Why did Bill Clinton pardon 19 terrorists?

[whitehall]

Another pertinent question is why the left leaning media ignored the fact that Congress was outraged? The FALN bomber terrorists were responsible for about 120 bombs set in Chicago and NY and the deaths of 6 people and the maiming of untold hundreds including Police Officers. There was a virtual media blackout when Bill Clinton pardoned the 19 terrorists who were in prison and his "justice dept" made sure that the FBI would not be able to testify in a congressional investigation. Later Clinton invoked "executive privilege" when congress demanded documentation regarding the pardons. Hillary was running for the senate and supported the pardons initially but later denounced them and still later maybe supported them again or denounced them. The media of course never asked her the tough questions.

 

[Ringel05]

Why did Bill Clinton pardon 19 terrorists?

We may never know but Holder, who at the time was the deputy Attorney General, was instrumental in the process.

 

[whitehall]

Holder arranged for the pardon of one of the FBI's "top ten" fugitives from justice in exchange for a million dollar donation to Clinton's library. President Hussein is covering his sorry ass even today about the Fast/Furious debacle. I wonder how much influence he had on big dumb Janet Reno's decision to invade Waco. WTF was Clinton hiding when he used "executive privilege" when congress demanded the documents related to his pardoning of the FALN bomber terrorists? Woodward and Bernstein were still riding on Watergate and the mainstream media wasn't curious enough to even ask a timid question.

 

[whitehall]

It's pretty obvious why Clinton pardoned the most notorious corporate pirate in history (at that time) while he was still on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. He did it for the money. As my Drill Instructor (Plt. 382 USMCRD) Sgt Rushing was in the habit of saying "I can guaran-Got-damned T you' that there will be no social outrage unless the media promotes it. Tricky Dick Nixon was brought down by the outrage generated by 3rd rate reporters about a 3rd rate burglary. Bill Clinton pardoned 19 terrorists who were responsible for murder and arson and what we would call today "the construction and use of 129 WMDs" and there was little outrage generated by the media. Why did Clinton do it? The media didn't care enough to demand that Clinton produce documents that he refused to produce to congress citing "executive privilege" and that's the way it was, circa 1999. .

 

[LoudMcCloud]

He also sent a lot of jobs overseas during his presidency.

 

[whitehall]

He also sent a lot of jobs overseas during his presidency.

Um....yeah. The Klinton administration was based on three agendas. Money, sex and democrat politics. I expect the pardon of the terrorists didn't have much to so with money or sex (although you never know about Bubba) so it was about the democrat party political agenda.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Another pertinent question is why the left leaning media ignored the fact that Congress was outraged? The FALN bomber terrorists were responsible for about 120 bombs set in Chicago and NY and the deaths of 6 people and the maiming of untold hundreds including Police Officers. There was a virtual media blackout when Bill Clinton pardoned the 19 terrorists who were in prison and his "justice dept" made sure that the FBI would not be able to testify in a congressional investigation. Later Clinton invoked "executive privilege" when congress demanded documentation regarding the pardons. Hillary was running for the senate and supported the pardons initially but later denounced them and still later maybe supported them again or denounced them. The media of course never asked her the tough questions.

Only if by "virtual media blackout" you mean "wall-to-wall coverage all fucking day long".

I remember that very well. There was NO "media blackout" - "Pardongate" was all "the media" could talk about.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

If you're going to cut-and-paste from wikipedia, you should at least pay a little more attention to the details.

The 16 members of FALN whose sentences were commuted (not the same thing as a "pardon") had already served 20 years in prison, had not been involved in any lose of life or injury, and had all publicly renounced violence.

 

[boedicca]

Hillary was running for the Senate.

 

[whitehall]

Another pertinent question is why the left leaning media ignored the fact that Congress was outraged? The FALN bomber terrorists were responsible for about 120 bombs set in Chicago and NY and the deaths of 6 people and the maiming of untold hundreds including Police Officers. There was a virtual media blackout when Bill Clinton pardoned the 19 terrorists who were in prison and his "justice dept" made sure that the FBI would not be able to testify in a congressional investigation. Later Clinton invoked "executive privilege" when congress demanded documentation regarding the pardons. Hillary was running for the senate and supported the pardons initially but later denounced them and still later maybe supported them again or denounced them. The media of course never asked her the tough questions.

