10 things to know about Bill Ayers. A primer

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10 things to know about Bill Ayers. A primer

By Lynn Sweet on October 13, 2008 10:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
from the Oct. 12, 2008 Chicago Sun-Times

BY ABDON M. PALLASCH AND CHRIS FUSCO
Sun-Times Staff Reporters

John McCain is hammering Barack Obama about his ties to Chicago educator Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weather Underground, a group that used violence in the 1960s and 1970s to try to end the Vietnam War.

For a week now, the McCain-Palin ticket has been making Ayers an issue. And the attacks continued Friday, with an ad that calls Ayers the "leader of a terrorist group that bombed the U.S. Capitol." The ad also says "Obama's first campaign was launched at a gathering at Mr. Ayers' home."

Bill Ayers has declined to comment to the Sun-Times or any other media since Sen. Hillary Clinton first raised his name in the Democratic primary.

Who is Bill Ayers? Obama responds to ad tying him to '60s radical What did Obama know about Ayers, when?

But is everything the Republicans are saying true? Here's a look at the Obama-Ayers relationship.

1. Was Ayers the leader of a terrorist group?

The FBI labeled the Weather Underground "a domestic terrorist group" whose members took credit for bombings of the U.S. Capitol, Pentagon and other government buildings. The bombings were designed to cause property damage, not hurt people. Ayers never has been accused of killing anybody.

But three Weather Underground members accidentally killed themselves while making bombs in New York City in 1970. In 1981, two police officers and a security guard were killed when other members of the group committed an armed robbery.

2. How long was Ayers "underground"?

Ayers and his wife, Weather Underground member Bernardine Dohrn, were on the lam 10 years before surrendering in 1980.

(snip)

9. Has Ayers ever apologized for what he did with the Weather Underground?

Not exactly. In 2001, Ayers told the Sun-Times he regretted that "people were hurt, that three of my dear friends were killed, that we were stupid, immature, intolerant and unwise. I regret that I hurt people's feelings." He did not regret "throwing myself as wholeheartedly as I could figure out into opposition to war and to the system of racial injustice."

A review of Ayers' memoir Fugitive Days that appeared in the New York Times on Sept. 11, 2001, quoted Ayers saying, "I don't regret setting bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." Three days after the terrorist attacks, Ayers clarified: "My memoir is, from start to finish, a condemnation of terrorism . . ."

10. Are all former alleged terrorists/radicals shunned?

No. Former IRA bomber Gerry Adams is welcomed at the White House as a peacemaker. Former PLO leader Yasser Arafat was too. Former Students for a Democratic Society member and Ayers friend Tom Hayden was elected to the California State Assembly. Former Black Panther Bobby Rush is a congressman representing Chicago, as is former Puerto Rican independence activist Luis Gutierrez.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/10/10_things_to_know_about_bill_a.html

I have to wonder about Columbine High School and the Virginia Tech massacres, 911, Oklahoma City bombings , and other losses of life.

Is this the future of America? If one disagrees with something, it is ok to kill? Bomb? Shoot and maim? Expect no remorse or regret?

No sympathy for the innocents that lost their lives?

Will terrorists be regarded as the next generation of super-heroes?