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Did FBI Fail To Act On Roeder Tip?
Did a failure of law enforcement help lead to the murder of Kansas doctor George Tiller?
Earlier today we told you about evidence that the FBI may have failed to follow up on a tip it got about Scott Roeder, who this afternoon was charged with Tiller's killing. CNN reported that, just a day before Tiller was slain, a worker at a Kansas abortion clinic had seen Roeder trying to tamper with the building's locks, and reported the incident to the Feds. He said he was told in response that the bureau couldn't do anything unless a grand jury was convened.
That answer struck us as curious -- and it looks like the FBI isn't keen to stand by it. A bureau spokeswoman has now told the Kansas City Star:
When we are notified when vandalism occurs at a clinic, we look into the matter, but we're not going to comment on anything regarding that incident.
Not exactly a clear signal that the FBI did all it could...
Josh
Zachary
The Feds can always being peopkle in for questioning,especially in this case.This is a case of the Feds being to lazy or too busy to take action.I would imagine the former.There should have been a court order that prevented him from going near any clinic.
June 2, 2009 6:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
Especially with life being in danger, they could have done *something.*
June 2, 2009 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
What are we as citizens supposed to think about this?
On July 10, 2001, an FBI field agent reported that Middle Easterners were taking flying lessons and being weird to their instructors. And we know how that worked out. There was no follow-up by the FBI. None what-so-ever.
Is this the norm for the FBI? They can catch a hooker-screwer, but they can't prevent murder!?
June 2, 2009 6:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
"Kansas City, Kan., police spokesman Michael Golden confirmed that the clinic filed a vandalism report."
“There was a report made for criminal damage, but there’s no suspect information listed on the report,” Golden said.
Pederson said a man the clinic staff knew as Scott and matching Roeder’s description had been protesting at the clinic for years.
“He glued us twice with super glue in 2000,” he said. “The pictures I had back then were fuzzy, and the FBI said it wasn’t sufficient to prosecute. I said, ‘Here’s his license plate.’ And the FBI says, ‘OK, we’ll go talk to him.’ After that, he disappeared for six years.”
Pederson said the man showed up at the clinic again around 2006.
“He came every other month, kind of infrequently,” he said. “He wouldn’t really hold signs, but he would gab with the regular group.”
The man “super-glued us again on Memorial Day weekend,” Pederson said. “We were closed that weekend, so he had free reign.”
Pederson said he filed a report with Kansas City, Kan., police on May 25 and notified the FBI.
“I told the FBI that it’s the same guy as before,” Pederson said. “The agent was going to go talk to him, but he had moved since 2000.”
I am still getting the feeling that the FBI did not take this serious enough - and that is a huge problem.
So when will we see the Big FBI Sting for Operation Rescue and other Right Wing Extremists - that are 100 times more dangerous than the guys from Newburgh.
June 2, 2009 7:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Has the Bush Administration packed the FBI with true right wing believers in the same manner that they packed the DOJ?
June 3, 2009 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I don't think we are going to far out on a limb by assuming that this is true. After all, Karl Rove was even politicizing such bureaucratic government backwaters as the Dept. of Agriculture! They certainly wouldn't overlook the FBI.
And here's a link to a open letter written by an FBI Arabic translator to the 9-11 Commission, stating that he was told (after 9-11!) not to translate time-critical documents, so that the FBI could claim that a lack of funding was causing a dangerous backlog of untranslated material:
http://www.antiwar.com/edmonds/?articleid=3230
June 4, 2009 1:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
After all these years, nothing has changed with the Feds, particularly the FBI. Again, after being warned vigilent private citizens and blowing them off, they nearly always have to be hit over the head with gross tragedy before they will act. What worthless idiots.
June 3, 2009 3:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I propose an experiment.
Put on a turban. Darken your face, unless it already is. Go to a your senator's or representative's local office. Stand in the parking lot and take pictures.
Gotta go. About to be tasered.
