Posted on 04/15/2005 6:18:45 PM PDT by CHARLITE
A five-year manhunt for Eric Rudolph ended in 2003, when someone recognized him while he was foraging for food behind a grocery store in Murphy, North Carolina. Scavenging in a trash dumpster and hiding as a lone survivalist in the mountains of western Carolina are quite revealing. Rudolph had no support, aid or comfort within the pro-life community. Rudolph is a cowardly killer disguised as a defender of life.
Rudolph, 38, pleaded guilty April 13 to the 1996 Atlanta Olympics bombing and two other explosions, after earlier admitting to orchestrating a 1998 abortion clinic bombing in Alabama. The bombings killed two people and wounded more than 120 others. His plea bargain allows him to escape a death sentence in exchange for spending the rest of his life in a federal prison.
Rudolph’s attorneys released his 11-page statement, a rambling rationalization. Ironically, Rudolph includes Bible passages to support his contemptible acts, despite the fact that it condemns what he did.
"Because I believe that abortion is murder, I also believe that force is justified ... in an attempt to stop it. I am not an anarchist. I have nothing against government or law enforcement in general. It is solely for the reason that this government has legalized the murder of children that I have no allegiance to nor do I recognize the legitimacy of this particular government in Washington."
When asked by the Birmingham judge Wednesday morning whether he detonated the bomb outside the abortion clinic in 1998, Rudolph replied, “I certainly did, your honor.” Some in the court thought that he said it with “pride.” The clinic blast killed off-duty police officer Robert “Sande” Sanderson, maimed and blinded nurse Emily Lyons in one eye, and injured dozens more.
Rudolph said he is a Roman Catholic at war over abortion. He claimed that his hatred of the government isn’t because he is racist or because of involvement with a fundamentalist Christian Identity movement.
Authorities then took Rudolph from Birmingham to Atlanta, where he admitted to three other bombings, including the 1996 Olympics attack that left a woman dead and another at a gay nightclub that injured five in 1997, as part of his plea agreement.
The bombing at the Olympic Games killed Alice Hawthorne, a mother, and wounded more than 100 others. The Olympics bomb was hidden in a knapsack that sent nails and screws ripping through a crowd at Centennial Olympic Park during a concert.
According to FOX News, the plea agreements indicate that “for the Alabama crime, the maximum term of imprisonment is life without parole for each count and the mandatory minimum is seven years for count one and 30 years for count two. Rudolph had to agree to pay restitution to the victims, with the amount to be determined later, as part of both plea deals.”
Richard Jewell, a victim who escaped death and physical injury in the bombings but who said “the ordeal ruined his life,” was among those in the Atlanta court who watched Rudolph as he copped his plea. The FBI originally named Jewell as a suspect in the Olympics blast.
“I had sincerely hoped to achieve these objections without harming innocent civilians. There is no excuse for this, and I accept full responsibility for the consequences of using this dangerous tactic,” Rudolph said about the Olympic bombing. He claimed that he “left Atlanta with much remorse.”
Rudolph’s statement says that he wanted the Olympic bombing “to confound, anger and embarrass the Washington government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand.”
What Rudolph has managed to do is to confound, anger and embarrass millions of true pro-life people, who give their voice, votes, time, money, medical care, food, clothing and shelter to save the lives of women and their unborn children.
Eric Rudolph is the antithesis of pro-life — no "however"—no "but" — no "on the other hand."
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People like Rudolph are an embarrassment to the entire pro-life community. He is a terrorist and promoter of anarchy, he embodies the evil he claims to be fighting.
I suspect Rudoph's violence stems from being excluded from reindeer games in his youth.
Bombing the abortion clinic was okay with you!?
Eric Rudolph is a terrorist.
I agree with your comments, but the article says Rudolph had no support, aid or comfort from the pro life community. BS. He could not have survived 5 years in those woods with no support, aid or comfort.
YUP. The government permits the killing of innocent children, so the destruction of a clinic does not upset me, not that I advocate that action.
He obviously had the support of other anarchist-types or possibly white supremecists who have adopted the pro-life banner to seek legitimacy. To call him and his supporters pro-life would be like calling the KKK pro-Christian.
He is to the pro-life movement what terrorists are to Islam: an embarrassment, a freedom fighter, a hero, or a murderer, depending on your point of view. He killed for what he believed in. Jihad, personified.
In 100% of his bombings he played a game of "two for". He created a stir that would attract cops. Then he set off a bomb, or, if he could find a cop moonlighting at a lonely site in the middle of the night, he'd just set off a bomb to kill the cop.
Eric doesn't like cops.
At the same time the FBI spent 5 years looking for him and couldn't find him. This statement was written for Eric by that same FBI. None of it should be believed.
So, who do you imagine was providing support to Eric? Could it be the guys who decided to let him off the hook in all those capital murder cases? Makes me wonder what else Eric knows.
I agree with you. However, the mainstream media has consistently labeled Rudolph as pro-life, they are obviously doing this in an attempt to smear those of us who value the sanctity of life -- in this regard he is an "embarrassment" to us.
Simply privatize the business ~ like liquor stores. They provide their own armed guards and security. There's really no excuse for the government to get involved in the abortion industry is there?!
No. What he did was ILLEGAL.
On the local news today (Charlotte) they showed where he camped on a hill overlooking the Armory where the FBI set up their HQ. I believe a lot of locals sympathized with him and helped him out from time to time.
Look, as an internet comment provider I am embarassed by Dan Rather. What will people think of us if that man is allowed to speak in public? Oh, the horrors!
Why didn't the FBI provide support to Eric? He was camped right there near them?
I didn't say they didn't, but since you bring it up I don't believe they did. I think they probably wanted to kill him more than help him.
I call it extra legal. Illegal is legal, ask the Border Patrol.
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