Feds Prosecute Four Catholic Workers for Spilling Blood

Does the blowsy idiocy of the Bush Administration know any limits? . . . Tens of thousands of civilians and over two thousand United States soldiers have died in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now, most of the world, and even most citizens of the United States, believe that George W. Bush went to war over a lie and that hostilities were initiated against Iraq in a cynical act of revenge and through a revolting indecency of mind.  Those who had the foresight and strength of character to place themselves at risk in opposing the war with civil resistance, instead of mere words, are now being flayed in federal court for, of all things, acts of conspiracy, force, threat, and intimidation. Two days before the invasion of Iraq, The St. Patrick’s Four entered an armed forces recruitment office in a shopping mall in Ithaca, New York, and poured and splattered blood around the lobby area.  They also poured blood on a U.S. flag, explaining:

As our nation prepares to escalate the war on the people of Iraq by sending hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers to invade, we pour our blood on the walls of this military recruiting center. We mark this recruiting office with our own blood to remind ourselves and others of the cost in human life of our government's war making.

Killing is wrong. Preparations for killing are wrong. The work done by the Pentagon with the connivance of this military recruiting station ends with the shedding of blood, and God tells us to turn away from it. Blood is the symbol of life. All life is holy. All people are created in the image and likeness of God. All people are family, and everyone is loved by God.

A hung jury, 9-3 for acquittal, left district prosecutors convinced that they should not retry the four.  The United States, though, filed charges against the St. Patrick’s Four, under 18 U.S.C. §1372, which reads in pertinent part: "If two or more persons . . . conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof . . . each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both."  So Daniel Burns, Teresa Grady, Peter DeMott, and Clare Grady may be sentenced to six years in federal prison for their actions.  Since there is no parole in the federal prison system, it may be that they will serve only slightly less time in prison than the average New York defendant convicted of attempted murder.

Peter DeMott is familiar with war, having served in both the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army, spending a tour in Vietnam beginning in 1969.  His "experience in the military convinced [him] of the futility of war and of the sad misallocation of resources which war making requires."  After their civil resistance at the recruitment office, two of the four defendants went to Iraq as part of the Christian Peacemaker Teams.

The Bush Administration engages in unprovoked war, kidnaps foreign nationals off the streets and sends them to Syria, Egypt, and Uzbekistan to be tortured, imprisons people without access to courts or legal counsel, engages in massive corruption by diverting billions of dollars to corporate cronies and hacks, and then has the grotesqueness of character to prosecute four Catholic Workers for nonviolent civil resistance.  H.L. Mencken, in another era beset by frustration, wrote, "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."  Where will frustration over the present corruption and bloody-mindedness crest?  It is anyone's guess, but we can only hope that it will lead to wiser choices by the United States electorate.