Colgate University professor Victoria Fontan is in Iraq doing research for a book on the polarization between the occupying forces and the people of Iraq, and gathering information for her Introduction to Peace Studies course. Colgate proudly announces that she was to be embedded with a terrorist group in this press release:
Fontan set out for Iraq at the end of December to study and to interview members of the country's insurgent organizations. On the way to Baghdad, she conducted research in Beirut and Jordan before negotiating to be "embedded" in one of Iraq's resistance groups.Clearly the terrorists she's joining forces with know which side she's on - theirs.
Comments (46)
What prevents one of our so... (Below threshold)1. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 9:35 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
What prevents one of our soldiers from taking her out? It seems pretty dangerous unless the terrorrist have her stashed some where out of harms way. And dooesn't this fall under treason? Aid and comfort, as they call it?
1. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 9:35 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:35
2. Posted by Cybrludite | January 27, 2005 9:40 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Rope, tree, Fontan. Some assembly required.
2. Posted by Cybrludite | January 27, 2005 9:40 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:40
3. Posted by J.R. | January 27, 2005 9:40 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I agree with Julie, this is treason, now way around it. You can try and hide under the guise of university research, but that is just bullshit. Peace Studies major my ass!
3. Posted by J.R. | January 27, 2005 9:40 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:40
4. Posted by pennywit | January 27, 2005 9:41 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Call me the lone dissenter here, but I actually wish that a few U.S. journalists were embedded with the insurgents and reporting on their acts; at the very least, I think the information generated could be incredibly valuable ... especially if a Western journalist managed to get an interview with Zarqawi himself.
--|PW|--
4. Posted by pennywit | January 27, 2005 9:41 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:41
5. Posted by ridgerunner | January 27, 2005 9:44 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
and for this Fontan gains......?
It is amazing for how little some people will sell their souls.
5. Posted by ridgerunner | January 27, 2005 9:44 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:44
6. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 9:56 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Well, look on the bright side, maybe they'll cut her head off.
6. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 9:56 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 09:56
7. Posted by Crerar | January 27, 2005 10:53 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Yes - we would really hate to learn anything about the motivations of terrorist organizations.
7. Posted by Crerar | January 27, 2005 10:53 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 10:53
8. Posted by Mark | January 27, 2005 10:56 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"The poor dears were DRIVEN to this by the brutal occupation! We should leave!"
Yeah, I'm sure we'll learn a lot about the 'motivations' of the terrs from this.
8. Posted by Mark | January 27, 2005 10:56 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 10:56
9. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:05 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
We're not going to learn anything from her. She'll come back and write some psychobabble crap and say it's all America's fault because of our policies towards the middle east and Israel. However, if she is murdered by the people she is with something good might actually come of it.
1. Traitorous lefty academics will be less willing to "embed" with the enemy.
2. Her murder will once again show what kind of people they are and will illustrate, once again, their true intentions.
3. Maybe, just maybe, leftists everywhere might be a little less willing to automatically side with the enemy. A few may even see this as an epiphany, and move more toward the right.
4. She is fraternizing with the enemy, possibly aiding and abetting. She deserves anything they do to her, and if she returns unscathed, then she should be put on trial and if convicted, she should be "hanged by the neck until dead, dead, dead".
9. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:05 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 11:05
10. Posted by Lurking Observer | January 27, 2005 11:24 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
So, if she winds up being put on the chopping block, videotaped tearfully begging the US to withdraw, whose fault will it be? The guerillas (for beheading her), her (for volunteering to be in their hands), or the USG (for being in Iraq)? I suspect we know what answer she will provide.
But the other scary thing is, if she is there while they behead others, Nepalese Buddhists, Japanese aid workers, Iraqi civilians, Egyptian drivers, what will she say to them, when they ask her what she is doing? What will she have to say about her fellow human beings being beheaded? Will she retain her "objectivity"? Will she feel any pang of sympathy for them?
Hannah Arendt wrote about the "banality of evil." It appears clear, half a century later, that such banality need not wear a crooked cross. It can come complete with a PhD and tenure, too.
10. Posted by Lurking Observer | January 27, 2005 11:24 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 11:24
11. Posted by Sean | January 27, 2005 11:27 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Too bad the CIA didn't abduct her, implant her with a tracking device, then release her with that particular memory erased. She could lead us to all the bad guys. If only life were more like the movies.
11. Posted by Sean | January 27, 2005 11:27 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 11:27
12. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:34 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Can any one imagine an American academic trying to interview Nazi's during WWII?
12. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:34 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 11:34
13. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:39 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"So how much Zyclon B does it take to kill 3000 Jews? uh huh. And how long does it take put put them all in the oven after words? Really? That's very efficient. No, no. I'm not taking any sides here, just trying to be objective."
Yeah, I HOPE they cut her head off.
