Boston Marathon Bombing Survivor Sues Glenn Beck for Defamation
Source: Mediaite
In the aftermath of last years bombings at the Boston Marathon, Glenn Beck publicly and vocally accused Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, a 20-year-old Saudi Arabian student who was injured at the marathon, of funding and participating in the attacks. That turned out to be very much untrue. Now, nearly a year after the bombing, Alharbi is suing the radio host and his parent companies for defamation.
A week after the marathon Beck told his audience that he was absolutely certain that Alharbi was behind the attacks, and refused to relent even after FBI officials investigated Alharbi and declared him innocent. According to the complaint, Beck repeatedly questioned the motives of federal officials in failing to pursue or detain Alharbi and repeatedly suggested that Alharbi had engaged in wrongful and criminal activity
but was being protected by the wrongful acts of others covering up those crimes on his behalf.
As a result, due to Becks actions, the complaint claims that Alharbis reputation has been severely damaged, and he receives numerous messages, internet postings, and communications accusing him of being a murderer, child killer, and terrorist.
It should be noted that Beck made his claims about Alharbi long after after the Boston police publicly identified the men involved in the bombing and arrested one.
Read more: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/boston-marathon-bombing-survivor-sues-glenn-beck-for-defamation/
Following the bombing at the Boston Marathon last year, Glenn Beck went on a personal crusade to prove that the Obama administration was engaged in a massive cover-up of the role that an al Qaeda operative played in the attack and was doing so for the benefit of the Saudi Arabian government.
Beck infamously gave the US government three days to come clean about the cover-up before he exposed it on his network. When those three days passed, Beck launched into a full-scale campaign to prove that Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, who was injured in the bombing, was actually an al Qaeda "control agent" and "money man" who financed the operation and recruited the Tsarnaev brothers to carry it out.
Beck's theory rested on the fact that Alharbi had once been considered a "person of interest" during the investigation but was quickly cleared. Beck's network received information during the investigation that Alharbi "was set to be deported under section 212 3B" for "terrorist activities" and it was upon that piece of information that Beck built his entire campaign, as he spent days hammering away, challenging everyone to disprove his theory and warning that they would only discredit themselves if they tried to do so.
Eventually, Beck's crusade came to a grinding halt when he brought a former INS special agent onto his program to bolster his theory but, instead, watched as Bob Trent blew a hole right through it by pointing out that the 212 3B designation and Beck's entire timeline "doesn't make sense."
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/glenn-beck-sued-defamation-over-his-212-3b-boston-marathon-bombing-conspiracy-theory#sthash.ub2SU0Ex.dpuf
RKP5637
(67,032 posts)uhnope
(6,419 posts)Rozlee
(2,529 posts)That's where they really feel the pain.
lastlib
(22,981 posts)...he won't be able to get a job sharpening pencils for the Sni Mills Rooster.
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)R. Daneel Olivaw
(12,606 posts)Miigwech
(3,741 posts)G Beck has violated Americans, like me, for years, with his crazy hate speech. Free speech on the public airwaves, paid for by tax payers, has to come with some accountability. Bring back the "Fair Doctrine" ---- lies and slander must be challenged. Dead beats like Beck don't add a single bit to the constructive debate that is America.
Raine1967
(11,589 posts)How?
also, a sincere welcome to DU.
I agree, we need to have a fairness doctrine brought back. (yes, I made a caveat to what I'd like to see.)
freshwest
(53,661 posts)azurnoir
(45,850 posts)On April 17, 2013, Emerson stated on the Fox News program Hannity that he had been informed by an official in the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that a Saudi national who was present during the Boston Marathon bombing was suspected of playing a role in it and was being deported to Saudi Arabia at behest of the Saudi government, claiming that this is the way things are done with Saudi Arabia. You dont arrest their citizens, you deport them because they dont want them to be embarrassed and thats the way we appease them.[60] Emerson also told C-SPAN that day that "[the Saudi national] has not been convicted, but the burns on his skin match the explosive residue of the bomb that exploded".[61] The following day, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, whose department supervises the ICE, dismissed Emerson's allegation during a meeting with the House Homeland Security Committee, claiming "it is so full of misstatements and misapprehensions."[62] US officials also refuted allegations that the Saudi national, identified as 22 year-old Abdulrahman Ali Alharbi,[63] had been regarded as a suspect and stated that had he had only been questioned by authorities as a witness.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Emerson#Boston_Marathon_Bombing
[64]
ificandream
(9,196 posts)... for complete idiocy.