Only if by "virtual media blackout" you mean "wall-to-wall coverage all fucking day long".

I remember that very well. There was NO "media blackout" - "Pardongate" was all "the media" could talk about.

You want to take that defense? Let'see, if you mean a day of CNN justifying Clinton's pardons is "wall to wall coverage" you might be right. The closest we ever came to media outrage was, umm, I can't think of any time during the sleazebag administration.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

Another pertinent question is why the left leaning media ignored the fact that Congress was outraged? The FALN bomber terrorists were responsible for about 120 bombs set in Chicago and NY and the deaths of 6 people and the maiming of untold hundreds including Police Officers. There was a virtual media blackout when Bill Clinton pardoned the 19 terrorists who were in prison and his "justice dept" made sure that the FBI would not be able to testify in a congressional investigation. Later Clinton invoked "executive privilege" when congress demanded documentation regarding the pardons. Hillary was running for the senate and supported the pardons initially but later denounced them and still later maybe supported them again or denounced them. The media of course never asked her the tough questions.

Only if by "virtual media blackout" you mean "wall-to-wall coverage all fucking day long".

I remember that very well. There was NO "media blackout" - "Pardongate" was all "the media" could talk about.

You want to take that defense? Let'see, if you mean a day of CNN justifying Clinton's pardons is "wall to wall coverage" you might be right. The closest we ever came to media outrage was, umm, I can't think of any time during the sleazebag administration.

Since we're talking about news coverage from 14 years ago, it's pretty hard to verify any claims from either side.

Perhaps you remember it differently than I do - but you're mistaken if you think that I don't remember as well.

 

[whitehall]

If you're going to cut-and-paste from wikipedia, you should at least pay a little more attention to the details.

The 16 members of FALN whose sentences were commuted (not the same thing as a "pardon") had already served 20 years in prison, had not been involved in any lose of life or injury, and had all publicly renounced violence.

I'm open for a reasonable argument. Would Clinton have pardoned every inmate in every prison who served 20 years if they ...sob...promised never to do it again? Why single out FALN convicted terrorists? What did the FALN terrorist do if they weren't involved "in any loss of life"?

 

[theDoctorisIn]

If you're going to cut-and-paste from wikipedia, you should at least pay a little more attention to the details.

The 16 members of FALN whose sentences were commuted (not the same thing as a "pardon") had already served 20 years in prison, had not been involved in any lose of life or injury, and had all publicly renounced violence.

I'm open for a reasonable argument. Would Clinton have pardoned every inmate in every prison who served 20 years if they ...sob...promised never to do it again? Why single out FALN convicted terrorists? What did the FALN terrorist do if they weren't involved "in any loss of life"?

First of all, "pardoned" and "commuted" are two very different things. "Pardon" means they are officially pardoned. They are no longer considered "guilty" of the crime. "Commuted" means the judgement stands, but their sentence is shortened. The 16 members of the FALN had their sentences commuted. They were not pardoned.

Second, the 16 members that had their sentences commuted were convicted of sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime - none of those charges had anything to do with events in which people were killed or injured.

Third, FALN terrorists weren't "singled out" - they were among 150 other pardons and commutations.

People will submit names to the White House, who then sends them to the Pardon Attorney (yes, that's a real job title), and then finally the President makes the decisions on who should and shouldn't be pardoned. That's how the system works.

 

[whitehall]

If you're going to cut-and-paste from wikipedia, you should at least pay a little more attention to the details.

The 16 members of FALN whose sentences were commuted (not the same thing as a "pardon") had already served 20 years in prison, had not been involved in any lose of life or injury, and had all publicly renounced violence.

I'm open for a reasonable argument. Would Clinton have pardoned every inmate in every prison who served 20 years if they ...sob...promised never to do it again? Why single out FALN convicted terrorists? What did the FALN terrorist do if they weren't involved "in any loss of life"?

First of all, "pardoned" and "commuted" are two very different things. "Pardon" means they are officially pardoned. They are no longer considered "guilty" of the crime. "Commuted" means the judgement stands, but their sentence is shortened. The 16 members of the FALN had their sentences commuted. They were not pardoned.

Second, the 16 members that had their sentences commuted were convicted of sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime - none of those charges had anything to do with events in which people were killed or injured.

Third, FALN terrorists weren't "singled out" - they were among 150 other pardons and commutations.