13. Posted by Jon | January 27, 2005 11:39 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 11:39
14. Posted by Rod Stanton | January 27, 2005 12:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
How long before the MSM admit their "journalists" have been, and are, "embedded" with Al Queda?
14. Posted by Rod Stanton | January 27, 2005 12:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:29
15. Posted by Rod Stanton | January 27, 2005 12:32 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Julie the answer to you question is that person would be tried for murder in the US. She is an American; no matter how much she hates America.
15. Posted by Rod Stanton | January 27, 2005 12:32 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:32
16. Posted by Tom Hanna | January 27, 2005 12:43 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
They've beheaded at least one woman who was an Iraqi citizen, wonder what makes her think it's safe to join them. Shouldn't waste any soldiers lives when the video comes out with her begging for her life.
16. Posted by Tom Hanna | January 27, 2005 12:43 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:43
17. Posted by Tom Carter | January 27, 2005 12:46 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I hope they've got a cell ready for her at Guantanamo.
17. Posted by Tom Carter | January 27, 2005 12:46 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:46
18. Posted by Debra | January 27, 2005 12:50 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
These barbarians don't give a flying rats ass what we think of them nor do they care for us to know what they think of us. It's all the same to them. Infidels as we and closer to Allah are they.
Her agenda is clear. She puts herself in that position and the next thing you know she's pleading for her life. This would be one possible beheading that I would say "well, there ya go..see what you get?"
How incredibly moronic of her to think she can actually pull this off. I hope her life insurance is paid up.
~sheesh~
18. Posted by Debra | January 27, 2005 12:50 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:50
19. Posted by trappedinmn | January 27, 2005 12:57 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I think the "insurgents" treat her like an honored guest since they understand that her agenda is to come back to the U.S. and bad mouth our efforts in Iraq - she is their willing accomplice/mouthpiece so they won't touch her - she comes back and does their propaganda work for them - not terribly unlike Jane Fonda in North Vietnam
19. Posted by trappedinmn | January 27, 2005 12:57 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 12:57
20. Posted by ridgerunner | January 27, 2005 1:02 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I think there is little chance of this person being bought to trail in this country. One chance for justice will be if she is in a targeted terrorist safe house and is exploded with the rest of the splodies contained therein.
True justice would be to have her rounded up in an Iraqi police raid and held accountable to Iraqi law. It would really get interesting (and fun) at that point.
I would chain myself to the White House gate if our embassy attempted to intervene.
20. Posted by ridgerunner | January 27, 2005 1:02 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 13:02
21. Posted by DBub | January 27, 2005 1:12 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I don't see what the big fuss is about. Weren't Jane Fonda and Abby Hoffman embedded with the Viet Cong?
21. Posted by DBub | January 27, 2005 1:12 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 13:12
22. Posted by Rick13 | January 27, 2005 1:19 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"OFF WITH HER HEAD"!
Coming to an Al Jezzera channel near you.
22. Posted by Rick13 | January 27, 2005 1:19 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 13:19
23. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 1:48 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Rod:
Not sure what question you were referring to. I was thinking in real life terms whether she could be prosecuted for treason. I looked it up a few months ago but don't have the time to do it again at the moment.
There was that one ex-cia guy who's name escapes me. When the Iranians took over our embassy, he called them up and advised them to trade hostages for cia files and offered to act as their negotiater. For some reason he was not tried for treason, but his teasonous behaviour was used to take away his passport. Unfortunately, for a technical reason which I have also forgotton, he got his passport back. The guy wrote a book. Anybody know who I'm referring to?
Back to my original topic: What argument could be made that this writer is giving aid and comfort? I assume she will argue that she is doing nothing but observing.
And speaking of traitors, what happened to Lynn Stewart?
23. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 1:48 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 13:48
24. Posted by Tony | January 27, 2005 2:40 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
The real problems will start if she is embedded and a firefight starts with U.S. forces. The outcry from the left would be deafening if she were to be killed by U.S. forces.
24. Posted by Tony | January 27, 2005 2:40 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 14:40
25. Posted by Pinkoboy | January 27, 2005 2:43 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
perhaps if we had more people "imbeded" in cultures other than our own we would have the intelligence not to invade countries and go on wild goose chases for WMDs that aren't really there. Considering that our original justification for the war has turned out to be phony, your article should read "university professor embedded with rebel patriots who are resiting an occupying force". Think of her hanging out with the high school kids in the movie Red Dawn and you will get a better idea of what's really going on.
25. Posted by Pinkoboy | January 27, 2005 2:43 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 14:43
26. Posted by Michael | January 27, 2005 3:54 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
If she is embedded and witnesses acts of violence and murder and does nothing to stop or prevent them, isn't that considered accessory to the crime?
Could she then be called upon to give testimony to the crime? Could she be tried and convicted as an accessory if, say, she was present for the planning and or execution of an attack that killed many? What if some were children, would this bother her conscience?