SnowCritter
(808 posts)but if you could sue anyone for complete idiocy then you would be able to sue any Republican.
Wait, maybe it's not such a bad idea after all.
penultimate
(1,110 posts)their opinions (which they relay as fact) on their warped world view.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)They won't be able to say anything!
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Raine1967
(11,589 posts)Jeebus, do we really need an alex jones lite?
Cha
(295,916 posts)thanks Adenoid
Archae
(46,262 posts)He'll brag about "Fighting it all the way to the Supreme Court" and shortly before trial settle out of court.
http://conwebwatch.tripod.com/stories/2008/wndlawsuit2.html
Hekate
(90,195 posts)...due in part to Glenn Beck's brand of stochastic terrorism.
I wish Mr. Alharbi all the luck in the world with his lawsuit, but most of all I wish him safety.
peoli
(3,111 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,581 posts)but I hope they nail Glenn Becks ass to the wall.
I used to watch some of his CNN show before I went to bed sometimes, and this is exactly the kind of fear mongering that he did every night. Sometimes he would tout tomorrow's show as "the scariest one yet". Though I don't think Obama was in office yet at that time, it was usually Pelosi or some other high profile democrat that was causing all the country's woes (of course).
I hope they sue him senseless and send a message across the squealing static of AM radio that people like him are a serious threat to national order. I'm not even a big fan of national order, but who knows how many acts of violence against good Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs he's inspired over the years. His show really is that radical.
Thanx for posting some good news before I retire for the night.
olegramps
(8,200 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)the show didn't last that long, but before then Beck was "just" a random yahoo in Philadelphia (?) with a sort-of popular hate radio show...
I can't stand the fact that it was CNN who 'legitimized' Beck; even though they knew damn well his history, CNN was desperately whoring for a decent ratings number...
mrdmk
(2,943 posts)He was at HLN from January 2006 to October 2008, then moved to Fox News. Beck was fired by Roger Ailes (Fox News) for having his own political agenda.
Read more here if you can hack it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_beck#Television
olegramps
(8,200 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,581 posts)I just looked it up, and it appears he had a show from '06 to '08 on CNN's HLN channel. The show reran at 4:00 AM, just as I was usually going to bed. I would turn it on in my bedroom until I was ready to fall asleep. Good thing I didn't take him seriously, or I'd have to crawl under the bed so Muslims couldn't sneak in and kill me in my sleep.
I think CNN was using his profile to fend off the liberal image many conservatives have of the network. He apparently was either too much of a liability or suffered poor ratings, probably the latter.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,581 posts)I have a Tea Party friend who referred to it as The Communist News Network just last week. Frankly, I always though CNN was a considerably equal mix of far right conservative all the way over to the somewhat moderate left.
I imagine they put the audience target square on GW Bush's famous view of a center-right America, or what my friend calls a bunch of left wing loons. His logic also follows that since Jon Stewart's Daily Show is comedic, that everything he covers must be untrue.
Do you see how they indoctrinate him on Fox?
wheniwasincongress
(1,307 posts)This guy has a really good case. Beck continually states as fact that Alharbi was involved.
meanit
(455 posts)GOOD, GOOD, GOOD, GOOD!!!!
It's about time that someone started holding these fuckers accountable for their slanderous hate speech.
malthaussen
(17,066 posts)Hit Beck where it hurts -- his pocketbook.
-- Mal
tanyev
(42,360 posts)DinahMoeHum
(21,737 posts)JohnnyRingo
(18,581 posts)Good one.
You'd think people could tie in that he's selling an appetizer of racism, unbridled fear as the main course, and making his real money pushing incredibly overpriced gold coins for dessert.
That format perfectly describes a typical Glenn Beck show.
bigworld
(1,807 posts)... the difference is that once he was cleared by the Boston PD they stopped with the wild accusations and Beck accelerated them. He has every right to target Beck.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)And if he wins (please please please) it would set a precedence for all hate-speech radio.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Feral Child
(2,086 posts)I think he's got a case.
I don't think he wants a jury trial, though. Nullification could rob him.