Who Killed George Tiller?

From my blog at www.osomin.com:

Who Killed George Tiller?

By now, everyone has heard that Dr. George Tiller was shot to death yesterday, inside the church he attends. Police have one Scott P. Roeder in custody, after arresting him in the car described by witnesses. There will be a trial, and it's likely that he is the killer.

However, it's not that clear that he's the only one culpable in this horrifying murder. Dr. Tiller performed abortions, including late-term abortions. Abortion is a legal medical procedure in this country. He has been anathema among the radical anti-abortion, anti-woman crowd for years. He's been shot before, but survived. His clinic has been bombed. Scott P. Roeder did none of those things, so it's clear that Dr. Tiller has been targeted in the past, as he was yesterday. This time, he was murdered.

So, where else can we look, other than directly at Roeder, who appears to be a right-wing nutcase of the first order? He was a "Freeman," one of those weirdoes who think that they aren't citizens of the United States, but a nation unto themselves. He's been convicted of having bomb components and served time for that.

I believe we can, and should, look closely at those who encourage such wackos to carry out terrorist acts like murdering people in churches. I'll start with web sites run by organizations like Operation Rescue. They've been targeting George Tiller for years, and even have a section called "Tiller Watch" on their website. Right now, the site is down, as they attempt to scrub away the evidence of their virtual complicity in this murder. Scott P. Schroeder had posted several comments on that site. Randall Terry, who is closely involved with that site, is among the most rabid opponents of legal abortion in this country. Shame on you, Operation Rescue and Randall Terry!

Then there are even more rabid web sites, like the Army of God site. I recommend avoiding this site, as it is obscene in its calls for, and celebrations of, the murder of abortion providers. The site idolizes another murderer, Paul Hill, who preyed on abortion providers. Shame on you, Army of God!

There are other "Christian" right-wing sites that vilify medical professionals involved with providing legal abortions to women. In fact, they are almost beyond number. Most do not directly call for people to go out and murder abortion providers, but encourage hatred of those people.

Then...there are more prominent individuals, whose names you know. Media newsblabbers are among this group. Bill O'Reilly is among these. For some time now, he has called George Tiller "Tiller the Baby-Killer" on his radio and television shows. He'd never directly encourage murder, but he does foment hatred. Shame on you, Bill O'Reilly!

Right-wing websites and discussion forums are full of nasty anti-choice, anti-woman rhetoric, too. One of the largest, Free Republic, has a coterie of rabid anti-choice members, who post their hatred and bile on a regular basis. After George Tiller's murder, long message threads were full of thinly-veiled celebrations of his death. The owner of that site, Jim Robinson, has pulled some of those threads, but not all of them, and the hatred and bile goes on, unabated. Shame on you, Jim Robinson!

You're going to see a lot of the above-named sites and people "condemning" George Tiller's murder over the next few days. Some will be frantically trying to get rid of the evidence of their encouragement of hatred in the past. They won't succeed, because the internet has repositories of old material. These can be, and are being, accessed and the truth is beginning to appear about sites, even after they've tried to scrub their sites clean.

Who killed George Tiller? Well, the individual killer was probably Scott P. Roeder. Those who spread hatred online, on the radio, and on television, however, do not have clean hands. Some of them may be more directly implicated. Investigations of the most rabid of the hate mongers will begin shortly.

We should no longer be tolerant of those who encourage murder and other terrorist acts against people who provide legal abortion services. We should call them out, point our fingers at them, and cry "Shame! Shame!" If anti-choice people want to ban abortion, let them proceed through our system of government. When they resort to violence, let's put them away where they can do no further harm.

organized plan to assassinate Dr. Tiller.

and of course they won't release his name. GEM$NBC has brought on their spin guru, former FBI Profiler Clint Van Zandt.

"Greatest" for this thread.

A *man* did it. Its always a man. And, its usually a man with no women or children in their personal lives. Or, in the case of Randall Terry, lots of women & children in various estranged (and unorthodox) relationships.

I don't take your point.

the most violent actions against abortion providers (apparently, Tiller's previous shooter was a woman). The documentary 'Lake of Fire' points out a consistent demographic among anti-abortion activists: Grown men who have highly estranged relationships with the women & children in their own lives -and often, no women or children at all.