NEWS ON THOSE FALN TERRORISTS ERIC HOLDER HELPED TO FREE

I remember hearing about this from a caller on Rush Limbaugh's show on Tuesday, December 21st. In fact, the author of this piece that showed up on American Spectator - Ron Kolb - may have also been that caller. The long and the short of it here is that in 1999, Bill Clinton offered clemency to 12 FALN Puerto Rican terrorists on the condition that they each express public remorse. All but one did just that so 11 went free. Kolb is quite passionate about that twelfth man, Oscar Lopez-Rivera, not going free on January 5, 2011 when his parole hearing is scheduled.

Via the Spectator:

Oscar Lopez-Rivera was one of the leaders and founders of the fringe Puerto Rican nationalist domestic terrorist group known as the FALN (Armed Forces of National Liberation). In a highly controversial move in August of 1999, Bill Clinton offered clemency to 12 members of that group (including Lopez), along with four other members of their closely allied group the Macheteros (machete-wielders), who were based primarily on the island nation.

The 11 other members of the FALN finally accepted the conditions of the clemency a month later by expressing remorse (in a move that was engineered by then Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder). However, in a surprising move, Lopez refused the offer. This was even after he had made two previous escape attempts (the sentence added for the second attempt would have delayed his immediate release).

Lopez had been sentenced to 70 years for seditious conspiracy and a variety of weapons charges as well as the second thwarted escape attempt (which included plans for the use of violence).

However, he is now attempting to gain his freedom, and a parole hearing is set for January 5th.

Be sure to read Kolb's entire article because he goes into great detail about who Lopez-Rivera really is. If he is released, he will become a living martyr for the hard left.

Kolb then ends with this action item:

Lopez is currently scheduled for release from the Terre Haute Federal Correctional Institute (in Indiana) in June of 2023. Again, his parole hearing is set for January 5th before the U.S. Parole Commission. If you wish to contact the commission, their number is 301-492-5990.

Go figure, another mess Holder's got ties to.

HERE is more on Clinton's decision to extend clemency in 1999.

HOLDER VIDEO FROM 1999 PULLED FROM YOUTUBE

In 1999, Orrin Hatch spent ten minutes grilling Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder over Bill Clinton giving clemency to FALN terrorists. Video of that exchange was available not so long ago. It no longer is. I'm not saying I know why but I AM saying it exposes Holder in a big way. He was either wrong then or Obama is wrong now.



Several months back, I recorded the audio of the exchange in question and was listening to it today while doing show prep. What I heard slapped me in the face as a direct contradiction to what Barack Obama's stance has been relative to the prosecution of CIA agents. Specifically, Obama has deferred to Holder, saying it's the Attorney General's call and that he will not interfere.

On August 28th, a column by Newt Gingrich appeared in the WASHINGTON EXAMINER in which he called B.S. on such a notion:

...the president is silent on Martha's Vineyard, and his surrogates are blaming the political prosecutions of CIA officials on the Attorney General.

Even if you believe this convenient division of political culpability, the Attorney General has failed to honor the law. He has given into - or faithfully carried out - the revenge fantasies of the anti-American left.

If Obama won't uphold his fundamental duty as Commander-in-Chief to defend those who have been defending America, the least he can do is insist that his Attorney General uphold his fundamental duty to defend the rule of law.

When I went to do a blog post to include the video of Holder and Hatch, I discovered it had been pulled.

I'm not sure why the video was pulled specifically but the corner Holder was backed into in 1999 while seated in front of Hatch provides a stark contradiction between the ground he claimed while in that corner and ground the Obama administration has avoided claiming relative to CIA prosecutions.

I have the entire 10 minute audio clip but I transcribed a little over a minute of the exchange between Hatch and Holder. I will be playing the audio on my September 20th program.

Holder: The power of the president is absolute in these areas and can take into consideration a variety of things. The president has indicated that on the basis of what he termed 'equity and fairness' he thought the extension of the commutation here was appropriate, understanding that there were people who would disagree with his decision.

Hatch: Well this FALN member, Jerena, is on the FBI's ten most wanted fugitive list. The ten most wanted list, let alone fugitive. Doesn't it seem logical to you that before you give clemency to people like this, who've been convicted of seditious conspiracy and of all these other matters involving terrorism, the least law enforcement people should do is ask them to cooperate in finding one of the ten most wanted people on the FBI's list?

Holder: Well again, it is for the president to decide....

Hatch: No it isn't. It's for the Justice Department to make this determination whether they ask these people these things.

Holder: Well no, that's not, I respectfully disagree. It is for the president to decide exactly what he is or is not going to consider in making that determination.

So if Clinton had absolute authority to release the FALN terrorists in 1999, why doesn't Barack Obama have the same authority to release the CIA in 2009, Mr. Holder?

Here is a LINK TO THE LETTER 7 former CIA Directors sent to Barack Obama.