Thread: Ray McGovern Bloodied and Arrested at Clinton Speech

As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave her speech at George Washington University yesterday condemning governments that arrest protestors and do not allow free expression, 71-year-old Ray McGovern was grabbed from the audience in plain view of her by police and an unidentified official in plain clothes, brutalized and left bleeding in jail. She never paused speaking. When Secretary Clinton began her speech, Mr. McGovern remained standing silently in the audience and turned his back. Mr. McGovern, a veteran Army officer who also worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, was wearing a Veterans for Peace t-shirt.

Blind-sided by security officers who pounced upon him, Mr. McGovern remarked, as he was hauled out the door, “So this is America?” Mr. McGovern is covered with bruises, lacerations and contusions inflicted in the assault.


Mr. McGovern is being represented by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). “It is the ultimate definition of lip service that Secretary of State Clinton would be trumpeting the U.S. government’s supposed concerns for free speech rights and this man would be simultaneously brutalized and arrested for engaging in a peaceful act of dissent at her speech,” stated attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the PCJF.


Mr. McGovern now works for Tell the Word, a publishing arm of the ecumenical Church of the Saviour in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, D.C.



YouTube - Hillary Clinton interuppted by protester heckler 15.02.2011

Stand Up with Ray McGovern and demand an end to these wars .

In about four weeks from now , you will be able to stand with Ray McGovern and take a stand against these Zionist Wars .


January 25, 2011
Urgent Call To Action on March 19!

Message from Stopthesewars

December 16, Washington, DC, the White House — "The speeches are over. There was a mournful harmonica rendition of taps. The 500 protesters fell silent. One hundred and thirty-one men and women, many of them military veterans wearing old fatigues, formed a single, silent line. Under a heavy snowfall and to the slow beat of a drum, they walked to the White House fence. They stood there until they were arrested."—Chris Hedges from "Bitter Memories of War on the Way to Jail."

The wars and the occupation of Iraq still rage. We read almost daily of new atrocities spawned by our corporate government's ruthless militarism. People in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Palestine, as well as our own soldiers, experience these things first hand.

When soldiers, wounded and maimed, both in body and soul, come home,what do they find? Do they find relief from the horror of war and killing, or does it haunt them, affecting their families, friends and communities? Do they find accessible medical care? Do they find support from the very military they served or are they cast off like so many no longer useful tools? Do they readily find gainful employment or a steadily deteriorating economy and job market for the poor and middle classes while Wall Street thrives?

What about the people in the countries the war machine is still destroying, supposedly to bring them democracy and freedom? Can we imagine what their lives are like?

What about the planet we live on? Are we aware that the U.S. war machine is the greatest polluter on earth?

"War perverts and destroys you. It pushes you closer and closer to your own annihilation—spiritual, emotional and, finally,physical. It destroys the continuity of life, tearing apart all systems, economic, social, environmental and political, that sustain usas human beings." - Chris Hedges

And we who have opened our eyes and hearts, what do we do? Was the December 16 civil resistance enough?

On March 19—the anniversary of the brutal invasion of Iraq, where over a million Iraqis and almost 5,000 U.S. soldiers died with thousands more grievously injured—as the occupation of Iraq and the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan continue unabated, Veterans For Peace is calling for increased veteran-led nonviolent civil resistance at the White House.

As these words are written, men, women, and children are dying because of our government's deadly policy of war. Yet the state of of endless war threatens to achieve normalcy in this country. We cannot let this happen. There is no justification for these wars, but there is a desperate and urgent need to show the United States and the world that nonviolent resistance will continue to grow in strength and numbers until these wars end.

There are two critical ways that you can help build resistance here in the United States.
Most important, put your body on the line for peace and join us on March 19!

If you can't do that, or even if you can, please support this effort with your donation. To make a contribution go to www.stopthesewars.org. With your support and participation we'll be at the White House March 19, resisting the war machine with numbers far surpassing our effort in December. Resist the War Machine!

For more information on participating in the March 19, 2011, veteran-led civil resistance to the war machine, please email stopthesewars@gmail.com or go to www.stopthesewars.org.

Veterans For Peace :: News Item