People will submit names to the White House, who then sends them to the Pardon Attorney (yes, that's a real job title), and then finally the President makes the decisions on who should and shouldn't be pardoned. That's how the system works.

Of course the FALN terrorists were singled out. Only a fool or a sycophant would assume that the commutation of the sentence of 19 members of the same gang out of hundreds of thousands of convicted felons was just a coincidence. Frankly I expected a better argument from Clinton defenders. Did Clinton have a special affinity for terrorist bombers? Why would he prevent the FBI from testifying and why would he invoke executive privilege in the matter? The coverup used to be worse than the crime but it doesn't seem to apply to democrats.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I'm open for a reasonable argument. Would Clinton have pardoned every inmate in every prison who served 20 years if they ...sob...promised never to do it again? Why single out FALN convicted terrorists? What did the FALN terrorist do if they weren't involved "in any loss of life"?

First of all, "pardoned" and "commuted" are two very different things. "Pardon" means they are officially pardoned. They are no longer considered "guilty" of the crime. "Commuted" means the judgement stands, but their sentence is shortened. The 16 members of the FALN had their sentences commuted. They were not pardoned.

Second, the 16 members that had their sentences commuted were convicted of sedition, possession of unregistered firearms, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, interference with interstate commerce by violence and interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit a crime - none of those charges had anything to do with events in which people were killed or injured.

Third, FALN terrorists weren't "singled out" - they were among 150 other pardons and commutations.

People will submit names to the White House, who then sends them to the Pardon Attorney (yes, that's a real job title), and then finally the President makes the decisions on who should and shouldn't be pardoned. That's how the system works.

Of course the FALN terrorists were singled out. Only a fool or a sycophant would assume that the commutation of the sentence of 19 members of the same gang out of hundreds of thousands of convicted felons was just a coincidence. Frankly I expected a better argument from Clinton defenders. Did Clinton have a special affinity for terrorist bombers? Why would he prevent the FBI from testifying and why would he invoke executive privilege in the matter? The coverup used to be worse than the crime but it doesn't seem to apply to democrats.

16 members of FALN were offered commutation, not 19.

Only 12 accepted it.

None of them had been convicted of bombing anything.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

As to why they were chosen?

Because to many people, they were thought of as political prisoners. Clinton was lobbied by the Catholic Church to commute their sentences, along with a number of Puerto Rican groups.

Whether or not I would have made the same decision as Clinton, I don't know.

But there's nothing illegal about the President commuting sentences, nor is he legally required to explain why he did.

 

[Sallow]

Another pertinent question is why the left leaning media ignored the fact that Congress was outraged? The FALN bomber terrorists were responsible for about 120 bombs set in Chicago and NY and the deaths of 6 people and the maiming of untold hundreds including Police Officers. There was a virtual media blackout when Bill Clinton pardoned the 19 terrorists who were in prison and his "justice dept" made sure that the FBI would not be able to testify in a congressional investigation. Later Clinton invoked "executive privilege" when congress demanded documentation regarding the pardons. Hillary was running for the senate and supported the pardons initially but later denounced them and still later maybe supported them again or denounced them. The media of course never asked her the tough questions.

Only if by "virtual media blackout" you mean "wall-to-wall coverage all fucking day long".

I remember that very well. There was NO "media blackout" - "Pardongate" was all "the media" could talk about.

The media blackout happened when George HW Bush gave Orlando Bosch, sanctuary.

Basically..no one remembers that little time of sweetness.

 

[whitehall]

As to why they were chosen?

Because to many people, they were thought of as political prisoners. Clinton was lobbied by the Catholic Church to commute their sentences, along with a number of Puerto Rican groups.

Whether or not I would have made the same decision as Clinton, I don't know.

But there's nothing illegal about the President commuting sentences, nor is he legally required to explain why he did.

There you go....political prisoners...Thank you.

 

[yidnar]

Hillary was running for the Senate.

yep !! they wanted the Hispanic vote.

 

[Rogue 9]

He also sent a lot of jobs overseas during his presidency.

Um....yeah. The Klinton administration was based on three agendas. Money, sex and democrat politics. I expect the pardon of the terrorists didn't have much to so with money or sex (although you never know about Bubba) so it was about the democrat party political agenda.

I'm not going to get involved in this mess beyond this, but in your post prior to this one, didn't you say he did it for the money?