Ray McGovern Arrested at Petraeus Event

[mother earth]

Published on Oct 31, 2014


The New York City Police Department arrested former CIA officer Ray McGovern on Thursday night, preventing him from attending a Q & Q given by former CIA director David Petraeus. Although he had purchased a ticket to the event, officers stopped the outspoken peace activist and proceeded to arrest him before he even entered the building. RT’s Manila Chan speaks to McGovern himself to get his firsthand account of the incident.

http://rt.com/usa/201323-ray-mcgovern-arrest-debrief/

An adamant critic of the wartime policies of the current White House administration and that of George W. Bush, McGovern has previously been arrested while demonstrating at public events. Speaking to RT this week, he said he intended on asking a question to Gen. Petraeus during an advertised question-and-answer session following Thursday’s event, but was forcefully removed by police before it was underway.

McGovern said he showed up at the event with a black-eye and a sore wrist, and had earlier been wearing a sling on his left arm to aid the injury. At the Petraeus event, however, he says police exacerbated those injuries by forcefully handcuffing him and then hauling him off to a local precinct where he was charged with resisting arrest, criminal trespass, and disorderly conduct. He says he then spent the night on a stainless steel cot.

“If you’ve seen the footage, you can see me screaming in pain as they try to pin my left wrist around behind my back,” he told RT. He added that there was “lots of blood on my pants” as he was being arrested.

It was “very interesting,” McGovern told RT, to spend the night in a local holding center “with people who are subjected to innocent suffering in New York City jails.”

Indeed, McGovern had planned on having the night go drastically different. The former CIA analyst explained that he had hoped to ask Petraeus questions about the general’s policies during the last war in Iraq, given that US troops have since returned to counter the Islamic State.

“Will you come out of retirement and try to do it better this time to train the Iraqi forces?” McGovern said he wanted to ask the former CIA chief.

“This is no saint. This is actually no great strategist,” he said of Petraeus. “He’s an embarrassment to the US Army in which I used to be proud to have served.”

McGovern, who was previously placed on the State Department’s Diplomatic Security “Be On the Look Out” (BOLO) list after demonstrating during a Hillary Clinton event in 2011, told RT that a hearing is scheduled for early December during which the status of the charges will be discussed.

“Very often something good could come out of these things,” he optimistically told RT.

[mother earth]

1. More at commondreams:

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/10/31/former-cia-analyst-ray-mcgovern-arrested-while-trying-attend-david-petraeus-event

The disorderly conduct charges he faced were eventually dropped, as it was found he committed no crime. McGovern obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that showed he had been investigated by the State Department, which was interested in his “political beliefs, activities, statements and associations.” He sued the State Department for violating his First Amendment rights and won an injunction against the State Department in September to halt the “Be On the Look Out” alerts for McGovern.

How security or the NYPD knew McGovern and the other activists by name and that they would be at the event is unknown at the moment. Whether an alert system like the alerts used by the State Department was involved to tip off security to their presence is also unknown as well.

What matters is individuals bought $45 tickets to an event and were effectively denied entry to protect Petraeus and Nagl from having to face possible questions that might challenge their military backgrounds and defense or involvement in war crimes previously committed by US military forces.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. Interesting how active the State Dept. is on spying on US protesters

"the State Department, which was interested in his “political beliefs, activities, statements and associations.”

and how protected Petraeus is by both the taxpayer supported NYC police and private security.

Wonder where all that money is coming from.

I really do not see any distinction between the State Dept and the CIA.

[mother earth]

5. I think we are all realizing how far 9/11 brought us down the rabbit hole, with no end in sight. nt

[Plucketeer]

7. We're gonna realize

this rabbit hole is actually a black hole.

