Posted on 09/22/2004 10:25:36 PM PDT by NYC GOP Chick
he mother of a soldier killed in Iraq who was arrested last week for interrupting a speech by Laura Bush is being investigated by the Secret Service for threatening remarks she made about President Bush, a Secret Service official confirmed yesterday.
The woman, Sue Niederer, 55, who lives in Hopewell, N.J., made the comments on a Web site, according to the Secret Service official, who was reached by telephone in Washington. He referred further questions to Special Agent Tony Colgary in the Trenton office of the Secret Service, who did not respond to messages.
Mr. Colgary, however, confirmed the investigation to The Trenton Times.
Mrs. Niederer, reached by phone, said: "I don't want to talk about it. Leave it alone."
The federal officials are apparently investigating comments made by Mrs. Niederer in May on the Web site counterpunch.org, a political newsletter. In the Web postings, she is quoted as saying she "wanted to rip the president's head off" and "shoot him in the groined area."
It is a federal crime to threaten the president, though civil liberties groups are expected to argue the case on free speech grounds.
Mrs. Niederer told The Trenton Times she was upset about her son's death at the time. When asked if she wanted to threaten the president, she answered, "Absolutely not."
Mrs. Niederer is being assisted by a volunteer lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union, according to Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the civil liberties group's New Jersey chapter. Ms. Jacobs, who did not return a voice mail message left at her office late yesterday, told The Associated Press that Mrs. Niederer's comments on the Web site were protected by court precedent from a 1969 case. In Watts v. United States, the Supreme Court overturned the conviction of a man who three years earlier had claimed at a public gathering that he would "set his sights" on President Lyndon Johnson if he was drafted.
The court ruled that while the nation had an interest in protecting the president, the 1917 statute on which the case was based "must be interpreted with the commands of the First Amendment clearly in mind."
Mrs. Niederer's son, Second Lt. Seth Dvorin, 24, was killed in February while trying to defuse a roadside bomb in Iraq. Mrs. Niederer charges that her son was untrained for bomb disposal work and lacked proper equipment. Army officials reached at Fort Drum, N.Y., dispute the allegations, insisting he was trained.
Mrs. Niederer had obtained a ticket to attend the rally with Mrs. Bush in Hamilton, N.J., last week. She wore a T-shirt that had a picture of her son and the words "President Bush killed my son." She interrupted the first lady's talk to ask her why, if the war was warranted, her own daughters did not serve in Iraq.
She was escorted from the Colonial Fire Hall, handcuffed and charged by the police with trespassing. The charges were later dropped.
Because it's a volunteer military, and the Bush daughters have just as much rights as any other citizen to choose whether or not they wish to enlist. Bogus and irrelevant argument by this distraught woman.
She doesn't do her son's memory any honor by acting like an obnoxious wild woman.
...wanted to rip the president's head off" and "shoot him in the groined area."
Quite a bit of difference between those statements, eh? While I doubt she has the wherewithal to make good, I think the Secret Service needs to investigate anyone making such a remark.
Of course that's true - - but wouldn't if be inspiring if one or both of them signed up. There are a lot of women there age fighting the war that their father says is essential to freedom. Wouldn't it be inspiring to all of us if one or both of his daughters put on a uniform? Or indeed if ANY of the young people in the extended Bush family - Billy, or George P. or the model daughter of Neil (forget her name). ? But here we have a war that the president has pronounced to be an essential mission - - yet no young person in the Bush family is in uniform. (Actually, I agree out loud with what the Bush girls are saying implicitly by their actions: the war against Iraq is not essential for American security, it was a war of choice not necessity - and they (along with other Bush cousins) chose not to get involved)
Yep and they would be the most sought after prize in Iraq. Did your parents have any kids that lived?
I'm not sure how I feel about the Secret Service using their time and resources to investigate a woman who obviously has gone through hell and was honestly telling that website exactly how she felt towards President Bush.
I guess it's wise to investigate whether she has any intention on following through on her remarks. If she doesn't, I think freedom of speech and sympathy for her loss will prevent her from ever being charged.
What are you saying - that the kids of presidents shouldn't serve in the military? That'll be news to Eisenhower's son; to LBJ's son in law; to sons of FDR and Teddy Roosevelt. Even Queen Elizabeth's son Andrew saw action in the Falklands war. Unlike you, apparently, I don't believe in one standard for the families of political leaders (especially those who commit us to wars that they claim are essential to the preservation of freedom) and another standard for the rest of us.
No you dumb ass. Eisenhower's son had he been captured would have been in a prison camp. The Bush girls would be starring in a beheading video.
I see and the FCC is waiting for CBS to EXHONORATE ITSELF...
Well, most everyone would agree the war that America declared in Afghanistan is definitely a necessity, but nobody from the Bush family signed up to serve for that one, either.
I can see it now... "Private Jenna Bush, reporting for duty, sir!"... "Private John Smith, Secret Service agent No. 1, also reporting for duty, sir!"... "Private Jack Rogers, Secret Service agent No. 2, also reporting for duty, sir... and can we please have everybody in Jenna's unit walk through this metal detector out of concerns for her safety. Thank you."
Exactly. But it would make antiwar people feeeeeeel good to have Jenna and Barbara in the military, and that's what matters. (/sarcasm)
So you're saying that no kids of politicians should be fighting in Iraq, because they could be beheaded. YOU'RE the dumbass - - and no "republican" but rather a monarchist, because you defer to the president and his family as if they were royalty. What a sluggish sap you are; real slave material, scraping and defering and making excuses for your social "betters."
The stupidity of this person is beyond comprehension.
Sue Niederer comments: "Bush vendetta"
http://www.notinourname.net/troops/nothing-12feb04.htm
"Tell me this war was right and necessary and I’ll deck you!"
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_item&itemid=705
Michael Moore would be proud of your argument, by the way.
Yes, and that's a shame. If Prince Andrew can serve in the military; if Theodore Roosevelt Jr. could do so; if John F. Kennedy could do so, there's no insuperable security concern that should prevent at least ONE of the Bush cousins from putting on a uniform. It would be inspiring.
I take pride in the fact that so many of the folks who disagree with me have to -- like you -- resort to name-calling, because they can't answer my arguments.
NYC Anti-War Protest Interview With Sue Niederer
Monday, 30 August 2004, 2:33 pm
Column: Jay Shaft
http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0408/S00302.htm
No I said the daughters of the freaking POTUS should not be fighting in Iraq. I don't care who the hell the POTUS is that is completely insane and you are completely insane for making the case.
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