Blackwater Founder Implicated In Murder

Jeremy Scahill is one gutsy and tenacious repoter. Several years ago I wrote an article about Blackwater's founder, Eric Prince, and his many connections to the far right-wing Christian extremists. Their role in Iraq, and their connections to the White House have long been a major concern for me - looks like I was right. Please give this article the respect that it deserves...

TO THE NATION ARTICLE & LINKS

Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder
By Jeremy Scahill

August 4, 2009


A former Blackwater employee and an ex-US Marine who has worked as a security operative for the company have made a series of explosive allegations in sworn statements filed on August 3 in federal court in Virginia. The two men claim that the company's owner, Erik Prince, may have murdered or facilitated the murder of individuals who were cooperating with federal authorities investigating the company. The former employee also alleges that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe," and that Prince's companies "encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life."


Jeremy Scahill: Despite the State Department's announcement canceling Blackwater's contracts in Iraq, the Obama administration will pay the company more than $174 million for security services in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Blackwater or Murder, Inc.?
Blackwater

Countdown : Between the illegal weapons, explosive ammunition and the possibility that Blackwater operatives killed civilians as practice, the picture of the military contractor gets darker by the day.
Will Blackwater Founder Face Charges?
Blackwater

GRIT TV : Erik Prince has been implicated in murder, viewed himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims from the globe and his company smuggled weapons into Iraq.

US Still Paying Blackwater Millions
Blackwater

Jeremy Scahill: Despite the State Department's announcement canceling Blackwater's contracts in Iraq, the Obama administration will pay the company more than $174 million for security services in Iraq and Afghanistan.


Jeremy Scahill: Sworn statements filed in Federal Court allege that Blackwater founder Erik Prince launched a "crusade" to eliminate Muslims and Islam.
White House is Whistling Past Afghan Graveyard
Russell Feingold

Jeremy Scahill: In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Sen. Russ Feingold defends his lone vote to oppose the latest amendment to the Defense Authorization bill.

In their testimony, both men also allege that Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq. One of the men alleges that Prince turned a profit by transporting "illegal" or "unlawful" weapons into the country on Prince's private planes. They also charge that Prince and other Blackwater executives destroyed incriminating videos, emails and other documents and have intentionally deceived the US State Department and other federal agencies. The identities of the two individuals were sealed out of concerns for their safety.

These allegations, and a series of other charges, are contained in sworn affidavits, given under penalty of perjury, filed late at night on August 3 in the Eastern District of Virginia as part of a seventy-page motion by lawyers for Iraqi civilians suing Blackwater for alleged war crimes and other misconduct. Susan Burke, a private attorney working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights, is suing Blackwater in five separate civil cases filed in the Washington, DC, area. They were recently consolidated before Judge T.S. Ellis III of the Eastern District of Virginia for pretrial motions. Burke filed the August 3 motion in response to Blackwater's motion to dismiss the case. Blackwater asserts that Prince and the company are innocent of any wrongdoing and that they were professionally performing their duties on behalf of their employer, the US State Department.

The former employee, identified in the court documents as "John Doe #2," is a former member of Blackwater's management team, according to a source close to the case. Doe #2 alleges in a sworn declaration that, based on information provided to him by former colleagues, "it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct." John Doe #2 says he worked at Blackwater for four years; his identity is concealed in the sworn declaration because he "fear[s] violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration." He also alleges, "On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence."

In a separate sworn statement, the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as "John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided.

"Mr. Prince feared, and continues to fear, that the federal authorities will detect and prosecute his various criminal deeds," states Doe #2. "On more than one occasion, Mr. Prince and his top managers gave orders to destroy emails and other documents. Many incriminating videotapes, documents and emails have been shredded and destroyed."

The Nation cannot independently verify the identities of the two individuals, their roles at Blackwater or what motivated them to provide sworn testimony in these civil cases. Both individuals state that they have previously cooperated with federal prosecutors conducting a criminal inquiry into Blackwater.

"It's a pending investigation, so we cannot comment on any matters in front of a Grand Jury or if a Grand Jury even exists on these matters," John Roth, the spokesperson for the US Attorney's office in the District of Columbia, told The Nation. "It would be a crime if we did that." Asked specifically about whether there is a criminal investigation into Prince regarding the murder allegations and other charges, Roth said: "We would not be able to comment on what we are or are not doing in regards to any possible investigation involving an uncharged individual."

