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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Richard S who wrote (433130)	7/24/2003 9:59:38 PM
From: Raymond Duray	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769667

BUSH IS SUCH A LOSER......... Talk about an image problem. Now the Thief-In-Chief is locking up Nuns Old Enough to be on Social Security! ******** Thank goodness those dangerous nuns are about to be locked up. (What's wrong with this picture...) --- Anti-war nuns facing at least six years in prison By JUDITH KOHLER Associated Press Writer DENVER (AP) - Three pacifist nuns who swung a hammer at a missile silo and smeared their blood on it in the form of a cross could spend the next six to eight years in prison for the anti-war protest. The three women spent time alone Thursday as media from across the country and peace activists gathered for Friday's sentencing in federal court. ''It's kind of their final, last free moment,'' said Bill Sulzman of Colorado Springs, their spokesman. Dominican Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, were convicted April 7 of obstructing the national defense and damaging government property. The maximum term is 30 years, but prosecutors have recommended the minimum, which ranges from six to eight. ''No judge in the country is going to give them the maximum,'' Denver legal analyst Andrew Cohen said. But he said U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn can't ignore sentencing guidelines. The nuns are longtime anti-war activists. Platte and Gilbert lived in Baltimore's Jonah House, an activist community founded by the late peace activist Philip Berrigan. Hudson lived in a similar community in Poulsbo, Wash. All three are prepared to go to prison for their beliefs, Sulzman said. ''They have a strong spirituality that does sustain them and I think will sustain them if they get a long prison sentence,'' he said. After their arrest last October at the Minuteman III missile silo on Colorado's northeastern plains, the women chose to stay in jail, refusing the government's offer to be released on their own recognizance. After the three were convicted, they spent several weeks visiting family and friends, going to their doctors and making the rounds of potluck suppers and peace rallies. The woman scheduled a news conference Friday morning but plan to say nothing during the sentencing hearing. ''They didn't think they got a fair trial and therefore, the judge is not really open to arguments they might make,'' Sulzman said. ''They're not going to make some kind of plea for mercy from him.'' The judge didn't allow the nuns to defend themselves using principles established during the international war crimes tribunal at Nuremberg. During the postwar trial of Nazi concentration camp guards, the tribunal said an individual has an obligation under international law to violate domestic law to prevent continuing crimes against humanity. The nuns claim the Minuteman is a first-strike weapon prohibited by international law. Hudson's lawyer, Walter Gerash, insisted during the trial the nuns did nothing to prevent the missile from ''doing its demonic damage.'' He compared the women to Martin Luther King Jr. and American colonists who dumped tea into Boston Harbor. Prosecutor Robert Brown, however, said the women didn't leave the missile site when asked. He wrote in a recent response to their request for lenient sentences that nuclear weapons have deterred the country's enemies and prevented war. Brown declined to comment Thursday. A demonstration was planned Saturday at missile sites in Colorado, said Cynda Collins-Arsenault of Superior. Hundreds of members of anti-war, church and other groups planned to station people at each of the 49 silos scattered across Weld and Logan counties and then gather in the small town of Stoneham. ''It will be all legal, all peaceful, all nonviolent,'' said Collins-Arsenault, who is with the women's peace group Code Pink. The goal is to raise awareness of the missiles and continue the nuns' work. ''(President) Bush has said weapons of mass destruction are horrible and I agree,'' she said. ''We haven't found any in Iraq, but we sure have lot of them here.'' trib.com