Statement from Attorney Timothy Floyd on the Execution of Sgt. Louis Jones, Jr.

Louis Jones, Jr. died at approximately 7:00 a.m. on March 18, 2003.

It is a cruel irony that on the day that we go to war, the life of Sgt. Louis Jones, Jr., a consummate soldier, was ended at the hand of the government whom he proudly served -- the same government that failed to acknowledge the impact of nerve agents on Sgt. Jones, the brain damage that it caused, and the fact that jurors could not have known about this at the time of his trial.

As we mark his death, we need to remember his victim, Tracie McBride, and her family. They have suffered an unspeakable loss-a loss caused by Louis Jones. Louis Jones was put to death for a crime for which he accepted responsibility and experienced great remorse until the moment he died.

The act of lethal injection that ended Louis Jones's life came after eight years of legal proceedings and enormous devotion of government resources to a single goal: ensuring his death as an act of retribution. It was a deliberate death carried out by the United States government-carried out on behalf of all Americans, including you and me. Lou acknowledged his guilt and would have pled guilty to a sentence of life without possibility of shortly after he was arrested in 1995. But our national system of capital punishment had targeted him, and the government spent eight years ensuring his death.

The execution of Louis Jones represents the failure of the federal government to understand and be accountable for the impact of nerve agents on the soldiers who are exposed to it in the service of their country-and on others who are affected by the damage done to those soldiers. It is a sad message that goes with our soldiers and their families-if you return from war damaged, the U.S. government won't take responsibility for that damage and its consequences. Indeed, it may not even acknowledge it. And, it's a frightening message for those who may be harmed because of the government's failure to understand and to deal appropriately with the consequences of chemical warfare.

There was much more to Louis Jones's life than the crime for which his life was ended.

Agree or disagree about whether we should go to war Glenn Reynolds makes a good point on his MSNBC blog:

It's pretty obvious that, barring a miracle of some sort, we'll be at war shortly. And my next advice is equally applicable to war supporters and opponents: Keep your eye on the civil-liberties ball, and don't be distracted.
I predicted on September 11 itself (and in this column just a couple of days afterward) that bureaucrats would take advantage of 9/11 to slip through items that had been on their wishlists for years, and they did. There's now a "Patriot II" bill floating around in draft form. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone try to slip it through Congress while everyone's attention is on the war. Most members of Congress who voted on the original "Patriot Act" hadn't even read the bill (which makes them unpatriotic in my estimation -- what about that oath they take?)

Let's not let it happen again. Keep your eyes open.

That was our exact sentiment last month, as we posted here. Watch out, because once surrendered, rights are very difficult to get back.

Our hero of the day: John Mellencamp

TO WASHINGTON
Eight years of peace and prosperity
Scandal in the White House
An election is what we need
From coast-to-coast to Washington

So America voted on a president
No one kept count
On how the election went
From Florida to Washington

Goddamn, said one side
And the other said the same
Both looked pretty guilty
But no one took the blame
From coast-to-coast to Washington

So a new man in the White House
With a familiar name
Said he had some fresh ideas
But it's worse now since he came
From Texas to Washington

And he wants to fight with many
And he says it's not for oil
He sent out the National Guard
To police the world
From Baghdad to Washington

What is the thought process
To take a humans life
What would be the reason
To think that this is right
From heaven to Washington
From Jesus Christ to Washington

Download the song for free here, courtesy of Mellencamp. Thanks to Snowdog for the link.

"Have you ever heard the word 'jihad'? Do you speak Arabic? Are you a member of the National Rifle Association? Have you visited Ground Zero of the World Trade Center? "

These are some of the questions being asked of prospective jurors in the Detroit trial of four men accused of plotting terror activities.

The case is being shrouded in secrecy, which the media and defense find objectionable.

The questions will help choose a 16-member jury that will preside over the United States' first terrorism trial since the Sept. 11 attacks. The jury will be under such close watch that members won't even be allowed outside for lunch. Their names will remain hidden from everyone but a single clerk. The high secrecy and security are attracting objections from The Detroit News and defense lawyers for four men arrested Sept. 17, 2001, and charged with providing material support for terrorism. Legal experts said the unusual jury-selection process could set an early tone for the trial.

The case is expected to test the Government's ability to prove terrorist claims.

Eighteen months after a raid on an apartment uncovered what prosecutors say was a conspiracy to support terrorist strikes in Jordan, Turkey and the United States, four men charged in the case are coming to trial today. The trial will be one of the first for an alleged terror cell in this country since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and it may test the government's ability to prove accusations about terror plots in the making. "The government has not yet been compelled to show its hand in these cases," said Juliette Kayyem, a terrorism expert and professor at Harvard University. "There have been a lot of press conferences and indictments, but those are not facts."

Remember that 1948 military plane crash we discussed here, and the Government's misrepresentation as to its cause, which now casts in doubt the viability of the 1953 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. US? The 1953 Reynolds decision established the military and state secrets privilege. Georgetown's Jonathan Turley says it is ''the bedrock for an entire superstructure'' of national security law."

It's back in the news today. If the victim's daughter is correct, and the U.S. lied about the crash to the Court, what does it mean?

If the military did lie to the Supreme Court about the nature of the accident report, [the daughter] Loether's discovery casts doubt on the landmark Supreme Court decision. Few observers expect the petition to change law or government policy, but it could serve as an important lesson about the potential consequences of expanding the government's homeland security powers, as the Bush administration has tried to do, in part relying on United States v. Reynolds.