The Nation repeatedly attempted to contact spokespeople for Prince or his companies at numerous email addresses and telephone numbers. When a company representative was reached by phone and asked to comment, she said, "Unfortunately no one can help you in that area." The representative then said that she would pass along The Nation's request. As this article goes to press, no company representative has responded further to The Nation.

Doe #2 states in the declaration that he has also provided the information contained in his statement "in grand jury proceedings convened by the United States Department of Justice." Federal prosecutors convened a grand jury in the aftermath of the September 16, 2007, Nisour Square shootings in Baghdad, which left seventeen Iraqis dead. Five Blackwater employees are awaiting trial on several manslaughter charges and a sixth, Jeremy Ridgeway, has already pleaded guilty to manslaughter and attempting to commit manslaughter and is cooperating with prosecutors. It is not clear whether Doe #2 testified in front of the Nisour Square grand jury or in front of a separate grand jury.

The two declarations are each five pages long and contain a series of devastating allegations concerning Erik Prince and his network of companies, which now operate under the banner of Xe Services LLC. Among those leveled by Doe #2 is that Prince "views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe":


To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.


Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince's executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to "lay Hajiis out on cardboard." Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince's employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as "ragheads" or "hajiis."

Among the additional allegations made by Doe #1 is that "Blackwater was smuggling weapons into Iraq." He states that he personally witnessed weapons being "pulled out" from dog food bags. Doe #2 alleges that "Prince and his employees arranged for the weapons to be polywrapped and smuggled into Iraq on Mr. Prince's private planes, which operated under the name Presidential Airlines," adding that Prince "generated substantial revenues from participating in the illegal arms trade."

Doe #2 states: "Using his various companies, [Prince] procured and distributed various weapons, including unlawful weapons such as sawed off semi-automatic machine guns with silencers, through unlawful channels of distribution." Blackwater "was not abiding by the terms of the contract with the State Department and was deceiving the State Department," according to Doe #1.

This is not the first time an allegation has surfaced that Blackwater used dog food bags to smuggle weapons into Iraq. ABC News's Brian Ross reported in November 2008 that a "federal grand jury in North Carolina is investigating allegations the controversial private security firm Blackwater illegally shipped assault weapons and silencers to Iraq, hidden in large sacks of dog food." Another former Blackwater employee has also confirmed this information to The Nation.

Both individuals allege that Prince and Blackwater deployed individuals to Iraq who, in the words of Doe #1, "were not properly vetted and cleared by the State Department." Doe #2 adds that "Prince ignored the advice and pleas from certain employees, who sought to stop the unnecessary killing of innocent Iraqis." Doe #2 further states that some Blackwater officials overseas refused to deploy "unfit men" and sent them back to the US. Among the reasons cited by Doe #2 were "the men making statements about wanting to deploy to Iraq to 'kill ragheads' or achieve 'kills' or 'body counts,'" as well as "excessive drinking" and "steroid use." However, when the men returned to the US, according to Doe #2, "Prince and his executives would send them back to be deployed in Iraq with an express instruction to the concerned employees located overseas that they needed to 'stop costing the company money.'"

Doe #2 also says Prince "repeatedly ignored the assessments done by mental health professionals, and instead terminated those mental health professionals who were not willing to endorse deployments of unfit men." He says Prince and then-company president Gary Jackson "hid from Department of State the fact that they were deploying men to Iraq over the objections of mental health professionals and security professionals in the field," saying they "knew the men being deployed were not suitable candidates for carrying lethal weaponry, but did not care because deployments meant more money."

Doe #1 states that "Blackwater knew that certain of its personnel intentionally used excessive and unjustified deadly force, and in some instances used unauthorized weapons, to kill or seriously injure innocent Iraqi civilians." He concludes, "Blackwater did nothing to stop this misconduct." Doe #1 states that he "personally observed multiple incidents of Blackwater personnel intentionally using unnecessary, excessive and unjustified deadly force." He then cites several specific examples of Blackwater personnel firing at civilians, killing or "seriously" wounding them, and then failing to report the incidents to the State Department.

