Revenge on system cited as motive for rampage - Nichols saw himself as 'soldier on a mission'

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | 3/15/05 | BETH WARREN

[colorado tanker]

Wait 'till Ward Churchill writes about this one.

[Ragnar54]

You said:
Since they are treated as per the Geneva convention and have been denied ordinary civilian justice, they are de facto POW's. You can split hairs and call them what ever you want. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. It makes no difference what you call them.

It does make a difference. The detainees are not POWs because we are not at war with their home countries. They are not soldiers in the armed forces of any recognized country. They did not wear the uniforms of any armed forces when they were murdering American soldiers.

I said:
Since the unquestionably guilty party has declared himself a "soldier" to several witnesses, we should take him at his word and execute him (this does not mean that we have to regard him as a actual soldier).

Nichols is no more an actual soldier than the Guantanamo detainees. Like them, he saw himself as a "soldier" attempting to engage in combat with representatives of this country (e.g., the customs agent he murdered). This should qualify him for detainee status, trial by tribunal with no appeal and summary execution. By his own admission, he was attempting a one-man revolution. The taxpayers should not have to pay for a lengthy trial and endless appeals.

[mbynack]

I don't understand how you can say it's not a racial issue. With all the black politicians and judges, this guy elects to go out of his way and hunt down a white judge. This is what HE saw as the symbol of the system that was victimizing blacks.

[mbynack]

Nichols' own words make it a racial issue. He was striking out at a system because he felt it was racist. His actions were racially motivated by his own admission.

[monday]

"With all the black politicians and judges, this guy elects to go out of his way and hunt down a white judge."

His judge. YOU are the one making it a racial issue. He would likly have killed his judge no matter what color he was.

[monday]

You want to judge him as a soldier while denying him the protections such status would afford. This is called wanting your cake and eating it too. I am guessing the constitution and rule of law isn't very important to you since you are so willing to break the rules when they are inconvenient to you.

[Onyxx]

C'mon folks. This is as bad as taking Ted Bundy or Charles Manson's words and thoughts seriously. This man is a sociopath and a manipulator. He is going to attempt to play each and every angle from religion to racism. Nichols is nothing more than a cold blooded murderer and a coward. I notice that he was not in a hurry to confront the SWAT team and go out in a firefight for his self-professed "cause". If he truly visualized himself as a soldier then he'd have not surrendered as long as he had the means to resist.

His words are as empty as his soul. I'm just curious as to which religious angle he is going to work on the American public. Christianity or Islam. He'll pretend to be saved, (Christianity) or play the role of political prisoner (Islam). He will get diarrhea of the mouth each time the MSM gives him or his lawyer a stage to perform on.

This is not an issue of race. Evil comes in all colors. The faster they stick a needle in his arm the better.

Now where the heck did I put my coffee mug?

[scoopscandal]

I was under the impression that before this rape charge (by an ex-girlfriend of eight years), Nichols had no record of violence or otherwise.

[scoopscandal]

I thought Nichols hunted down that particular judge because he was the one who had been hearing his case?...hearing the case for the second time, I might add, since the first trial ended in a hung jury...8 for acquittal 4 guilty.

While we're speculating, couldn't we say that if the judge had been black he would have been toast just the same?

Now, just to be clear, I'm usually the "hang-em high" type, however, if he is really innocent of the original charge, I could see how he could have snapped.

[Ragnar54]

Wrong again. If he were a soldier of a country that had signed the Geneva convention, he could be tried for war crimes (for deliberately killing civilians) as well as for murder.

One doesn't become a soldier by simply declaring oneself to be such. However, if you declare yourself a "soldier" and commit acts of violence, you can qualify for treatment as a terrorist. Part of the definition of an act of terrorism is:

"The killing, harm or destruction was intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion"

Nichols was clearly posturing as being at war with the general population and/or the government. He deserves expedited justice for his terrorist acts. Because he is a citizen, it won't happen. If it did, no one else's rights would be threatened.

[spodefly]

Nichols said he was angry that many of the inmates around him were also black and he wondered how many were innocent. "He called it systematic slavery," the law enforcement official said.

Practically everyone that works for the City of Atlanta, or in any of the government offices in downtown Atlanta is black. The 'White man is keeping me down" excuse will not work in the City of Atlanta because there are very, very few whites in position of power in Atlanta city government anymore.

[jordan8]

As I've said a hundred times on this forum, anti-racism is a racist code-phrase for anti-white. Nichols is a racist hate-criminal, period. To be sure, he is an individual with a disordered mind, but that wasn't a defense for Benjamin Smith or Buford Furrow. The blatant double standard shown by the media in their almost complete silence over the obvious racial motivations of the killer in this case (and it probably would have been complete silence had not that hostage brought up his motivations) and the wild, irresponsible, widespread speculation over that Chicago judge a couple of weeks ago exposes once again, as if it needed more exposure, its institutionalized white hating racism. They've been lying about the nature of racial violence on the streets of America for decades, and it is only reasonable to conclude that those lies contribute to the violence, this is just one more example. If this had been a white guy who shot 3 blacks and a white and then prattled on about being a soldier for his people the media would be going nuts, and there would be no questions, even here at FR, about his motivation.

[Route66]

Well this settles it for me. I'm sure that any one of us could have committed a string of murders and assaults like this on a bad day. Let's just let him go. Oh...and lets give him some money for his pain and suffering, too. It seems only right considering all he's been through.

[Al Gator]

I object to you assuming this a racial issue when it probably isn't.

And I object to you saying it isn't a racial issue when it probably is. Nicoles himself said so. But maybe you know more what's in his mind than he does.

[Al Gator]

I object to you assuming this a racial issue when it probably isn't.

And I object to you saying it isn't a racial issue when it probably is. Nicoles himself said so. But maybe you know more what's in his mind than he does.

[Al Gator]

Sorry for the double post double post


There's an echo in here here

[T Lady]

No matter how you slice it, Nichols' goose is well-done. Just for shooting the police officer alone, he probably landed himself a seat on Death Row. The real pity of it all is that several families are now deprived their loved ones.

There are much more sensible ways to protest the penal system, like say, writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper perhaps, or an e-mail or phone call.

-Regards, T.

[Jemima Gaines]

Make no mistake about it, JFK_Lib, your racist diatribe was read and understood for exactly what it is. Attempts to sidestep it later just show you are a coward in addition to being a bigot.

That said, the systemic racism in the American criminal justice system does not excuse Brian Nichols' murderous crime spree. The acceptable avenue would have been for him to fight through the system. If convicted, appeal. Unlike many defendants, he was not poor or ignorant, and might have prevailed. The appeals might have proven inadequate, but at least he would not have the blood of innocent people on his hands.

Also, I am wondering about something. When I searched Free Republic for a thread about Bart Smith, the murderer in the Lefkow case, I did not find any. One can't help but notice the often racist ranting against Nichols while a white killer is totally ignored. This is still a site where bigotry abounds.