Assassination By Allegation Of Sex Crimes

By James Donahue

The late dictator Saddam Hussein was considered evil because he had his political enemies assassinated. Because of the way he ruled Iraq with an iron fist, he had many political enemies. His behavior is common in governments operating under supreme rule.

In the United States and apparently in European nations operating under democratic forms of government, getting rid of political enemies also is practiced. But instead of beheading the troublemakers, the form of assassination is much more subtle, yet just as effective. They plant some fake evidence and accuse the target of sex crimes. How does the accused victim successfully defend himself or herself? Whether found guilty or not, the stigma that goes with such publicity is so tainted it never goes away.

Case in point: the recent warrant issued by Swedish prosecutors accusing controversial Wikileaks website founder Julian Assange with “suspected rape” and molestation. Assange made headlines after publishing thousands of pages of intelligence information and secret military documents about the war in Afghanistan.

In spite of pressure by the Pentagon, Assange says he plans to publish even more documents that were leaked from undisclosed sources. Military officials say the disclosures have compromised military security and put lives in danger.

The strange timing of the Swedish warrants, when Assange was reportedly visiting that country and where the Wikileaks website is believed to be operating, appears to support the publisher’s claim that he has been the victim of a political smear campaign.

“Why these accusations are popping up right now is an interesting question. I have not been contacted by police. These allegations are false,” Assange is quoted as telling the Swedish daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.

Assange appears to be escaping this assault. After all of the media coverage, Swedish authorities made an about-face and withdrew the warrant. They said they determined that the document was based on an “unfounded accusation of rape.”

In another case, Alvin Greene, the unknown South Carolina candidate who stunned the political world when he won the Democratic primary to be a state candidate for the U.S. Senate, has strangely been indicted on criminal sex charges.

Greene, an unemployed military veteran who spent little if any money in his campaign against a former judge, apparently is turning out to be an embarrassment to the Democratic Party. Party leaders are clamoring to hold onto and possibly gain more Senate seats in the November elections. They worry that Greene is not an electable candidate.

Now, suspiciously, Greene is charged with approaching a young woman on the University of South Carolina campus, showing her obscene pictures and suggesting going to her dormitory room. If convicted he could face up to five years in jail. The charge also would wipe his name from the South Carolina ballot and smear Greene’s name forever, even if it is nothing more than a political dirty trick.

We must ask if Greene really wants to be a viable candidate for the Senate, why would he do such a foolish act? He is either nuts or the victim of a political smear designed to destroy him for daring to get in the way of state and national party power figures.

Remember Scott Ritter, the former chief United Nations weapons inspector who argued against President George W. Bush’s push to launch the Iraq war? Bush based his decision to go to war on allegations that Saddam Hussein was harboring “weapons of mass destruction” and was therefore a threat to U.S. security.

Ritter spoke out strongly against attacking Iraq, claiming that his inspectors were unable to prove that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. He may have been the only authoritative voice in the crowd standing up against the Pentagon and the Bush decision to launch an almost unprecedented assault against another country without justification or provocation.

But Ritter was quickly silenced when he was accused of having lewd on-line conversations with police officers posing as underage girls. While Ritter was arrested, he apparently has never been sentenced for any wrongdoing and his case file has been strangely sealed. Also sealed was Ritter’s vocal opposition to the Iraq war.

Bush got his way and launched America’s ugly war in Iraq. In the end, after more than 4,000 American deaths and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, we all learned that Ritter was right. There never were any weapons of mass destruction.

The ugly effect of making public allegations of sexual wrongdoing, especially involving children, young girls and violent acts like rape, is that the charge is merely that . . . a charge. The old rule that in America a person is not guilty until proven guilty in a court of law does not apply here. Once encumbered with such a charge, the assumption is guilt by rule of the stigma that attaches itself to the accused subject.

When do we see headlines announcing acquittal of sex crime charges once the trial is over? When do we even hear of trials after such charges against well-known figures are made public?

This is how smoothly and efficiently assassination by accusation works in America. Reputations can be ruined overnight by these kinds of dirty tricks.