At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised and Arrested for Standing Silently

[Christer Forslund]

JusticeOnline.org
http://pepcj.convio.net/site/MessageView...lv_id=7803

At Clinton Speech: Veteran Bloodied, Bruised
and Arrested for Standing Silently

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.



Ex-CIA Analyst Ray McGovern Beaten and Arrested as Hillary Clinton Talks about Freedom
February 18, 2011 by Gilbert Lansing

Hypocrisy has reached a new level as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked at George Washington University on Wednesday, disapproving governments that arrest protesters, not allowing freedom of speech. Former C.I.A. analyst Ray McGovern was taken from the audience by two security guards, beaten and left bleeding in jail. His crime? Standing silently with his back turned to Clinton, wearing a t-shirt that said "Veterans for Peace". Officially it was "Disorderly conduct".

McGovern wanted to be "witness to the fact that many Americans are very much opposed to these policies of permanent war", but he had no idea that it would get him brutalized, arrested and rather seriously hurt.

The timing was "excellent", as Clinton smilingly said "…and then the government pulled the plug", the two men grabbed the 71-year-old McGovern and dragged him out of the auditorium. "So this is America," said McGovern.

"They took me outside, put two sets of iron handcuffs that pierced my wrists. The bleeding went all over my pants.", said McGovern.

McGovern became a political activist after a 27-year-long career as C.I.A. officer. He served under seven U.S. presidents, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House.

Freedom of expression is a thing of the past in the Land of the Free…

video of McGovern being 'removed' here.

[Magda Hassan]

Yep. That's America.
What a shocking display of fascist reaction to peaceful resistance.

[Trowbridge H. Ford]

I agree completely.

America is an out-of-control Rambo state which won't even recognize what it is doing, much less have any comprehension and support for what some citizens are objecting to it.

It's 1984, writ large!

[Magda Hassan]

Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern sues State Dept. for Putting Him on Watch List

Lawsuit Challenges Brutal Arrest at Clinton speech

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia , Case No. Civil Action No. 14-215

Issues

Free Speech, Police Misconduct Legal Documents


Civil Complaint: McGovern v Kerry et al.


State Dept. Notice to "Be On the Look-Out" (BOLO) for Ray McGovern


DOS Photo of McGovern




Press Coverage

"Then the Government Pulled the Plug" -Hillary Clinton

Huffington Post, February 16, 2011






The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of U.S. military veteran and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern against John Kerry, in his capacity as the Secretary of State, and against officers at George Washington University. (Click here to read the Civil Complaint: McGovern v. Kerry et al.)
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia three years to the date of Mr. McGovern's brutal and false arrest at GWU during a speech of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. After the arrest, the PCJF uncovered that then 71-year-old McGovern was put on a "Be On the Look-Out" list, and agents were instructed to stop and question him on sight. The reasons cited included his "political activism, primarily anti-war" a clearly unconstitutional order.
Circumstances of arrest
The circumstances of McGovern's 2011 arrest were marked by stinging irony. McGovern was brutalized and arrested after peacefully and silently standing with his back to Hillary Clinton as she gave a policy speech condemning authoritarian governments who repress dissenters and internet freedom.
As described in the Civil Complaint: "As Secretary Clinton was reading from her prepared remarks regarding Egypt's dictatorship saying, 'Then the government pulled the plug,' the then-71-year-old McGovern was forcibly and falsely arrested by GWU police officers, grabbed by the head, assaulted, and as Secretary Clinton continued undisturbed stating, 'the government ... did not want the world to watch,' Mr. McGovern was removed from public view with excessive and brutal force, taken to jail, and left bleeding with bruises and contusions."
Political targeting
The complaint continues: "The Department of State then opened an investigation into Plaintiff McGovern, including specifically his lawful, protected political beliefs, activities, statements and associations which it kept open for nearly seven months, despite all charges having been dropped against Mr. McGovern and despite having determined that Mr. McGovern was engaged in no criminal activity."
As the complaint states: "The Department of State issued a Be On The Lookout Alert ('BOLO Alert') for the then- 71-year-old McGOVERN which described his 'considerable amount of political activism, primarily anti-war,' displayed his picture and directed law enforcement that if Mr. McGOVERN was encountered, 'USE CAUTION, stop' and question him and contact the Department of State Diplomatic Security Command Center."
PCJF Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard stated: "Mr. McGovern's brutal arrest and his subsequent political targeting by the State Department stands in sharp contrast to the policy announcement that Secretary Clinton was delivering, which insisted that governments respect dissent and dissenters and their freedom of speech."
Carl Messineo, Legal Director of the PCJF, explained, "Mr. McGovern is a veteran who committed no crime. Yet the State Department carried out a purely political investigation of him and put him on the BOLO list in clear violation of his Fourth and First Amendment protections."
Mr. McGovern, 74, is a veteran Army officer who also served as an analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency for 27 years. Mr. McGovern wrote for the President's daily brief under Presidents Nixon and Ford. From 1981 to 1985, he personally briefed this publication in the morning one-on-one to Vice President George H. W. Bush, the Secretaries of State and Defense, and other senior officials of the administration of Ronald Reagan.
Upon retirement in early 1990, Mr. McGovern was awarded the Intelligence Commendation Award for his particularly commendable service and received a laudatory farewell letter from then-President George H. W. Bush.
Thirteen years later, Mr. McGovern co-founded Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity to expose that intelligence was being falsified by the U.S. government to justify war on Iraq.


Updates & Commentary
Prosecution of Ray McGovern is Dropped

The charges against Ray McGovern have been dropped and the government has decided not to proceed with its prosecution. [URL="http://www.justiceonline.org/commentary/prosecution-of-ray-mcgovern.html"]more >>
http://www.justiceonline.org/our-work/ray-mcgovern.html
[/URL]