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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
Previous Politech discussion, from April: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04658.html And let's not remember Ashcroft's remarks from December 2001: http://www.politechbot.com/p-02900.html -Declan --- Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 15:32:12 -0400 From: Jamie McCarthy <jamie@mccarthy.vg> Subject: Re: "treason" again To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Now might be an apropos time to look at accusations of treason, considering that Ann Coulter's book of that title just came out. Here's a quick look at her use of the words "treason," "traitor," and "treachery": http://www.spinsanity.org/columns/20030630.html I got interested in this subject in late March when I was flipping through the Federalist Papers looking for something else. As you noted a few months back, the Constitution not only clearly defines treason, it lays out strict conditions under which a conviction must be obtained, namely, two witnesses or a confession in open court. Treason consists of one of two types of crime, both being intentional acts of betrayal: "levying war," or "adhering to [the United States'] enemies, giving them aid and comfort." To explain why such strict rules, Madison writes in The Federalist No. 43, complaining that, in other societies, ...new-fangled and artificial treasons have been the great engines by which violent factions, the natural offspring of free government, have usually wreaked their alternate malignity on each other.... Note that no one has actually been convicted of treason in the United States since World War Two -- nor, I think, even charged. (John Walker Lindh pled to charges using similar language to the Constitutional definition, but he was not formally accused of the crime of treason.) So I set up a search on Nexcerpt.com for media mentions of the words "treason" and "traitor." My dictionary defines "traitor" as "a person who betrays his or her country, cause, friends, etc.; one guilty of treason or treachery." Nexcerpt searches a bunch of news websites for keywords and reports new hits to you every day. Very useful for this kind of obsession! So here are some of the hits since then. I'm leaving out the bulk of the Peter Arnett furor, and many accusations not U.S.-specific (recently there was a rash of arrests for treason in Cuba, for example, and the insult is popular in the U.K.). I'm also omitting *allusions* to treason -- there are numerous hits on the phrase "aid and comfort," with the obvious implication, for example. The accusation of treason does come from both the left and the right. The leftist site CounterPunch *loves* the word, for example. I've tried to draw up the list below impartially, based on what Nexcerpt and Google fed me, so if you care about such things, you can draw your own conclusions about which part of the spectrum finds this denigration most delicious. I made this list of new-fangled treasons from April to June 2003, and some of the URLs may no longer work. October 22, 2002 Accuser: David Horowitz Traitor: Noam Chomsky http://www.frontpagemag.com/blog/BlogEntry.asp?ID=68 If the word "traitor" has any meaning at all, Noam Chomsky is an American traitor... treason like Chomsky's is regarded with such complacency... February 6, 2003 Accuser: New York Sun Traitor: Anti-war protestors http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:jWzEilGahtsC:www.nysun.com/sunarticle.asp%3FartID%3D529&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 And there is no reason to doubt that the "anti-war" protesters -- we prefer to call them protesters against freeing Iraq -- are giving, at the very least, comfort to Saddam Hussein... So the New York City police could do worse, in the end, than to allow the protest and send two witnesses along for each participant, with an eye toward preserving at least the possibility of an eventual treason prosecution. Thus fully respecting not just some, but all of the constitutional principles at stake. February 27 Accuser: Don Imus Traitor: Dan Rather http://www.newsmax.com/archive/print.shtml?a=2003/2/27/83010 Radio talker Don Imus apparently wasn't very impressed by his friend Dan Rather's interview with Saddam Hussein last night, telling his audience Thursday morning that the CBS News anchorman went into the tank big time for the Baghdad butcher. "It was gutless and cowardly," pronounced the I-man of Rather's performance. "And treasonous," he added... February 28 Accuser: Tom Marsland Traitor: Dan Rather http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/2/27/165634.shtml In my opinion, a 'Rather treasonous Dan.' March 4 Accuser: Adam Sparks Traitor: Ramsey Clark http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/3/4/132313.shtml Ramsey Clark, a former attorney general under President Lyndon Baines Johnson, seems to fit the definition of having committed treasonous behavior in spades. March 8 Accuser: David Horowitz Traitor: left-wing protestors who "disrupt" http://www.frontpagemag.com/blog/printable.asp?ID=125 ...coalition that organized the New York Iraq protests announced that when the shooting starts in Iraq the so-called peace movement would take action to "disrupt the normal flow of life" in America. This is thinly veiled code for sabotage and sedition (treason). March 22 Accuser: Anonymous caller to Savannah Morning News Traitor: The Dixie Chicks, I think http://www.savannahnow.com/stories/032203/LOCvox.shtml Yes, you're right, people do have freedom of speech, but when it involves our president, when he's doing the best he can, it's called treason. March 30 Accuser: the first Bush administration, allegedly Traitor: Peter Arnett, allegedly http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/03/30/sprj.irq.arnett.transcript/ Arnett: Whenever I gave a report on civilian casualties on CNN (in the first Gulf War) the Pentagon and the Bush administration got very angry and called me a traitor. March 31 Accuser: Anthony Gancarski of CounterPunch Traitor: Richard Perle http://www.counterpunch.com/gancarski03312003.html Article III, Section 3 of the US Constitution defines treason as giving aid and comfort, or "adhering" to our enemies. I believe 'adhering' sums