June 3, 2009 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
In their defense, I imagine the FBI gets lots of calls and can't pull someone in every time they pull a prank (superglue?). Also, whose jurisdiction is it when there is vandalism?
June 3, 2009 10:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Pranks" on organization that have been subjected to a continuing series of criminal attacks and intimidation are rather different from the ordinary meaning of the word. Just grind some tablets of cold medicine to a powder and send them to your senator if you want to find out about that.
And yeah, because acts to prevent women from exercising their civil rights are against federal law, the FBI does indeed have jurisdiction...
June 3, 2009 10:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Pranks" on organization that have been subjected to a continuing series of terrorist criminal attacks
Fixed that for you.
June 3, 2009 11:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I will try to make myself clearer than I did above: I will bet there are threats and vandalism and pranks on abortion clinics all over the country every day. Have you ever seen the gauntlet people have to walk through to get to one? It's crazy.
I also think there are a lot more nutcases in our country than we know, who haven't yet gotten around to doing anything more than superglue.
I'm sure law enforcement should have kept better tabs on this guy, but honestly, I think he's a fairly common occurrence in American life until he gets around to killing. We just don't want to see how many homegrown terrorists in training there are.
So, I don't think it has to do with the Feds not taking women's rights as seriously as they take other issues. I think they just have too many nutcases to keep track of and don't have a good sense of when any particular nutcase is going to escalate.
June 3, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Deborah in Seattle:
Please keep things in their proper perspective.
"I also think there are a lot more nutcases in our country than we know, who haven't yet gotten around to doing anything more than superglue."
That statement would be more correct if it read:
"I also think there are a lot more nutcases in our country than we know, who haven't yet gotten around to doing anything more than to commit a Federal Felony."
June 5, 2009 10:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually the clinic-supervisor in question had a standing request FROM the FBI, to call a specific agent in case of an incident; he had the agent's phone number right there in his office. Get the full details at democracynow.org and see just how poorly law enforcement handled this.
June 3, 2009 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
The Justice Dept. had a task force during the Clinton administration, at least, that investigated terror acts against abortion providers. If that task force doesn't still exist, it should be resurrected and re-empowered with all haste.
June 3, 2009 10:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
It does not exist.
It was defunded by our ever vigilant GOP friends, according to Rachel Maddow.
June 3, 2009 4:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
"I am still getting the feeling that the FBI did not take this serious enough - and that is a huge problem." real_ally
You THINK!? So, it's time for Holder to make this brand of terrorism a priority for the Bureau.
June 3, 2009 12:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Scott Roeder had enough of a history of terrorism and extremism toward abortion providers that he should have been tracked by the FBI and Homeland Security. Roeder should have been on their radar screen. And, if he was on their radar screen they would have noticed the increase in his activity in person and online. They should have been bugging his phone just like any terrorist. Along with the vandalism of Tiller's Clinic in the weeks before his murder, there were enough clues that something was going to happen in Kansas. I feel this terrorist act could have been prevented. And, the FBI should explain their inaction.
June 3, 2009 1:02 PM | Reply | Permalink
The post below discusses, what they feel, is the true motivation of the anti-abortion movement.
I am a male, and I kind of agree with it. I am interested in what other people think about this theory, so let me know what you think either by replying on this site, or on the actual site.
http://progressnotcongress.org/blog/?p=783
June 3, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm a man. I don't have a womb. I'm also gay. I'm not in the impregnation business, so my take on the abortion question is it's none of my business. And because I wouldn't want anyone to tell me what to do with my body, I wouldn't think of telling anyone what to do with theirs. So I'm pro-choice. It amazes me that most of the loudest voices on the anti-choice side are men. I wonder what the reaction would be among "pro-life" men if a group of radical "pro-life" women started a crusade to protect the potential for life by trying to outlaw male masturbation.
June 3, 2009 4:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why stop there?
Outlaw any and all sex except for government supervised sex for procreation.
June 4, 2009 9:01 AM | Reply | Permalink