[uhnope]

10. Fuck that anti-Semite conspiracy theorist attention-seeking wanker

Perfect that Russia's state media is pushing yet another anti-Semite, since the Russian gov't invented the greatest anti-semitic hoax in the modern age, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which helped bring about the Holocaust

http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2011/02/kgos-thurston-friday-show-goes-anti.html

He started berating the "Zionist state" and began to talk about "those individuals that possess 'dual citizenship' and whether they should worry about the future affairs in the region. After Thurston questioned McGovern's on-air diatribe and specific words, the ex-govt. operative didn't back down.

"They run the media and control our politicians in Washington." "They?" Who's they? Thurston, on air, could be heard gasping. The inferences were clear. Suddenly, the topic was no longer Egypt, but some govt. agent going on a direct anti-Semitic rant to the core that lit up the switchboard and brought out angry callers.

[JEB]

3. Fascism.

[Hoppy]

4. Whatdafukdidheexpek? He demonstrated against St. Hillary.

Nobody demonstrates against St. Hillary.

[FairWinds]

6. So the NYPD police thugs . .

think it's OK to (in effect) torture a 75 year old man.
Beneath contempt.

[salib]

8. de Blasio needs to get busy. NYPD is out of control.

[uhnope]

9. Fuck that anti-Semite conspiracy theorist attention-seeking wanker

Perfect that Russia's state media is pushing yet another anti-Semite, since the Russian gov't invented the greatest anti-semitic hoax in the modern age, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which helped bring about the Holocaust

http://richliebermanreport.blogspot.com/2011/02/kgos-thurston-friday-show-goes-anti.html

He started berating the "Zionist state" and began to talk about "those individuals that possess 'dual citizenship' and whether they should worry about the future affairs in the region. After Thurston questioned McGovern's on-air diatribe and specific words, the ex-govt. operative didn't back down.

"They run the media and control our politicians in Washington." "They?" Who's they? Thurston, on air, could be heard gasping. The inferences were clear. Suddenly, the topic was no longer Egypt, but some govt. agent going on a direct anti-Semitic rant to the core that lit up the switchboard and brought out angry callers.

[mother earth]

11. uhnope, your response stems from a radio talk show persona whom I am not familiar with. However,

The issues of dual citizenship in the Bush admin and the questionable allegiance to Israel has been brought up many times in criticism of the rush to war with Iraq, the 9/11 perps were Saudis, as a DU'er you may be familiar with why this is fair criticism of GW & his admin. Not only has McGovern been critical of the war, I will offer you proof he is/was not the only former CIA with deep concerns, from Counterpunch, here is some info, perhaps the source is more agreeable to you.

You seem to like to get into pissing matches about RT, your criticism is ALWAYS ridiculously angry and everyone and anyone who has the audacity to be on RT is traitorous if we are to take your opinion to heart. Not once have you ever acknowledged any problem with our homegrown MSM's inability to report the news objectively. Having said that, I want you to know I completely agree that our media and politicians are being "controlled", by whom I'll leave to individual discernment of which I feel everyone completely capable of, whether issues are discussed at RT, Al Jazeera, CNN, Fox, or MSNBC....we may not always realize the truth or lie at first, but sooner or later it is always revealed. You can continue in your folly of attack on everything and anything from RT, as for me, you are on ignore after today. Had you ever once been at least civil, rather than on attack mode, I'd have no issue with such discussion.

BTW, I could not find any such reference on McGovern to being an anti-Semite other than Lieberman's blog which you quote, but there certainly are valid concerns about Israel and the lack of progress in the peace process, a discussion for another time, but not with you and I.

It really was not necessary to post this twice, but I'll give you the benefit of doubt on that, perhaps it was simply an over-reaction.

Whether we like RT or not, the issue at hand is our own country's rush to what seems to be surveillance of activists and arrest to stop the ebb and flow of freedom of speech, lest we have any challenge to Petraeus in a public venue. I do recall Petraeus' nickname as BetrayUS, do you? Anyway, do take note and perhaps read the article at Counterpunch that follows.