Doe #1 also alleges that "all of these incidents of excessive force were initially videotaped and voice recorded," but that "Immediately after the day concluded, we would watch the video in a session called a 'hot wash.' Immediately after the hotwashing, the video was erased to prevent anyone other than Blackwater personnel seeing what had actually occurred." Blackwater, he says, "did not provide the video to the State Department."

Doe #2 expands on the issue of unconventional weapons, alleging Prince "made available to his employees in Iraq various weapons not authorized by the United States contracting authorities, such as hand grenades and hand grenade launchers. Mr. Prince's employees repeatedly used this illegal weaponry in Iraq, unnecessarily killing scores of innocent Iraqis." Specifically, he alleges that Prince "obtained illegal ammunition from an American company called LeMas. This company sold ammunition designed to explode after penetrating within the human body. Mr. Prince's employees repeatedly used this illegal ammunition in Iraq to inflict maximum damage on Iraqis."

Blackwater has gone through an intricate rebranding process in the twelve years it has been in business, changing its name and logo several times. Prince also has created more than a dozen affiliate companies, some of which are registered offshore and whose operations are shrouded in secrecy. According to Doe #2, "Prince created and operated this web of companies in order to obscure wrongdoing, fraud and other crimes."

"For example, Mr. Prince transferred funds from one company (Blackwater) to another (Greystone) whenever necessary to avoid detection of his money laundering and tax evasion schemes." He added: "Mr. Prince contributed his personal wealth to fund the operations of the Prince companies whenever he deemed such funding necessary. Likewise, Mr. Prince took funds out of the Prince companies and placed the funds in his personal accounts at will."

Briefed on the substance of these allegations by The Nation, Congressman Dennis Kucinich replied, "If these allegations are true, Blackwater has been a criminal enterprise defrauding taxpayers and murdering innocent civilians." Kucinich is on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and has been investigating Prince and Blackwater since 2004.

"Blackwater is a law unto itself, both internationally and domestically. The question is why they operated with impunity. In addition to Blackwater, we should be questioning their patrons in the previous administration who funded and employed this organization. Blackwater wouldn't exist without federal patronage; these allegations should be thoroughly investigated," Kucinich said.

A hearing before Judge Ellis in the civil cases against Blackwater is scheduled for August 7.

About Jeremy Scahill
Jeremy Scahill, a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, is the author of the bestselling Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, published by Nation Books. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and correspondent for the national radio and TV program Democracy Now!. more...

THE ELECTION BROKE THEIR BRAINS

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BAD FOR GOP = GOOD FOR FOX

The fledgling GOP seems to be coming completely fragmented. What lies ahead is anyone's guess - but whether or not the Republicans can ever again regain power is looking more and more unlikely. Yet, there are those who benefit greatly from this great divide and FOX News is certainly capitalizing. This analysis appears on Gawker.com.

FULL REPORT HERE

Fox News posted an astonishing 50% jump in profit last quarter amid a disastrous advertising recession, and it's basically the only thing making money in Rupert Murdoch's empire. Why? Because the GOP has cratered.

Fox News' viewership is up 45% over the last year, and it's easy to see why: The ascendancy of a charismatic black Democrat has driven frightened, paranoid, enraged, nativist zealots into the ideological embrace of an outlet that habitually reconfirms everything they already believe. Watching Glenn Beck's spell-binding sermons on Barack Obama's racism is comforting to people who believe that their way of life—namely, one in which fatherly white Christians protect us from danger both internal and external—is under attack. So they do it more frequently. Tuning into Hannity et.al. becomes a life-affirming political act.

But while cable news is niche, politics is mass. The chart above shows GOP party approval in as reported by New York Times/CBS in national polls going back to 2006 and Fox News' total primetime audience, in millions, over the same time period. Fox News can and does thrive with a primetime audience of 2.5 million, many of which are the aforementioned zealots. The Republican Party needs more than that to function electorally. And the aforementioned angry zealotry that's in vogue on Fox News is distasteful to the independent voters that the GOP needs to court.

