Iowa anti-abortion extremist David Leach
There seems to be no group quite so open in their endorsements of domestic terrorism as the anti-abortion crowd. From the Olympic Park bomber to the killer of doctor George Tiller, there's always apologists at the ready to explain why what they did, while bad, was "justified" violence. Apologists and worse, as with the new YouTube tape released by anti-abortion extremist David Leach
of his recent "interview" with Tiller's now-imprisoned killer:
Leach: If someone would shoot the new abortionist like Scott shot George Tiller back in the Operation Rescue days, people called him Tiller the Killer, hardly anyone would appreciate it, but the babies. It will be a blessing to the babies, everyone else will panic. Of all places to open up a killing office, to reopen the one office in the United States more notorious for decades than any other is an act of defiance against God and the last remaining remnants of reverence for human life. It is what the Supreme Court classifies as “fighting words,” like throwing lard in a Mosque, burning a cross in a Black neighborhood, or immersing a cross in urine at taxpayers’ expense. It is a reckless act. It is not the act of someone who values their own safety. It is a gauntlet thrown down, by someone who wants a fight. Of course, I don’t know if anyone will pick up the gauntlet. I didn’t know Scott would act, before he did.
Roeder: It is a little bit death-defying for someone to walk back in there. For Julie “Darkheart” to walk back in there and reopen a murder mill where a man was stopped. It’s almost like putting a target on your back, saying, “Well, let’s see if you can shoot ME! I have to go back to what Pastor Mike Bray said: If 100 abortionists were shot, they [surviving abortionists] would probably go out of business. I think eight have been shot, so we’ve got 92 to go. Maybe she’ll be number nine. I don’t know, but she’s kind of painting a target on her.
Is it really Roeder, on the tape? It likely is: Leach
wrote a legal brief for Roeder defending the murder of George Tiller as justified by the Bible and federal law, so there's an existing relationship there. He's identified
elsewhere as being a member of the ultra-radical, pro-violence group "Army of God"; his relationship with them extends at least to reprinting Army of God literature that includes instructions on bomb-making.
Like many anti-abortion radicals, Leach does his best to skirt the legal lines, as with his aw-shucks denial here that he meant any harm in his conversation with a convicted murderer over potential future murders of specific, named doctors:
“I’m 67 years old. I don’t know anything about guns,” he said. “I think I could accomplish more with words.” He denied that his comments were meant to encourage anyone to kill abortion providers. “That’s not exactly a call for that to happen,” he said. “Any reasonable person looking at that statement would not equate that with a call for action.”
Yeah, he's regular prince among men. I've got any number of helpful suggestions on what Americans could "accomplish" with respect to David Leach, but unlike him I'll keep them to myself. It's a shame, though, because the one involving five cobras, two chainsaw-wielding bears and a man-sized blender really has a lot going for it.