Posted on 06/04/2003 9:36:32 AM PDT by fight_truth_decay
I don't know if Eric Rudolph did all the terrible things they say he did, but I have my doubts.
Apparently, all those people who wore tee shirts bearing the message "Run, Rudy, Run" have had their doubts as well. Short of a confession by the man, I'll continue to hold on to those doubts.
Like many people, I followed his story closely, from his 1998 disappearance after an abortuary was bombed, to news that a massive manhunt by hundreds of law enforcement officials had failed to turn up one of "America's Most Wanted."
Five years later, they have their man. Or do they?
Rudolph's name was first linked to bombings after a shrapnel and nail device went off at The New Woman All Women abortuary in Birmingham. That blast seriously injured a woman and killed an off-duty cop. Someone said they saw Rudolph's truck nearby and a man fitting his description walking away from the scene. Weeks later his truck was found abandoned near the rugged hills of the Appalachian Trail. Rudy had run and was nowhere to be found, despite the high-tech search that ensued.
Two years, plus a million dollar bounty later, Rudy was like a ghost in those hills. The cops were feeling silly. What happened next doesn't pass the smell test. Not only was Rudolph charged with the Birmingham bombing but with a few other unsolved bombings as well. After all, why not dump all the other cases law enforcement wasn't able to solve on Rudy?
Remember how poor Richard Jewell was demonized and falsely-accused of the 1996 Olympic Park bombing? That quiet, gentle man had his life turned upside down by Keystone Cops desperate to find a culprit. Could it be that what they couldn't pin on Richard they decided to add to Eric Rudolph's list of sins? That list had grown over the years he was presumably hiding out in the mountains of western North Carolina to include additional bombings-another abortuary and a gay nightclub in Atlanta. The evidence against Rudolph? Nails. They say nails in the bombs were like nails found amongst his belongings.(Other than this, prosecutors are mum on the evidence they say they have linking Rudolph to all four bombings.)
Is this just a case of law enforcement feeling like fools because a simple country boy had eluded them all these years?
What should be cause for concern for all Americans is the way they've described this man: "…he studied the Bible, believed the United Nations was usurping U.S. sovereignty, held anti-government sentiment…was an anti-abortion crusader…questioned the Holocaust…was anti-gay, anti-foreigner" to name just a few of the phrases labeling him in the press. Here we go again- paint the man with those colors and he's…guilty! Such tagging is what most Americans accepted to excuse what happened to Randy Weaver and his family when they were the victims of an all-out blitzkrieg by the federal government in Ruby Ridge, Idaho some years back. Anymore, all you have to do is co-opt a willing media to go along with these categorizations and you can garner widespread approval for considering someone a dangerous criminal.
Now, maybe Eric Rudolph really was behind the crimes for which he stands accused. But, as I see it, there are some glaring inconsistencies in the whole thing.
First off, by all accounts, the man was not obsessed by the abortion issue. He didn't talk about it, rail against it or display any sentiment whatsoever about the gruesome practice. Most anti-aborts are well-known for their position. Certainly those who find the wholesale murder of babies abhorrent- talk about it. Rudy didn't. That may or may not be a clue as to whether he'd have a motive to blow up an abortuary.
Secondly, one of Eric Rudolph's brothers is gay. Again, not likely he'd be rearranging the floor plan of a gay nightclub.
Third, what possible vendetta could be behind the bomb left at Centennial Olympic Park?
Attorney General John Ashcroft wasted no time announcing the fine police work that netted this dangerous criminal 5 years after he went missing. Like most mothers whose sons are suspected of committing violent crimes, Patricia Rudolph doesn't think Eric's guilty. The Christian mother of six said "I pray the Holy Spirit will intervene and Eric will be exonerated, but once you're in the hands of the people who have power, it'll take a miracle."
Start praying all you "Bible-studying, anti-government, U.N.-bashing" zealots- those descriptions could mean you're the main suspects in unsolved crimes.
Brown continues: "It is a little hard to understand how anyone can hold Eric Rudolph, charged with four bombings in which two people died and dozens were hurt, in high regard. A little hard to understand, that is, unless you think back. We have done this all before, more than once. "Pretty Boy Floyd was a violent bank robber, became a hero in a wonderful Woody Guthrie song. Bonnie and Clyde were psychotic killers transformed in Arthur Penn's famous movie into American icons. Butch Cassidy and Sundance, Thelma and Louise, Billy the Kid. Folklore transformed them all, and many others. "Still, Eric Rudolph is different. Those other outlaws were after money. They stole from the rich, and even if they didn't give all their loot away as Robin Hood did, at least they set something aside for the poor. But if there is anything at all to the charges against Eric Rudolph, he is an outlaw motivated not by greed -- we all understand greed -- but by hatred. And it is hard to make a hero out of a hate monger."
Excerpt of MRC June 4, 2003 "Thelma and Louise" Real Heroic Villains to CNN's Aaron Brown?
Bump.
MURPHY, N.C., June 3 -- Franklin and Linda Holloway say they are churchgoing, law-abiding folks who normally do not condone violence. But when it comes to serial bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph, the retired couple is quick to make an exception.WashPost"To tell you the truth, I wish they hadn't caught him," Franklin Holloway said, pausing before voting this morning in a town referendum to allow restaurants to serve beer and hard liquor. "Look at those abortion doctors. They kill innocent babies."
"If he did that Olympic bombing he should be punished," Linda Holloway added. "But as far as those abortion clinics and the gay club is concerned, he shouldn't be punished for that. You see, those things are not right in the sight of God."
I live in the area and yes there are some ignorant people up here just like there is in EVERY community. It is disturbing that the NYT wants to portray everyone up here as being ignorant.
The sentiments expressed in this article reflect a view of ERR that continues to amaze me. If the issue was the bombing of gun shows or tent revivals, most folks here would have the culprit convicted SOLELY on the basis that the accused took off running and was in hiding for five years. But, in this case, everyone is more than eager to conclude that a completely innocent man took to the hills simply because he was under suspicion. Hmmmm.....
Accused serial bomber Eric Rudolph told his jailers that he survived five years in the wild on a diet that only the hardiest of souls could stomach.usatodayAcorns, lizards and salamanders, sometimes raw. Deer, turkey and bear that he shot with a hunting rifle. Corn and soybeans stolen from a storage silo. Scraps of food scrounged from a grocery store trash bin and the back of a Taco Bell restaurant.
"I asked him if he ate the salamanders raw. He said he did for the first four months or so. He swallowed them whole. He said it was like sushi."
Fathom that one!
Yes sir. Onward Christian soldiers.
What the hell happened to that bit about "Vengance is mine, sayeth the Lord"?
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