Unfortunately for Republicans and fortunately for Roger Ailes, a feedback loop has been created: As disaffected conservatives turn increasingly to Fox News, Fox News caters its programming to keep them coming back, turning, for instance, the Tea Parties into a daylong televised festival of rage. But given Fox's well-earned brand identification with the Republican Party, and vice versa, that programming serves to promote a view of Republicans as angry white people who hate Puerto Rican judges. Which turns off independent voters, which further isolates the diehard rejectionist wing of the party, which increases the importance of Fox News in their lives as a reassuring voice telling them to be strong in the face of the barbarian hordes—or, as Glenn Beck puts it, "We surround them."

The more viewers Fox attracts, the more voters the GOP repels. And the more voters the GOP repels, the more viewers Fox attracts. The most important part of the dynamic is that Fox News has no interest in doing anything other than attracting viewers. It will continue to ride this wave of anger and resentment irrespective of what impact it has on the Republican Party until it stops making them money. And yes, Barack Obama's popularity is dropping, and the bloom is beginning to come off the rose. But the GOP hasn't seen a concomitant rise in popularity: Just yesterday it hit the lowest approval rating it has seen in a quarter century, according to the New York Times.

Poison Gas & Sealed Doors?

TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

FBI joins investigation into Tucson hate crime

Tucson, AZ - The FBI is now leading the investigation of a Tucson hate crime. The home of two Jewish people on the northwest side was the target of vandals who placed a chemical device, a firebomb, tagged walls, and even left behind small dead animals, says the Pima County Sheriff's department.

It happened at the Casas Del Oro community off Magee Road near Shannon Road. The homeowners called 911 just before 5:00 Sunday morning when they couldn't get out of their home. Deputies say it was surrounded by dangerous material, which brought out the bomb squad, a fire hazmat team and even the FBI's weapons of mass destruction response team.

"Apparently somebody was trying to do some damage to these people," said Bob Bishop, who lives in the gated community.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department says foam had been sprayed on both the garage and front door, sealing them shut. The bomb squad also found a type of firebomb device in front of the home and a chemical dispersal device behind the home. Plus, several small dead animals on the doorstep and tagging on the walls. A neighbor tells us it was profanity written in Spanish.

"That in connection with some of the other things they found all are pointing to maybe a hate crime," said Deputy Dawn Barkman with PCSD.

But it affected the whole neighborhood when a cloud of gas formed over the area. Some neighbors were evacuated, others told to keep their windows and doors closed. Deputies say the chemical was chlorine mixed with an unknown substance.

"We've asked residents in this area to stay indoors, refrain from outdoor activities," Barkman said.

"This is obviously a targeted deal. This is not something that just happened," Bishop said.

James Redzinak delivers papers in the community everyday, early in the morning. He says he didn't see anything and can't see why anyone would target the area.

"Especially in a gated community, it makes me wonder if we're really safe anywhere," Redzinak said.

That's why he'll keep an extra eye on the neighborhood in the days to come.

"It just kind of makes me sick to think that somebody would target anybody based on race or anything else," said Redzinak.

We still don't know anything about the suspects or a motive. Detectives are still deep in the investigation. We do know that the gas cloud put five residents in the hospital, but we're told they're expected to be OK.

The FBI is now the lead agency in this crime.

According to Marana Police the couple was vandalized back in November when they were living in Dove Mountain, but the police were never able to prove it was a hate crime.

The victims have returned to their home and are now trying to clean up the mess left behind.

McCain's Bimbo No Lady...

Is that the size of Sarah's brain she is describing?

The first time that I ever saw Sarah Palin was when John McCain announced her as his running mate. The first thing I said about her was that she was an "airheaded Bimbo." You see, I have known quite a few in my lifetime and can usually spot 'em a mile away.

Now, when it came to light that she had been able to hide her pregnancy while governing the state of Alaska and everyone started wondering if the baby was really hers or her daughter's, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. When it came to light that her teen-aged daughter was pregnant while Mama espoused family values from the dais, I didn't jump on that bandwagon. Teenagers make mistakes - even those who come from solid families.

Ethics violations, forked-tongue speech, and insipid stupidity were sure to do the Bimbo in. I was right. The Alaskan blogosphere helped a lot, as well and the McCain/Palin ticket went down in proverbial flames. But, there were still those die-hards who just can't see the forrest for the trees. You know the ones...they can be pulled through a bramble bush backwards, rolled in the muck of a pig-sty, kicked by a mule and still refuse to say they are having a bad day. Holding on to that cockeyed dream of a Palin presidency, these poor, misled, sycophants kept their eyes and their hopes on 2012.

