into the Memory Hole without comment.
Come on. OS, surely you know by now that hillary will not comment on it nor will anyone in the corporate media (the only media allowed in earshot of the sec. of state) will ask about it - that is, if the reporter values his career.
Hillary Clinton's behavior is of a piece with that of the Democratic Party hierarchy -- empty words for human rights that don't even mask a genuine contempt for same. John Kerry hardly missed a beat while one of his audience members was Tasered for talking back, after all.
Yes, and I found John Kerry's behavior to be extremely cowardly during that incident, especially for an individual who earlier in life had been so bold as to take on the war establishment and to admit that he and the other members of his company had committed war crimes while in Viet Nam.
Just what the he!! was he thinking? He could have easily prevented the whole ugly incident by just speaking up and saying that the young man was not hurting anybody, and that he should be allowed to finish his question, even if he had gone a bit over the time limit. I doubt very much that the "security" people would have gone into action if John Kerry had firmed commanded them NOT to lay a finger on him!
Certainly, an orator of the stature of Marcus Tullius Cicero would not have put up with such a disgusting scene, but then, that was back in the day when politicians actually had spines...I guess we now are living in what should be called the "Age of Cowardice" in the United States. Words cannot express how eager I am to see the US plunge into an irreparable collapse and become the pathetic third world "basket case" that it so very much deserves to be!
Cicero also died for his courage. Kerry, on the other hand, prefers to cash his checks, and take gifts from lobbyists.
Are you talking about the Bush Family shill for the 2004 Presidential Elections?
"it was rude to the people sitting behind him"
but they were in front of him.....
Speaking of other ironies... beside Hillary the Pompous pontificating on human rights and free speech while her security pummels a former high level CIA guy who gave daily briefings to Bush the elder (who gave him a medal!) ...
Ironically, McGovern was actually treated more respectfully by the eminent war criminal Donald Rumsfeld when he challenged him with a question about lying on Iraq:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/04/rumsfeld-called-out/
http://www.democracynow.org/2006/5/5/retired_cia_analyst_ray_mcgovern_takes
The serious corporate media, of course, depicted McGovern as an aggressive hassler of our ernest Secretary of Defense. McGovern was 'stalking' one of our noble leaders!
Paula Zahn depicted McGovern as the aggressor & Rumsfeld as the innocent victim. Now there's some Uluru sized irony for all you irony-heads out there.
If there are tough questions to be asked, don't you worry -- the bona fide journalists at CNN will ask them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/05/zahn-mcgovern/
Hillary Clinton is a hypocrite on 'Internet Freedom' for several reasons that have been discussed (the WikiLeaks persecution and 1st Amendment infringements, the Obama Admin.'s failure to uphold net neutrality, and the U.S. Gov's vast and privacy violating surveillance state) but the spectacle of Clinton's police thugs grabbing, silencing and arresting a peaceful protester during the very speech is shameful and makes Clinton's respect of freedom, dissent, or the right of protest, laughable.
Clinton needs a lesson in freedom and our Constitution.
Its all coming back to fascist amerika; and the war criminals who continue to vote for blood money and amerikas terrorist acts against humanity still act like they can stop the collapse of empire... they exist in total delusion !
CrazyLiberal, I would take umbrage at your saying "Hillary Clinton is a hypocrite" -------- actually Hillary is a Nazi.
Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Miane
McGovern has now filled in the blanks. I'm sorry to say that this really is the whole story. McGovern just stood and turned his back. He did not say or do anything else. And they mugged him and dragged him out and threw him in jail.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Former-CIA-Veteran-Ray-McG-by-Rob-Kall-110217-854.html
Thanks for the link, oisin.
FWIW, I'm neither impressed nor daunted by persons who insist that a discerning person can figure out EXACTLY what's going on from vivid, but sketchy, first impressions with little context. Or, conversely, mistake any hesitation in passing judgement for skepticism or suspicious counterspin. They need to read "the Ox-Bow Incident", for starters.
Or just go to a half-decent Las Vegas magician's lounge act to see how reliable seemingly-convincing fleeting impressions really are. I hear they let you keep the quarters they pull out of your ear!
That said, McGovern indeed "filled in the blanks" and confirmed that what actually happened is exactly what it looked like.
