Posted on 06/08/2003 8:38:24 AM PDT by .30Carbine
BARRE – In an e-mailed press release to media outlets, a group has claimed responsibility for defacing the huge American flag that hung over Main Street with oil and “fake blood.” Vandals damaged the flag before Barre’s Memorial Day service on May 30.
The Times Argus, The Associated Press and Seven Days received copies of the e-mail from a group identifying itself as the “Iconoclast Front of Vermont” on Thursday at 4:20 p.m. The e-mailed press release claimed the guerilla action was in protest to the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq.
The press release headline read: “Flag Defacement was meant to question US Motives, Militarism.” The e-mail address of the sender was iconfront@hotmail.com.
The City of Barre has filed a formal complaint with the Barre police department asking for an investigation into who was responsible for the defacement of the flag.
According to computer experts, it may be difficult, however, to trace the source of the e-mail. Hotmail, the ISP (internet service provider), may have already deleted the e-mail from its memory banks because of the large volume of Internet traffic it handles. In addition, the identity of the source may have been deliberately falsified to prevent detection, experts say.
Barre Police Chief Trevor Whipple said the state’s computer crime squad would be asked to investigate. “We have a team of individuals that does computer crimes, and we refer all of our computer crime to them,” Whipple said.
He said the police would obtain a subpoena to search Hotmail files to try to trace the source of the e-mail.
“We’ve found those services, Hotmail, Yahoo, to be very cooperative. Once we’ve got the subpoena, we expect them to cooperate with us,” Whipple added.
According to Mich Kabay, a computer consultant who is an expert in cyber crime, tracking the source of the e-mail may be difficult as time passes.
He said investigators would look for the “header” of the e-mail that contains tracking information, although he said it might have been falsified to avoid detection.
If the header is found, it would have embedded information about every computer server it passed through during transmission.
But he said e-mail services like Hotmail and Yahoo handle high volumes of e-mail information that only remain in databases for a few days before it is discarded.
“They only keep the last one million records or so,” said Kabay, who is an assistant professor of Information Assurance at Norwich University. “As e-mails come in at the top, the ones on the bottom drop off.”
He said the free e-mail services did not require users, unlike permanent, commercial Internet accounts, to provide verifiable information such as credit card numbers that can be traced.
There are services that allow users to forward e-mails and have their identification information altered before the e-mail is forwarded, he said. “In other words, all of the information that could help track this e-mail may have been taken off and destroyed,” he added.
Barre City Manager Richard Fitzgerald said two previous efforts to clean the flag failed and that stronger chemical cleansers may damage the color.
For now, the old flag is back up, and the city will buy another at a cost of $500, if necessary, he said. “I got the e-mail the other night,” said Fitzgerald. “Obviously, nobody I’ve talked to is very happy that the flag has been vandalized. I think it’s a slap in the face to all the veterans. … We’ve asked the police to use all of the resources at hand, both those of the City of Barre and the police intelligence network.”
Veterans at The American Legion Post 10 on Saturday were upset about the e-mail. “It’s really unbelievable that somebody would do this,” said Harlan Lanpher of Graniteville who served in Korea.
“We’re very upset about it,” said another veteran who asked not to be identified. “I know we’re very much against what they’ve done.”
A passage from the e-mail reads: “One evening last week, we participated in an act of social and political agitation, targeting the large US flag that hung over Main Street in downtown Barre. Our action was a symbolic one, which consists of staining the flag with oil and splattering fake blood on the street underneath. Our goal was to draw attention to the current American regime’s use of war and violence in order to secure control of the world’s oil reserves, most recently in Iraq.”
In the e-mail there are references to two American companies, Halliburton and Bechtel, “with close ties to the Bush regime,” that would make profits from the invasion of Iraq.
“We chose to act in conjunction with the Memorial Day Parade in Barre in order to draw attention to the American and civilian lives lost in pursuit of greater profits for a very select few,” added the e-mail. “We are not targeting or blaming veterans, but we would like to get people to consider the consequences, as well as the profiteers, of the wars that they’ve been led into fighting.”
The e-mail deliberately taunts local law enforcement agents. It states that police would be “too busy coercing janitors and intimidating teachers to notice any actual crime taking place,” a reference to the recent furor over Barre Town police Sgt. John Mott, who entered Spaulding High School after hours to take pictures of student artwork critical of the war in Iraq and the Bush administration.
It goes on to say that the CIA supported Saddam Hussein when he seized power in 1963, and that the United States continued to back Hussein until the early 1990s. It said there was no evidence to support Iraqi ties to al-Qaida or the Sept. 11 attacks, and no weapons of mass destruction have been found. “…if they are found, the record shows that they were likely supplied by US and British corporations in the 1980s,” the e-mail stated.
The e-mail noted that “US Deputy Secretary of War” Paul Wolfowitz was quoted recently in European newspapers saying that North Korea, which has nuclear weapons, is being dealt with diplomatically while Iraq was invaded militarily because it is “swimming in a sea of oil.”
Contact Stephen Mills at: stephen.mills@timesargus.com, or call the Montpelier office of The Times Argus at 223-3335.
Homeschoolers, mostly, but also the Young Republicans/Reagan Ranch, Rush Limbaugh listeners, Free Republic families, and one-on-one evangelism. I'm constantly amazed at what the Lord will do, and how He does it. We are living in the midst of the greatest reformation in American history.
It appears to me that we are already in the midst of it! The Lord has very graciously given us leaders such as George W. Bush (for our nation) and Jim Douglas (for the state of Vermont) - leaders who use reasoned forebearance in their dealings with the opposition. Without such leaders, men of prayer, and a nation at prayer for them, we would see America the beautiful in violent turmoil as each side in the battle for ideological supremacy sunk to new lows for personal and political profit.
The battle between good and evil - for the dominance of one power over the other in America - is being waged and won as "Conservatism" is promoted genially, with gentleness, patience, and wisdom. "Liberals" who would (to use an old story of evil intent to win at any cost) cut the baby in half rather than see the rightful mother raise it are their own worst enemy.
The e-mail deliberately taunts local law enforcement agents. It states that police would be “too busy coercing janitors and intimidating teachers to notice any actual crime taking place,” a reference to the recent furor over Barre Town police Sgt. John Mott, who entered Spaulding High School after hours to take pictures of "passionate pacifist" teacher Tom Treece and his display of student artwork critical of the war in Iraq and the Bush administration.
Also keep in mind, my dear Thirty, that you and I are living in the midst of the wild lands far from the fort. Things are bound to look very bad here but out west it is the liberals who are outnumbered. This is their stronghold yet they are so freaked out by current events that they feel the need to strike out like midnight cross burner's.
I smell a dog whose day is done. Give it some room, give it some rope. Don't provide it an easy target and like wild dogs who have no prey they will turn on each other. Watch the coming election and enjoy!
Norwich forever! They've got to get treadhead second lieutenants from somewhere....
-archy-/-
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