Palin tried hard to portray herself as a Christian woman of high morals and character who would fight for families and their values. As an almost strident pro-lifer, Sarah endeared herself to the ultra-right wing. As a former beauty queen, she endeared herself to the conservative, testosterone driven male. As a politician, she was less adept.

Alaska, often referred to by Palin as the "Real America," became the focus of attention once again over the July Fourth weekend when the Mavericky Palin announced her resignation saying that she didn't want to be a "lame-duck," giving rise to gales of media laughter as it was once again obvious that Palin's ignorance was showing.

Speculation of why such a resignation had taken place went all over the map. Then she was hit with another accusation of ethics violations and many innuendoes. However, the handwriting was on the wall when she gave her resignation speech and ditched her husband immediately afterward - just not everyone saw it.

On Saturday, the Alaskan blog, The Immoral Minority reported that a trusted source had offered information that Sarah Palin and her husband Todd were splitting the sheets. Supposedly, in a fit of rage, Sarah had thrown her wedding ring into a lake earlier and the two might be seeking a divorce.

Next, it would seem that this hockey-mom, flag-waving bimbo hasn't exactly been the paragon of virtue and upholder of family values that she hood-winked her unsuspecting and desperate following into believing. It would appear that Todd Palin couldn't rein in the maverick either based on a report in the National Enquirer.

Now...Sarah just wasn't any too happy with the blogger over at The Immoral Minority and when Sarah isn't happy she calls Thomas Van Flein - that's her lawyer, with whom she is well acquainted. Tommy loves to threaten bloggers and has now done so at least four times in the last few weeks.

Van Flein sent out an email letter to Gryphon - the blog owner - threatening to serve him with legal papers in the kindergarten class where he works. How's that for class? But then, I guess you have to consider who he is representing.

I can't wait until the next installment on McCain's Bimbo - she sure ain't no lady. Told ya so.

Hal Still In The News

Jersey Journal File Photo

Hate blogger Harold "Hal'' Turner of North Bergen is planning to plead innocent next week when he goes before a Connecticut judge on charges he threatened state lawmakers, his lawyer said.


Turner is also facing unrelated federal charges accusing him of threatening to kill three Chicago-based federal judges.

He's due back in in Hartford Superior Court on Tuesday.

Turner was charged after urging his blog readers to "take up arms" against state Sen. Andrew McDonald and Rep. Michael Lawlor.

Turner was angry over legislation that would have given lay members of Roman Catholic churches more control over their parishes' finances. The bill was withdrawn in March.

There is a chance the hearing could be postponed. Turner is currently in jail without bond in Illinois, where he is accused of threatening to kill three federal judges.

I think the chances of a postponement are pretty darned good given his current situation. Something tells me that Hartford might have to wait a little while.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 30, 2009

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Orozco, Attorney at law
973-735-2683
ARREST OF RADIO HOST HAL TURNER
Chicago, IL –

On June 2, 2009, Hal Turner, sitting in his home in New Jersey, opined on his web site that the recent opinion of three judges in the Seventh Circuit was unconstitutional. That opinion was legally protected free speech pursuant to numerous rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Three weeks later, the FBI executed a search warrant on his home in North Bergen. Nothing illegal was found, yet Mr. Turner was arrested and charged with violating a federal statute which makes it a crime to threaten to assault or injury a judge in retaliation of the performance of their official duties. Mr. Turner never, under any circumstances, meant this communication to be seen as a true threat to these judges.

Since his incarceration Mr. Turner has been subjected to de-humanizing conditions at jail. This is not justice; this is the persecution and mistreatment of Mr. Turner through administrative means. He has been denied medical treatment; he has been denied access to a means to contact his family for weeks, as well as his attorneys; he has been declared a high level threat despite the fact that he has never committed an act of violence, and; had caps on his teeth removed as he was told they could be used as a weapon. Currently Mr. Turner’s blood pressure has reached an alarming number, yet he has received no medical attention. The pleas from his family to the jail have gone unanswered.

