Don't Go There

Remember those "human shields" that were gonna help save Iraq from getting bombed or something? One of them, a 28-year-old Wisconsonian Wisconsonite named Ryan Clancy, has been slapped with an $8,000 fine and threatened with a 12-year prison sentence by the Treasury Department's odious if accurately monikered Office of Foreign Assets Control. The ACLU is suing to get Clancy a hearing.

Link via Scott Gearity's highly recommended Export Control Blog.

Comments

[Ezra]

The proper title is Wisconsinite.

[The Great Ape]

In Illinois we call them losers, but they do good by beer and brats.

[Ken Shultz]

"One of them, a 28-year-old Wisconsonian named Ryan Clancy, has been slapped with an $8,000 fine and threatened with a 12-year prison sentence by the Treasury Department's odious if accurately monikered Office of Foreign Assets Control."

When we talk about something being kafkaesque, isn't this what we're talking about? I'm surprised the Department of Weights and Measures didn't come after him!

...So how much was Sean Penn's fine, and how many years is he facing?

[Kevin Baas]

Blogswarm, anyone? Have you guys heard of the downing street minutes
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com
and the Big Brass Alliance?
http://www.bigbrassblog.com/bba.html

[bart baldridge]

He should be fined at least $8000. for being a goddamned idiot.Human shield,what a fool.

[Joe]

Tie him up to a humvee.

[David]

He should be fined at least $8000. for being a goddamned idiot.

Now there's a thought -- just start fining people for being idiots. We could clear up that national debt in no time flat.

[Thomas Paine's Goiter]

Now there's a thought -- just start fining people for being idiots. We could clear up that national debt in no time flat.

I've been calling for this for quite some time. I think that should the Cabinet post of "idiot discerner" be created, I would be the first nominee.

[Madog]

But then we'd have to give all the money back to them via welfare.

[SPD]

Let's stop electing idiots first. Then we can start fining them.

[Evan Williams]

The amazing part is that our crooked gubmint can fine/imprison people if they travel to/trade with certain "blacklisted" countries. So much for "land of the free". An innocent citizen of the republic is barred from setting foot on a certain splotch of sand and/or "trading" with its inhabitants, all because the gubmint decided that said splotch of sand is eeeevil.

[hey]

um treason what?

hang the bastard, for adhering to enemies.

and yes, I'm a neo libertarian.

[Sim]

It is people like Clancy who make sanctions weak, thereby giving 'W' the leverage he needed to start his war. The idiot should be fined, double for chickening out and running to Jordan before the bombing started.

[Jennifer]

I hope that "Hey" and Sim are kidding.

[Dave]

He should be allowed to pay off his debt by continuing to work as a human shield. I'm sure there are plenty of schools, hospitals, MOSQUES (so hurt koran in gitmo=bad, blow up Mosque= ok?), and employment lines in Iraq that could use his protection. After all, it was the protection of the anti-democratic forces that he orignially was trying to achieve, surely they wouldn't hurt one of their own.

[R C Dean]

Well, seeing as the purpose of human shields was to give material aid to our enemies by disrupting or thwarting our military operations, I would say, yeah, treason seems to be a shoe that fits.

Now, being such a pathetic traitor probably doesn't merit the death penalty, but . . . .

[SPD]

I'm not quite sure how adding one's corpse to the wreckage counts as giving our enemies "material" aid, but I guess if you're looking to equate naive pacifist martyrdom with treason, that's good enough.

Now, if they were operating anti-aircraft batteries or supplying the Iraqis with our invasion plans, I'd be inclined to agree with you.

[Mark]

Hey, I thought all of the human shields were back in Iraq to protect the civilians from the suicide bombers?

[Ken Shultz]

"Well, seeing as the purpose of human shields was to give material aid to our enemies by disrupting or thwarting our military operations, I would say, yeah, treason seems to be a shoe that fits."

I'm sympathetic to this idea, but I don't know.

...Couldn't the same be said of civil rights protestors?

It's not as if he gave ammunition or supplies to the enemy. He doesn't appear to have joined the fight.

[Scott Gearity]

Thanks for the link.

All this talk of treason is beside the point. Even if this guy had traveled to Iraq as a tourist and just spent his money on the usual tourist things (a hotel, cab rides, meals, etc.) -- forget about imports, exports, or services provided to the Iraqi Government of the time -- he would have been violating the Iraqi Sanctions Regulations.

To me, this is mostly about freedom to travel as US citizen. I am surprised that so many of the folks commenting here, who I would have assumed have a libertarian bent, don't see it the same way.

There's nothing especially notable about this case except that the accused managed to get the ACLU to help him out. Dozens of people are similarly chased down by the Treasury Department for travel-related violations every month, usually related to Cuba.

[Walter E. Wallis]

Just give him honorary French citizenship and a bus ticket to Quebec.

[Rick Barton]

Treason? What?? It makes no sense to define this action as treason since Iraq was only our government's "enemy" due to wild duplicity that included lies about WMD and terror connections that were promulgated in order to paint Iraq as a threat to our security, which it not.

With all the Americans who have lost their lives in Iraq based on these lies, it's the neocons behind this duplicity and that have long advocated taking out Saddam as something beneficial for the Israeli government, whose actions seem to be treasonist.

[Rick Barton]

Also, what Scott Gearity said, which included:

To me, this is mostly about freedom to travel as US citizen.

[habitant bob]

Just give him honorary French citizenship and a bus ticket to Quebec.

Um, Walter, French citizenship is no more use in Quebec than American.

But never let it be said that ignorance kept Walter E. Wallis from spouting off.

[R C Dean]

I'm not quite sure how adding one's corpse to the wreckage counts as giving our enemies "material" aid,

That's why I said he was pathetic. Their intent, though, was to alter US plans and give propaganda and thus political/diplomatic victories and support to our enemies.

Couldn't the same be said of civil rights protestors?

Not sure how marching on Selma gave aid to the Communists, myself.

[Isaac Bartram]

Not sure how marching on Selma gave aid to the Communists, myself.

At the time there were many people who thought the civil rights marchers were a bunch of commies bent on destroying The American Way of Life. They got more scrutiny from the FBI than the Klan did.

[Ken Shultz]

"Not sure how marching on Selma gave aid to the Communists, myself."

My point was that the police were wrong to enforce Jim Crow laws, and civil rights activists of the era were right to "disrupt and thwart" law enforcement.

...The human shields didn't exactly "disrupt and thwart" bombings, did they? I don't even think they discouraged them.