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War hero who had child porn to learn fate [John Kerry & Dems stand by child porn pervert]
San Diego Union - Tribune ^ | 5/3/09 | Greg Moran

Posted on 05/03/2009 5:11:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

FEDERAL COURT — War hero, activist, former high-ranking Pentagon official – Wade Sanders has led a life full of peril and achievement, of great highs and deep lows.

Just a few years ago, Sanders stood onstage at the Democratic National Convention as his fellow veteran, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., accepted his party's presidential nomination.

That was a high point.

Tomorrow afternoon in federal court in San Diego likely will be a low point for him.

Sanders, 69, is scheduled to be sentenced after pleading guilty in December to possession of child pornography.

He could face as much as 10 years in prison after federal agents found child pornography on several of his home computers.

Just as Sanders once stood behind Kerry, the senator is now standing behind him. In one of dozens of letters submitted on behalf of Sanders, Kerry urged U.S. District Judge Thomas Whelan to weigh Sanders' record of service and community work when making a decision on sentencing.

The hearing promises to be dramatic, with more than 50 people lining up in support of Sanders. In addition to Kerry, they include former U.S. senator and war hero Max Cleland of Georgia, who headed the Veterans Administration under President Jimmy Carter.

Also offering support are former Rep. Lynn Schenk of San Diego, a lawyer and longtime friend of Sanders; and numerous retired Navy officers, friends and relatives of Sanders. Bernie Jones, the Opinion page editor of The San Diego Union-Tribune, where numerous commentaries by Sanders have been published over the years, also wrote a letter opposing a prison term.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alessandra Serano is seeking a 63-month sentence for Sanders, as well as a requirement that he register as a sex offender and be on 10 years of supervised release after he gets out of prison.

The case against Sanders started in October 2007, when an FBI agent went online to search for people sharing child pornography using a file-sharing computer network.

The agent entered a search term widely used by pornographers, and among the results returned was one that eventually linked to Sanders' home computer.

A few months later, FBI agents raided Sanders' San Diego home. In court papers, Serano said three computers seized in the raid had child pornography on them.

Sanders and his attorney, Knut Johnson, say that Sanders was downloading the images as part of a research project on the subject. In her court papers, Serano noted that at the time of the raid, Sanders never told this to FBI agents.

Serano also said no notes or other materials relating to a research project were found. In a meeting with prosecutors before he pleaded guilty, Sanders did produce three pages of handwritten notes that were undated, she said.

Sanders also is arguing that his work was a product of an obsessive-compulsive disorder he has developed. He claims it is a product of post-traumatic stress disorder, which he said is a crippling residue of his combat service.

Sanders was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart in his military career. He led a Swift boat on numerous missions in Vietnam, often coming under intense fire and harrowing circumstances.

In a 13-page statement to Whelan, Sanders talks at length about that experience and how it shaped him. “There is a part of me that died in Vietnam and now, for the first time in my life I am facing that reality,” it begins.

One symptom of PTSD is compulsive behavior, Johnson argued. He said Sanders became “obsessed about writing an article or otherwise uncovering the source of child pornography.”

In his letter, Kerry lauded Sanders' record in the war and after, when Sanders became a prominent advocate for veterans' causes.

“The Wade Sanders I know is someone who has always put love of country first,” Kerry wrote. “He's been an advocate for his friends, his fellow veterans, his state and his country.”


TOPICS: Breaking News; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: carter; childporn; cultureofcorruption; democrats; democratscandals; jimmycarter; kerry; kerryscandals; pedophile; swiftboats4kerry; vietnamvets
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PTSD/ OCD made me do it?

I was just doing research.

--

You be the Judge.

1 posted on 05/03/2009 5:11:51 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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an FBI agent went online to search for people sharing child pornography using a file-sharing computer network

The Capitol could use the same treatment.

We owe it to the children, after all. Right?


2 posted on 05/03/2009 5:12:53 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi ... Godspeed.)
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To: NormsRevenge

The guy is a degenerate but his military service should be a mitigating factor


3 posted on 05/03/2009 5:14:21 PM PDT by dennisw (Your action becomes your habit. Your habit becomes your character, that becomes your destiny)
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To: NormsRevenge

I have PTSD.