At the July 28th, 2009 bond hearing, Magistrate Judge Ashman gave Mr. Turner’s attorneys more time to produce evidence of his prior acts while working as an FBI informant and immediately after which resulted in numerous lives being saved and sophisticated military hardware from being placed into the black market.

First, Hal Turner did more than "opine" that the Judge's rulings were unconstitutional. He said that they should be killed and provided a map to their offices. Whether or not this is protected by the First Amendment is the issue. But, for an attorney to issue such a erroneous and misleading statement flies in the face of all of those following the case. Tell the damned truth and let's go from there.

Secondly - Hal Turner has access to a physician and is not being denied medical attention when necessary. The guards and employees there are, for the most part, highly professional and the last thing that they want is someone dying on their watch.

Yes...his phone calls are being curtailed - largely because of the stunt that he pulled earlier with putting out a recorded message; also because he is considered a high level threat which places him under special administrative measures. Hal cries a lot these days. He is prone to hysteria. That alone will cause his blood-pressure to increase.

Now that it has become public that he worked with the feds - does he or his wife want him sent into the general population? Perhaps they believe he would be better off "socializing?"

Still A Danger...

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/213830


Federal judge denies bond for neo-Nazi White
A judge called William A. White, who awaits trial in Roanoke, "a danger to the community."
By Laurence Hammack and Tim Taliaferro
The Roanoke Times


CHICAGO -- One week after he was cleared of using the Internet to encourage violence, a neo-Nazi leader from Roanoke, Va., learned Friday he must remain in jail while facing additional charges.

A federal judge denied bond for William A. White, saying he would pose a threat to the public if released.

The bond hearing in U.S. District Court in Chicago marked the latest effort by White to obtain pretrial release in what has become his free-speech battle with the federal government.

"Five judges have found him dangerous to the community while charges were pending," Magistrate Judge Morton Denlow said in denying bond. "This court believes those decisions were well-reasoned and thorough.

"The court believes he is still a danger to the community."

Denlow based his ruling, in part, on a post White made to his Web site in which he described waking up every morning with the urge to "kill, kill, kill."

White will remain in custody while awaiting transfer to Roanoke, where he faces additional charges of making threats by telephone and e-mail and through his now-defunct Web site, overthrow.com.

The 32-year-old white supremacist had been charged in Chicago with posting the name, address and telephone number of the foreman of the jury that convicted a fellow neo-Nazi. Prosecutors had argued that White hoped one of his followers might harm the man.

But a judge ruled that his actions were protected by the First Amendment.

In the Roanoke case, prosecutors say White picked people to threaten from across the country: a bank employee in Kansas City, Mo.; a human rights lawyer in Canada; a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist in Maryland; a university administrator in Delaware; a small-town mayor in New Jersey; and a group of apartment complex tenants in Virginia Beach.

Most of the comments stemmed from White's anger over racial issues, such as a column by Leonard Pitts about black-on-white crime.

White also is facing a lawsuit filed by the apartment complex tenants, whom he contacted after learning they had filed a housing discrimination case against their landlord.

In angry letters displaying a swastika logo, White called the tenants "whiny Section 8 n------" and wrote that the white community's "patience with you and the government that coddles you runs thin."

A Sept. 2 trial date has been scheduled in the civil case. But White's attorney has requested the trial be postponed until the remaining criminal charges are resolved.

At Friday's bond hearing, an attorney from the Justice Department's civil rights division read from White's online writings. In one post, White wrote that he had developed "a very intricate plot for the murder of about a score of Roanoke city's Negro nuisances and their annoying counterparts at The Roanoke Times."

Such writings "are the window into Mr. White's mind," Paige Fitzgerald said in asking that he remain locked up.

White, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, reclined far back in his chair and occasionally shook his head while Fitzgerald read his posts aloud. His lawyers have called his online rants nothing more than political hyperbole that fall within his free-speech rights.

"I think it's disturbing," defense attorney Nishay Sanan said after the hearing. Sanan pointed out that the charge dismissed in Chicago is similar to the ones White faces in Roanoke.

"You got to really question when a guy sits for nine months for things that are not even criminal charges, and he's facing similar charges in another jurisdiction, that he still has to sit in jail," Sanan said.

laurence.hammack @roanoke.com 981-3239