Whose jurisdiction would it be to pursue charges, and can anyone within that jurisdiction press charges?
26. Posted by Michael | January 27, 2005 3:54 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 15:54
27. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:10 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
At this exact moment, the not so good professor is embedded with Michael Medved. And surprise of surprise, she is French!
27. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:10 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:10
28. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:11 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
If she is embedded and witnesses acts of violence and murder and does nothing to stop or prevent them, isn't that considered accessory to the crime?
No.
28. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:11 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:11
29. Posted by Jack Tanner | January 27, 2005 4:13 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Pinko -
Try '"university professor embedded with foreign terrorists who are trying to impose tyranny on 25m Iraqis".
29. Posted by Jack Tanner | January 27, 2005 4:13 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:13
30. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:17 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I admit, she sounds sane.
30. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:17 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:17
31. Posted by Pinkoboy | January 27, 2005 4:20 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Bark bark bark bark bark bark bark.
31. Posted by Pinkoboy | January 27, 2005 4:20 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:20
32. Posted by John S. | January 27, 2005 4:23 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
"The outcry from the left would be deafening if she were to be killed by U.S. forces" Hopefully, she'll and the scum she's embedded with will end up on the receiving end of multiple 2,000 lb. bombs. They don't leave too much evidence behind.
32. Posted by John S. | January 27, 2005 4:23 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:23
33. Posted by Pat | January 27, 2005 4:24 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Guess she didn't hear about Margaret Hassan?
33. Posted by Pat | January 27, 2005 4:24 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:24
34. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:36 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Guess she didn't hear about Margaret Hassan?
She said she met Hassan's husband. She also said something about Hassan's murder video was different and she thought she had not been kidnapped by Zarquawi (sp?) but some other group. [Nevertheless, same outcome.]
Anyway, she lost all good will she built up with me. She said tho it would be difficult, she wd remain neutral and not reveal any info on the terrorists to aid US troops.
She is different. She said she served in the french army but if she had been called to fight, she is not sure she would. She thinks french soldiers shd be in iraq.
34. Posted by julie | January 27, 2005 4:36 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:36
35. Posted by JudyWoodruffCrying | January 27, 2005 4:37 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Try this professor instead.
http://www.rantingprofs.com/rantingprofs/
35. Posted by JudyWoodruffCrying | January 27, 2005 4:37 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 16:37
36. Posted by Drew - Dallas, TX | January 27, 2005 5:33 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I also heard her on Michael Medved. He really blasted her about the distinction between "terrorism" and "resistance", which, apparently she's incapable of. She stated several times that she was vehemently against violence of any kind - but just couldn't quite bring herself to call suicide bombers terrorists.
I thought it was cool when a US Marine called in and told her that he hoped that they would be able to detain her peacefully when he deploys in the very near future.
Medved then asked her if this Marine were to come in contact with her and ask for information, would she help. She successfully used the shield of "academia" maintaining that it was very different from "Military Intelligence".
Making that distinction is not a problem for her, I guess.
One other curious thing is that she talked about Iraqis who were afraid to resist against Saddam's regime for fear of their lives, but have now been prompted to join the resistance (terrorism in my speak) because of the 'occupation'.
After hearing all of this, I immediately checked myself into the nearest rehab clinic only to find out that I'm not on drugs after all. Weird.
36. Posted by Drew - Dallas, TX | January 27, 2005 5:33 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 17:33
37. Posted by McCain | January 27, 2005 5:37 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Time to embed some right-thinking people with journalists and college professors. I need inside reports on what the hell these people are thinking.
No, it isn't treason. Treason is normally applied to taking up arms against your country, but the Constitution also allows that it be simply aid and comfort. But simply "aid and comfort" is never applied, and even if it were enough, she wins in court. Merely watching someone and reporting on what they are doing isn't necessarily comforting them. She is doing the same as Dan Rather's interview with Saddam Hussein. He was a prick, and she is a prickette, but it ain't treason.
37. Posted by McCain | January 27, 2005 5:37 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on January 27, 2005 17:37
38. Posted by Drew - Dallas, TX | January 27, 2005 5:57 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
perhaps if we had more people "imbeded" in cultures other than our own we would have the intelligence not to invade countries and go on wild goose chases for WMDs that aren't really there
So, Pinky, what is this American "culture" you speak of? It sounds really dangerous and someone should call the UN right away. Oh, that's right, they can't even pick their own ass correctly without the United States' help anyway. Scratch that idea.
This "academic" attends Cornell University here in America which she doesn't seem to have a problem with, so instead of acting like a pussy and saying something that Michael Moore would - get your own identity.
"university professor embedded with rebel patriots who are resiting an occupying force"
Goddamn that's weak, and so is your barking after you've had your own ass handed to you.
I'm wondering now with whom exactly is she Embedded?
38. Posted by Drew - Dallas, TX | January 27, 2005 5:57 PM |