I dont collect pedophelia.


4 posted on 05/03/2009 5:16:00 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Wasn’t The Who’s Pete Townshend also a child porn “researcher”?


5 posted on 05/03/2009 5:16:07 PM PDT by A_Former_Democrat
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To: NormsRevenge
I was just doing research.

The Pete Townsend defense. He will have plenty of time to write that research piece.....in prison.

6 posted on 05/03/2009 5:17:05 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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To: NormsRevenge

What a slimeball....with a sterling roster of Demon Rats standing behind him.

I don’t care if this guy was a war “hero” (c.f. Kerry) he’s a disgusting piece of excrement if he downloaded kiddie porn.

PTSD my sweet @$$!


7 posted on 05/03/2009 5:17:33 PM PDT by GatorGirl (Proud Citizen of the Gator Nation)
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To: NormsRevenge

Ummmmm, if this idiot was a friend of Bush, or Palin, do you think this would be breaking news on all the networks?


8 posted on 05/03/2009 5:19:10 PM PDT by Lockbar (March toward the sound of the guns.)
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To: dennisw

As a 12 year Navy vet who served 5 months in a combat zone, I fail to see how his service should be a mitigating factor.


9 posted on 05/03/2009 5:20:07 PM PDT by ExpatGator (Extending logic since 1961.)
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To: NormsRevenge
A Rat Kerry supporter?

The max, in general population.

10 posted on 05/03/2009 5:20:19 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (It's obvious from Nancy Pelosi's appearance that she tortures people every day.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Is this man’s wife named Bob?


11 posted on 05/03/2009 5:21:54 PM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS (It is a shame that when these people give a riot)
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To: NormsRevenge

Fry this SOB!


12 posted on 05/03/2009 5:22:09 PM PDT by US Navy Vet
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To: NormsRevenge

Try to imagine if this was Ollie North, how the left would scream for his blood.


13 posted on 05/03/2009 5:23:07 PM PDT by samtheman
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To: NormsRevenge

The turncoat cowardly war protester and America-hating John Kerry is the absolute last “Vietnam Veteran” that should come to any veteran’s defense.

But I see the Dems lining up to defend a child molesting pervert. Figures. It’s in their party platform.


14 posted on 05/03/2009 5:23:13 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: dennisw

As a USAF veteran, I do not see any mitigating factor.


15 posted on 05/03/2009 5:23:20 PM PDT by alarm rider (Any country that tells you what light bulb to use is not a free country.)
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To: ExpatGator
The news headline if those involved were republicans:

"Veteran Used In Kerry Photo-Op Convicted Of Child Porn"

16 posted on 05/03/2009 5:23:58 PM PDT by icwhatudo
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To: NormsRevenge
Just as Sanders once stood behind Kerry, the senator is now standing behind him.

It would be more accurate to say that Sanders was an attack dog willing to viciously smear any and all Kerry critics.

No SECDEF for you, porn boy.

17 posted on 05/03/2009 5:26:32 PM PDT by Interesting Times (For the truth about "swift boating" see ToSetTheRecordStraight.com)
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To: NormsRevenge

They all claim to be researching a book. All of them. Bernie Ward, that guy from The Who, this dude. . .all these books being researched, but no one every publishes them.


18 posted on 05/03/2009 5:27:03 PM PDT by Marie2 (The second mouse gets the cheese.)
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To: dennisw

I do not agree that his military service should be any kind of mitigating factor. There is some behavior that can’t be “mitigated.”


19 posted on 05/03/2009 5:27:38 PM PDT by Marie2 (The second mouse gets the cheese.)
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To: NormsRevenge

This should be national news and Senate inquiry should be made into how deeply John F Kerry was involved in the child porn. Big expose would work in almost any state other than MA, where he would probably get an award for child services.


20 posted on 05/03/2009 5:27:49 PM PDT by Steamburg ( Your wallet speaks the only language most politicians understand.)
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