up Richard Perle's job description pretty well. March 31 Accuser: Guy Milliere in FrontPageMagazine.com Traitor: France http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6976 The United States has to understand they have nothing to expect from today's France except nastiness, treason, and cheating. April 2 Accuser: John Podhoretz of the New York Post Traitor: Peter Arnett http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/72465.htm The question is whether Arnett's comments on Iraqi state-run television, a propaganda arm of Saddam Hussein's regime, constitute "aid and comfort" to the enemy. If you analyze his remarks strictly as a matter of rhetoric, the answer is unambiguously: YES. ... Arnett made a choice that was, quite literally, criminal. April 2 Accuser: U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky. Traitor: Peter Arnett http://www.newsmax.com/showinsidecover.shtml?a=2003/4/2/171303 "I think he should be brought back and tried as a traitor to the United States of America, for his aiding and abetting the Iraqi government during a war," Bunning said Tuesday in a conference call with reporters. April 2 Accuser: Michael Reagan Traitor: the mainstream media http://www.frontpagemag.com/articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=6995 Yet many in the mainstream media are criticizing their colleagues who are embedded with the troops... That sort of "neutrality" used to be seen for what it is: treason. April 3 Accuser: Jeremy Robb of ChronWatch Traitor: Peter Arnett http://www.chronwatch.com/featured/contentDisplay.asp?aid=2110 the traitorous MSNBC journalist, Peter Arnett, is giving interviews to Iraqi television claiming that the original war plan has "failed" and is being redrawn April 4 Accuser: Tom Gorman of CounterPunch Traitor: anyone who supports the war, plus Tip O'Neill http://www.counterpunch.com/gorman04042003.html If O'Neil knew that American lives were being sacrificed to boost the President's poll numbers, his failure to act... is, by any fair definition, an act of treason. I would argue further and say that those who do support the war are committing treason. April 5 Accuser: Kevin Willmann of ChronWatch Traitor: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) http://www.chronwatch.com/featured/contentDisplay.asp?aid=2176 ...the treasonous US Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio)... April 5 Accuser: Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Traitor: any human shield http://www.naplesnews.com/03/04/naples/d920973a.htm Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said he wants the Justice Department to prosecute any American who actively helps nations engaged in hostilities with the United States, and notes the Constitution clearly states that it is treasonable to give aid to the country's enemies. April 6 Accuser: Leonard G. Horowitz Traitor: the military, for warning us about biological warfare http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/040603_sars_scam.html Why have American military officials, beginning with Secretary of Defense William Cohen during the Clinton years, publicized America's greatest vulnerability lies in the realm of biological weapons wielded by terrorists? Is this not a form of treason against the United States to relay such sensitive intelligence to potential enemies through the mainstream press? April 6 Accuser: Dick Goins, in the Orange County Register Traitor: anti-war banner carriers http://www2.ocregister.com/ocrweb/ocr/article.do?id=33427§ion=COMMENTARY&subsection=COMMENTARY_COLUMNS&year=2003&month=4&day=9 In San Francisco, an "anti-war" protest banner read: "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers." These are not actions permitted by the First Amendment. Instead, they could be considered acts of treason, as defined in the Constitution... April 12 Accuser: Jihad Unspun Traitor: Government policy-makers http://www.jihadunspun.net/intheatre_internal.php?article=51306&list=/home.php Those who don't want the troops to "win" - because they'd rather see them come home alive, immediately - are branded as "traitors." Yet the real traitors are the ones who sent them off to die, in order for a truly un-American economic model to be artificially sustained. April 14 Accuser: Jerry Falwell Traitor: Prof. Nicholas De Genova http://newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/4/14/15731.shtml Newsday reported recently that Columbia University assistant professor Nicholas De Genova, appearing at an anti-war gathering, called for the defeat of U.S. forces in Iraq, saying, "The only true heroes are those who find ways that help defeat the U.S. military." The Columbia administration refused to take action, instead hiding behind "academic freedom" that allegedly protects a professor's right to speak his treasonous derision. April 16 Accuser: Prof. Lloyd Caroll Traitor: accountants who outsource tax filings http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=43584938 "The very notion of transmitting confidential tax data - from Social Security and employer identification numbers to financial information - to any foreign country, even Canada, borders on the reprehensible at best, and is treasonous at worst," [Prof, Lloyd Caroll, head of the accounting department at Manhattan Borough Community College] fumed. April 17 Accuser: Brian Flynn of The Sun (London) Traitor: Scott Ritter http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2003031602,00.html Traitor now a paedophile A RENEGADE weapons inspector who embraced Saddam's vile regime has been exposed as a child sex pervert. Late April (I lost the exact date and the URL is broken now) Accuser: Tennessee State Sen. Tim Burchett Traitor: any Bush critic http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/todays_editorial/article/0,1406,KNS_362_1927623,00.html [Burchett called for] the deportation of political dissenters who publicly criticized President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. "That's treason, not patriotism," he declared. "They ought to be run out of the country and not allowed back." And finally, a bit of satire: the "Traitor List"! http://www.probush.com/traitor.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? 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