John Whitehead's Commentary

We wanted to make visible the truth of war. We were called by our faith, the law and our moral beliefs to peacefully protest the war.--Daniel Burns, member of the St. Patrick's Four

Hurricanes are battering our southern coasts. Thousands of families have been uprooted and remain homeless, with little relief in sight. Investigations are underway to determine why our government was not prepared for such disasters. Across the sea, the number of American soldiers who have been killed in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan is approaching the 2,000 mark. At home, terrorists may be moving over our porous borders. Yet with the country in peril and turmoil, our government has been focusing its efforts on severely prosecuting four peaceful American anti-war protesters who engaged in a minor act of vandalism.

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 2003, the four protesters, all parents of young children, gathered at a military recruiting center near Ithaca, N.Y. In an effort to "symbolize the violence of war and the sanctity of life," the protesters, dubbed the St. Patrick's Four, poured small amounts of their own blood on the walls and the American flag. They then prayed together and waited for arrest. It was not long in coming.

Upon arrest, the St. Patrick's Four, who stated that they were alone in the building and did not prevent anyone from entering or leaving the center, were charged with misdemeanors for criminal mischief. The ensuing local trial at Tompkins County Courthouse resulted in a hung jury when nine jurors voted for acquittal. Understandably, the prosecuting attorney opted not to retry the case.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in a break with its own policy of discouraging federal prosecution if a state court decides the case, ruled that there was "substantial federal interest" to pursue a federal prosecution of the Four. And to the astonishment of many, the Justice Department upped the misdemeanor charges to felony criminal charges involving a conspiracy to impede an officer of the United States. Daniel Burns, age 45, Clare Grady, 46, Teresa Grady, 40, and Peter DeMott, 58, were made to stand trial in federal court on charges of federal conspiracy. They faced up to eight years in prison and $360,000 in fines if convicted for engaging in nonviolent protests over the war in Iraq. However, after deliberating for eight hours, a U.S. District Court jury acquitted the four protesters of the conspiracy charge, which was the more serious charge against them, and convicted them of damaging governmental property and entering a military recruiting station for unlawful purposes.

Clearly, the St. Patrick's Four were being made examples of, and the message is coming across loud and clear: this is what happens to people who dare to voice their disapproval of the Bush Administration's war in Iraq. By its actions, our government is attempting to criminalize dissent and establish a judicial precedent for intimidating and prosecuting anti-war dissidents. As law professor Bill Quigley, who defended the Four, stated, "This is the first federal felony criminal conspiracy trial that has been brought against non-violent, anti-war protesters as far as we can tell.... It may go back to the Vietnam War era."

Likening themselves to a historic line of protesters that includes such figures as suffragette Susan B. Anthony, civil rights activists Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., and the American revolutionaries who took part in the Boston Tea Party, the four Catholic protesters consider themselves morally bound to protest what they describe as the needless deaths of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. As Daniel Burns remarked, "I think about my 3-year-old daughter and know that she's got a counterpart in Iraq who is dead."

Attempting to explain their actions, they quote Martin Luther King: "We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation, for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make [them] any less our brothers."

These are not violent criminals. They are simply people with a conscience who feel morally obligated to speak out against the loss of human life in Iraq. And they have shown themselves to be willing to pay the price, even if that meant being separated from their families. As one of the protesters commented, "Even if they take away my house, they can't take away my belief that we've done what is right, which is to resist what is evil."

It's time for our government to get its priorities straight. Unfortunately, this is yet another example of the war being waged against the American people, rather than the perpetrators of terrorism. The Bush Administration is fighting too many battles on too many fronts, and it's the American people who are the losers. It's time for our government to fight the real enemy. And if public opinion is anything to go by, the St. Patrick's Four just don't make the list. Indeed, with the President's disapproval rate rising above 57%, it's time for the government to assume its original purpose: to serve the best interests of the people.

ABOUT JOHN W. WHITEHEAD

Constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead is founder and president of The Rutherford Institute. His most recent books are the best-selling Battlefield America: The War on the American People, the award-winning A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, and a debut dystopian fiction novel, The Erik Blair Diaries. Whitehead can be contacted at staff@rutherford.org. Nisha Whitehead is the Executive Director of The Rutherford Institute. Information about The Rutherford Institute is available at www.rutherford.org.

Publication Guidelines / Reprint Permission

John W. Whitehead’s weekly commentaries are available for publication to newspapers and web publications at no charge. Please contact staff@rutherford.org to obtain reprint permission.