I appreciate that McGovern is focused on the bogus "charges" being dropped, but I hope he'll take more aggressive measures, e.g. civil actions, if only to keep this incident in the spotlight.
I know he's a dedicated Christian, but IMO kicking up a fuss to maximize publicity is preferable to turning the other cheek.
Wake up. You mention lawsuits like there is actually a system of justice that resembles the fairy tale you learned in school. Ray McGovern has no chance of filing a successful lawsuit for being beaten by SS thugs. None whatsoever.
It was a breach of security for the Federal Secret Service agency protecting the former first lady. Unfortunately that's the way it is for people who live or have lived in the White House. Distractions aren't allowed. Distractions are more tolerated generally in places like a Walgreens parking lot in Arizona, but events can change that in a heart beat too.
What exactly was this "breach" that occurred under the noses of the Secret Service? To the best of my knowledge, McGovern never made any threatening gesture at or toward Hillary Clinton. On the contrary, McGovern showed his contempt for the bellicose Clinton by simply turning his back to her as she, without a trace of irony, praised the protesters in Egypt for taking action against their government.
Presidents and ex-presidents and their families should not be treated as if they are royalty. If Americans are not allowed to speak out against these people [the irony here is until he was dragged away McGovern never uttered a word to Clinton] then the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution are entirely devoid of meaning.
I noticed that lack of a trace of irony, too. She appeared to be in full damage control mode.
Aren't you glad she wasn't our president during the Egyptian uprising? I have to wonder how much longer she will be Secretary of State.
Fortunately, in their wisdom, the American people chose Barack Obama to lead them.
Hillary is the enabler par excellence, whether we speak of her man's misdeeds, Walmart's skullduggery in Arkansas, McChrystal's crimes, or her Commander-In -Chiefs drones against the world plan. She is always there to excuse and protect. She lacks any imagination, has no innovative abilities. Hugely talented in a narrow range, though.
Lady Macbeth is never an enabler. She's often the power behind the throne.
Our T-shirts and flags are showing up a lot these days. If you are a vet, shouldn't you be wearing one, too? www.veteransforpeace.org. We are walking the talk. Of course, our actions are seldom reported by that korporate media, but some of these kinds of venues see us.
Physically "brutalizing" a protester while condemning attacks on dissent in Egypt is hypocritical. He could have been restrained from shouting down a speaker who had a right to be heared but roughing up McGovern is fascistic. Mrs. Clinton needs to speak up at brutality on her behalf.
Check out Julian Assange addressing a conference in Melbourne recently, www.themonthly.com.au/video. Julian has little regard for Hilary Clinton, nor should he or anyone else.
Good for Ray McGovern, I wish him well.
Thanks "Q" funny name :-). I am watching it now.
..
Here's a longer video (almost a whole minute) from CNN. Consistent with the shorter embedded clip above, I do not hear any "heckling' prior to the arrest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-Vy8fFnz18&feature=related
Ray McGovern deserves profound respect for his questioning of the wars and his illumination of our awful, militarized governmental institutions and ugly "leaders" who are bankrupting the country. I'm appalled at this treatment of him, which is usually relegated to us unknown "little guy" protesters.
So, it's real clear what happened. And it's par for the course. That said, there are people here on Common Dreams who just love Hillary Clinton. They still can't get over her primary loss. Even though Hillary has shown her savagery during the Honduran coup, in which she backed the coup leaders. Even though she hedged as the Egyptian masses filled the streets - still, the excuse might be that she's just doing her diplomat's job, or carrying out (evil) Obama's policies. That's a partial truth, in fact.
Here's another possible excuse. She's coached to not respond to audience heckling (McGovern didn't heckle, of course). Yet another idea is that Hillary Clinton deserves to be respectfully heard in a public forum, with respect meaning silence. It all sounds so reasonable. And it would be reasonable if the republic, our governance, and even Hillary Clinton really did represent the people's bidding instead of Wall Street, banksters and the military industrial complex. We don't live in that pristine world. We live in a mockery of that world.
Ray McGovern is just attempting to make us see that, and he got manhandled for it. That's really all you need to know. Please, no excuses. If you're not angry, you're just not paying attention. And please, no Hillary Clinton defenses. You're smarter than that.
..