Posted on 03/10/2003 8:53:10 PM PST by kattracks
Antiwar protesters who act as human shields or who try to blockade U.S. military facilities should be prosecuted, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Monday.
"I think if you go to Iraq to act as a human shield you're impeding the U.S. war effort," Graham told "Radio Factor" host Bill O'Reilly. "I've written to Attorney General Ashcroft (to ask), would they, in fact, be in violation of the Constitution or federal laws that prevent aiding a hostile nation to the United States in a time of war."
Criminal sanctions may also be applied to peace protesters who stay stateside, Graham said.
"If you do something domestically, if you're at an arsenal or a defense contractor designing to impede the flow of technology in support of the war, you may be in violation of those same statutes," he explained.
The South Carolina Republican was reacting to a report in Monday's USA Today, which detailed plans by the San Francisco-based peace group Direct Action to Stop the War.
In St. Louis, for instance, antiwar protesters intend to block the entrance to a Boeing factory that makes satellite-guided bombs for the military, the paper said.
Peace protesters also plan to blockade the gates at Kentucky's Bluegrass Army Depot, which supplies small munitions to the military.
In Detroit antiwar activists are trying to organize 72-hours of disruptions at government installations after the war starts.
Some of the plans by U.S. peace groups mirror actions already underway by their European brethren. Dutch protesters, for instance, have already chained themselves to the gate of one U.S. military facility in the Netherlands. In Ireland, demonstrators recently damaged a U.S. Navy plane at Shannon International Airport.
Graham warned that if similar attacks take place in the U.S., the peaceniks may be held criminally liable.
"I think we need to let folks know that the Constitution.... ensures your ability to express yourself and protest and dissent," he told O'Reilly. "But it also has an obligation placed upon you as an American, not to basically undermine America when it's engaged in hostilities."
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Far better to ignore them. Protect their liberties, but don't allow them to affect military planning one iota.
I propose meetings be conveniently held at the the same time/place as Direct Action to Stop the War's little parties.
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Artlcle III, Section 3, U.S. Constitution.
Removal of clothes, followed with tarring, feathering, and carrying such out of town on a split log rail is one method used for obnoxious "loyalists" during Revoultionary days.
The UCMJ covers these situations adequately.
Most citizens will be mildly inconvenienced should Martial Law be declared.Dems and Libs and their socialist frontmen will have an extremely rude awakening to constitutional reality in that never to be hoped for event.
But if the power stays on, it will be extremely funny to watch them deal with it!LOL!
Hell, I'm even willing to help pay for their tickets, aa long as the military makes sure they're one-way rather than round-trip...
I could not disagree more. We did just what you are suggesting during Vietnam and the warriors that returned home were spit upon and shunned. No, this time we cannot allow that to happen. This time, we must let these thin-wristed, weak sisters know that their shouts of defiance will not go unanswered. We must meet them in the street and do what we need to to stop their shouts of treason.
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