Goodbye, uhnope, you do not betray a country by watching a news show from another country, or by posting something valid from RT.
You betray a country by going against what it stands for, and not walking the talk, my friend.

[uhnope]

14. Are you saying the Jews control the US media?

You beat heavily around the bush here:

Having said that, I want you to know I completely agree that our media and politicians are being "controlled", by whom I'll leave to individual discernment of which I feel everyone completely capable of

So answer the question directly

[mother earth]

12. Counterpunch's (per former CIA) take of dual citizens of war policymakers of the Bush admin.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2004/09/06/the-bush-neocons-and-israel/
The suggestion that the war with Iraq is being planned at Israel’s behest, or at the instigation of policymakers whose main motivation is trying to create a secure environment for Israel, is strong. Many Israeli analysts believe this. The Israeli commentator Akiva Eldar recently observed frankly in a Ha’aretz column that Perle, Feith, and their fellow strategists "are walking a fine line between their loyalty to American governments and Israeli interests." The suggestion of dual loyalties is not a verboten subject in the Israeli press, as it is in the United States. Peace activist Uri Avnery, who knows Israeli Prime Minister Sharon well, has written that Sharon has long planned grandiose schemes for restructuring the Middle East and that "the winds blowing now in Washington remind me of Sharon. I have absolutely no proof that the Bushies got their ideas from him . But the style is the same."
The dual loyalists in the Bush administration have given added impetus to the growth of a messianic strain of Christian fundamentalism that has allied itself with Israel in preparation for the so-called End of Days. These crazed fundamentalists see Israel’s domination over all of Palestine as a necessary step toward fulfillment of the biblical Millennium, consider any Israeli relinquishment of territory in Palestine as a sacrilege, and view warfare between Jews and Arabs as a divinely ordained prelude to Armageddon. These right-wing Christian extremists have a profound influence on Bush and his administration, with the result that the Jewish fundamentalists working for the perpetuation of Israel’s domination in Palestine and the Christian fundamentalists working for the Millennium strengthen and reinforce each other’s policies in administration councils. The Armageddon that Christian Zionists seem to be actively promoting and that Israeli loyalists inside the administration have tactically allied themselves with raises the horrifying but very real prospect of an apocalyptic Christian-Islamic war. The neo-cons seem unconcerned, and Bush’s occasional pro forma remonstrations against blaming all Islam for the sins of Islamic extremists do nothing to make this prospect less likely.
These two strains of Jewish and Christian fundamentalism have dovetailed into an agenda for a vast imperial project to restructure the Middle East, all further reinforced by the happy coincidence of great oil resources up for grabs and a president and vice president heavily invested in oil. All of these factors — the dual loyalties of an extensive network of policymakers allied with Israel, the influence of a fanatical wing of Christian fundamentalists, and oil — probably factor in more or less equally to the administration’s calculations on the Palestinian-Israeli situation and on war with Iraq. But the most critical factor directing U.S. policymaking is the group of Israeli loyalists: neither Christian fundamentalist support for Israel nor oil calculations would carry the weight in administration councils that they do without the pivotal input of those loyalists, who clearly know how to play to the Christian fanatics and undoubtedly also know that their own and Israel’s bread is buttered by the oil interests of people like Bush and Cheney. This is where loyalty to Israel by government officials colors and influences U.S. policymaking in ways that are extremely dangerous.

Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA’s Office of Regional and Political Analysis. He is a contributor to Imperial Crusades, CounterPunch’s new history of the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan.
Kathleen Christison, a former CIA political analyst, is the author of Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy and Wound of Dispossession: Telling the Palestinian Story.
They can be reached at: [e-mail].

[mother earth]

13. Wasn't it Hitler that created the Elders of Zion story, not Russia? Just saying. nt

[uhnope]

15. That shows a lot of ignorance on your part

especially when a google search would answer your question. Or are you not allowed to know anything that might reflect badly on the Russian government?