Who Ordered the Kent State Shootings?

http://counterpunch.com/washington05192011.html


Obama Justice Department Refuses to Investigate New Evidence


Three days after President Barack Obama visited Ground Zero in New York City on May 5th with his message of "justice being done" with the slaying of terrorist Osama bin Laden, disturbing news broke about this administration's blocking of a quest for justice in the infamous May 1970 killing of four Kent State students.

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That blocking action by Obama officials includes an apparent unwillingness to investigate new evidence providing damning insights about that shooting orgy forty years ago, which heightened criticism about U.S. foreign policy in Vietnam and about the abuse of domestic political dissidents.

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One of those students injured during the Kent State shooting, Alan Canfora, met with U.S. Justice Department officials last Fall requesting a new federal investigation based on an analysis of an audio tape conducted early last year which revealed what two forensic audio experts say is a military-style order to open fire on student protesters.

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Analysis of the audio tape, which was recorded on May 4, 1970 also uncovered an altercation and four pistol shots prior to the Guard gunfire.

Those gunshots are believed to have been fired by a then Kent State student frequently referenced since that incident as an FBI informant, who was involved in the altercation. The alleged informant maintains he fired his pistol after being attacked by another student.
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Kucinich has taken up this issue - wrote a letter, etc.

The case against the Guardsmen was dismissed and I think jeopardy had already attached. The shooters themselves, who had every reason to point the finger somewhere else, said they heard no order to fire (so even if it's on the tape, apparently the soldiers didn't hear it).

Some things we just need to let go of.

Governor Rhodes and all the guardsmen signed a letter of apology (It ended up on Antiques Roadshow a couple years ago), and that is as close to dismissal as it got. While no one was found guilty, no one was declared innocent. Living near there, I have two friends who were there that day, one on each end of the barrel. My current girlfriend was there the night previous for "Little Sister Day", and as a HS senior that year, I was there partying with older friends in the weeks before and after the killings.

"Let it go"? I don't think we should. To many, especially younger people today, it was just an old newspaper headline that hardly relates today. To an older generation that witnessed it, it was a brutal warning from a government that would stifle protest at any cost. The Kent State killing was fated to happen somewhere else if not there, and it was the reason crowd control policies changed after that day to focus on non-lethal means (Thank goodness). Many who would like to forgive and forget don't really understand what happened on 5/4/70. Many are certain our government will never again fire live ammunition blindly into a crowd of protesters to quash dissent. I'm not so sure, and I hope the country never has to relive the lesson learned that day.

I'm saying there is a strong need on the part of a lot of people who were on the Left in the 60s and 70s to be publicly vindicated as "correct" and have the bad people fess up to what they did, and that it would probably be better if people let go of that. The shooters were indicted but the prosecutor couldn't make a case that they didn't reasonably fear for their lives, and the cases were dismissed after jeopardy attached. (And remember, there was violence from the Left at that point in time, the idea that the Guardsmen were frightened isn't ridiculous like some people seem to think it is.)

This will be a scar on the US for a long time but I don't think another legal investigation will solve anything.

The only thing I can differ with is the "self defense" position of the military at that time. Several books and documentaries have been produced that have discounted that taking point.

Regardless of whether they were frightened, or if a idiot officer gave the order to fire, it was well known at that time that the National Guard had a policy that forbade them from carrying live ammunition anywhere on their person so this couldn't happen. Oddly enough it did though.

Younger people today don't really understand that the National Guard was a different entity in those days, far removed from the killing machine it is today. That's why kids joined if they could, to avoid a bloody active duty. The sentiment of protesters at the time is also largely misunderstood today, with many believing the crowds were on the edge of violence. I attended weekly protests back then, and the image of unwashed masses of Molotov throwing degenerates is an untruth spun into existence by the same people who want to make excuse for their despicable actions.

The point is justice. If there is real evidence of a crime, it should be investigated.

Some folks seem hell bent to do nothing *but* that for the rest of their lives... and entire conspiracy industries exist to feed off of it.

or if it was your family member.

This is the first time I recall that I didn't stop and consider the date since 1970.

Even more stark is that I live 25 miles from Kent. I know the school board has been doing all they can to erase memory of the event, and students today would have to do their own research if they want to be informed, but usually there's some mention on the local news. This year there was nothing for the first time. No local programming, no newspaper editorial, no nothing.

So much for "we will never forget".
I'm saddened by that.

May the 4th be with you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_Day

On their way back from planting the Honolulu birth announcements in 1961, they stopped in 1970 just to fuck things up.