One specialist in national security law who is critical of the Reynolds decision said the Supreme Court's response to this unusual petition could have wide implications.

''Reynolds is already used in an abusive fashion, but if the court remains silent those abuses will be magnified significantly,'' said Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University. ''If the government is not held to account in the face of obviously false statements, it's hard to see what limitations exist.''

Thanks to Jim Capozzola at Rittenhouse for a heads-up on the article.

Gulf War veteran Louis Jones was executed in Terre Haute this morning. He was pronounced dead at 7:08 a.m.

The federal government has executed three people in the last forty years. Two were Gulf War Vets with no prior criminal record.

The Struggle

What do Timothy McVeigh, accused Washington sniper John Mohammed and Louis Jones, due to be executed Wednesday, have in common? All are Gulf War Vets. All came back from the War acting very differently than before they went. Could this be a warning of dangers to befall our troops going over now?

Joyce Riley, a nurse and spokeswoman for the American Gulf War Veterans Association, is furious that troops are being deployed in the region again.

"We support the military, but we are against sending troops in an area where they're going to become cannon fodder," said Riley, who suffers from a neurological disorder she attributes to her service in that war. "Gulf War veterans aren't just sick, they're dying."

Gulf War veteran Rick Wilson of Indianapolis attributes his migraine headaches and joint pain to an extended exposure to low levels of a cocktail of poison gases.

"If those guys get sick like we are or sicker, I'm concerned the Veteran Affairs and Defense Department are not going to be responsive to their needs," said Wilson, a member of the staff of U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. "Those troops loyal to Saddam Hussein know they're going down with him, and I wouldn't put it past them to use that stuff."

Jones was a career noncommissioned officer, a decorated combat veteran with no criminal history before the Gulf War. Yet, after his service in the Middle East, experts said, he came to suffer the most severe form of Gulf War syndrome, an affliction that may have led to violence.

His experience illustrates the unknown dangers today's troops may risk as they, too, face the threat of biological and chemical weapons. Some fear the nation could soon have another generation of veterans plagued by mysterious sicknesses that appear to have unleashed deadly violence in some victims.

The Associated Press provides some answers to questions about legality of war to oust Saddam Hussein

The international community is debating whether a U.S.-led war against Iraq would be legal without approval from the United Nations. Here are some questions and answers about that issue:

Q: Can the United States and allies legally launch war without Security Council backing?

Q: Isn't Iraq violating disarmament resolutions?

Q: Isn't this a continuation of the 1991 Gulf War?

Q: The Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1441 in November requiring Iraq to cooperate with U.N. arms inspectors. Doesn't that permit enforcement

Read the article for the answers. Use the comments here if you disagree.

What will the military invasion of Iraq consist of? Lightning Strikes. To help war-challenged people like us understand what this means, here's a primer:

War plans call for simultaneous, lightning-quick operations by air, land and sea to overwhelm Iraq's shaky military forces. Heavy mechanized forces would speed toward Baghdad, bypassing Iraqi regular army units in a drive to reach the seat of President Saddam Hussein's power. The vanguard of the U.S. force would leave it to a second wave to engage those Iraqi forces. Special operations forces would parachute from helicopters deep behind enemy lines.

Whereas the United States took six months to position its forces for the 1991 Persian Gulf War and five weeks to bomb Iraqi targets before the ground war began, current war plans call for, at most, 48 hours of bombings — using tens of thousands of precision-guided munitions — before U.S. troops storm across Iraq's border.

Arranged across Kuwait to lead the charge are about 130,000 Americans, including 21,000 of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division, more than 21,000 of the Army's 101st Airborne Division, about 64,000 Marines, 5,000 of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division and several thousand special operations troops. Also in Kuwait are headquarters elements of the Army's V Corps and about 25,000 British troops. About 1,100 military aircraft, ranging from land-based Air Force fighter jets and bombers to Navy and Marine fighter and support planes launched from aircraft carriers, are in the region.

We also read somewhere, can't remember exactly where right now, that Bush is going to ask Congress to authorize 90 billion dollars for the war.

There is no money for war in the huge deficit budget Bush proposed a month or so ago. 90 billion? Where's it going to come from?

You can view the Not in Our Name public service announcements here.

President Bush declined late Monday to stop the execution of a decorated Gulf War veteran who claims severe brain damage from his exposure to Iraqi nerve gas led him to kill.

Without presidential clemency, it was virtually assured Louis Jones Jr. will be executed by injection Tuesday morning at the U.S. Penitentiary near Terre Haute, Ind.

As the execution neared, Jones met Monday with his 22-year-old daughter, his attorney and two spiritual advisers. Attorney Timothy Floyd said his client had been hopeful as he awaited word on whether Bush would consider his request to commute his death sentence to life in prison.

"He was really remarkably strong and I think at peace with whatever happens. I attribute that to his deep faith -- I think that's sustained him through this," Floyd said.

For his last meal Monday, Jones selected whole fruit: nectarines, peaches and plums.

If the execution proceeds, Jones would be the third person -- after Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and drug kingpin Juan Garza -- put to death by the federal government since 1963.

Sen. Tom Daschle said tonight that Bush has failed miserably in diplomacy, forcing America to war.

''I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war,'' Daschle said in a speech to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. ''Saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country.''