The radical leftist civil rights attorney has died. She was among the bravest. Some background. The feds were aiming to fry her. She served four years of a 10-year sentence when she was granted “compassionate release” on New Year’s Day, 2014, due to a terminal case of late-stage breast cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Thousands of supporters had signed a petition seeking her release.
“One client was Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was found guilty in 1995 of leading a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations, after some of his followers had driven a powerful bomb into a garage beneath the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people. Ms. Stewart would visit him in prison, where he was serving a life sentence in solitary confinement. Her death came less than three weeks after his: He died in prison on Feb. 18.
Ms. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping to smuggle messages from the imprisoned sheikh to his violent followers in Egypt.”
gary lee-novasays
“Even a werewolf is entitled to legal counsel.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
I’m always struck by the curiously variable sense of our standards of justice. The George W. Bush administration badgered our intelligence agencies into making false reports so that it could lie about WMD’s in Iraq and initiate an illegal war that has caused a million deaths (and the rise of ISIS.) This war was also notable for war crimes ranging from Abu Ghraib to the white phosphorous munitions used by our military in Fallujah.
Is it not worth punishing those who lied to cause a million unjustified deaths? Or does it not matter because they were Arabs and Muslims? Why were only a few scapegoats punished for the national disgrace of Abu Ghraib? Why was the white phosphorous in Fallujah overlooked completely?
Lynne Stewart made mistakes, but the vindictiveness of her sentences, and blocking her from medical treatments for cancer that hastened her death, only reinforce the hypocrisy of our justice system.
Too many of our government policies and court rulings derive from racist hatred of Arabs and Muslims that borders on hysteria. Stewart was caught up in this atmosphere overreaction. This racism and religious intolerance existed long before Trump and is not covered up by phony token gestures. At least Trump is putting a true face on what our country is.
I won’t miss her:
“One client was Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was found guilty in 1995 of leading a plot to blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations, after some of his followers had driven a powerful bomb into a garage beneath the World Trade Center in 1993, killing six people. Ms. Stewart would visit him in prison, where he was serving a life sentence in solitary confinement. Her death came less than three weeks after his: He died in prison on Feb. 18.
Ms. Stewart was convicted in 2005 of helping to smuggle messages from the imprisoned sheikh to his violent followers in Egypt.”
“Even a werewolf is entitled to legal counsel.” ~ Hunter S. Thompson
I’m always struck by the curiously variable sense of our standards of justice. The George W. Bush administration badgered our intelligence agencies into making false reports so that it could lie about WMD’s in Iraq and initiate an illegal war that has caused a million deaths (and the rise of ISIS.) This war was also notable for war crimes ranging from Abu Ghraib to the white phosphorous munitions used by our military in Fallujah.
Is it not worth punishing those who lied to cause a million unjustified deaths? Or does it not matter because they were Arabs and Muslims? Why were only a few scapegoats punished for the national disgrace of Abu Ghraib? Why was the white phosphorous in Fallujah overlooked completely?
Lynne Stewart made mistakes, but the vindictiveness of her sentences, and blocking her from medical treatments for cancer that hastened her death, only reinforce the hypocrisy of our justice system.
Too many of our government policies and court rulings derive from racist hatred of Arabs and Muslims that borders on hysteria. Stewart was caught up in this atmosphere overreaction. This racism and religious intolerance existed long before Trump and is not covered up by phony token gestures. At least Trump is putting a true face on what our country is.