Father of son who died in Iraq beaten by pro-war hate mongers "Gathering of Eagles"

[motivez]

Carlos Arredondo, 47 year old father of two sons, arrived in the nation's capitol on Monday, 09/10/07 to share a memorial he has made to honor for his eldest son, Alex. Carlos has visited thirty of the United States with the traveling memorial to his son Alexander. Lcpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, USMC was killed on 08/25/04. He was 20 years and 20 days old. The memorial consists of a casket, poster- size photographs of Alex when he graduated from boot camp, before his second tour in Iraq, lying in state at his wake, and a photo of Alex with his younger brother Brian.

Saturday, September 15, 2007 consisted of first a rally, a march towards the capitol and then a die-in. Carlos pulled the memorial along the march route approaching the rotunda near the capitol building. Several of the marchers requested for him to speak about the memorial where a crowd gathered around him. After finishing, several people walked with Carlos as he pulled the memorial. Several pictures of Alex dressed in his blues were attached to the display.

As Carlos passed counter protesters, one man ripped a picture of Alex from the memorial. Carlos leaped on the man to retrieve the picture. It was at that point that approximately five others all began to attack Carlos by kicking him in the head, legs, stomach and back.

The Capitol police bicycle patrol then appeared to break up the fight. Several officers including a female officer were engaged in breaking up the fight and were able to stop any further injuries from occurring. Hannah Jones who was walking with Carlos was also assaulted.

A bystander named Ramesh witnessed the whole encounter and also retrieved the picture of Alex for Carlos. He was quite distressed at how he watched the men follow Carlos as he pulled the memorial, purposefully yelling epiphets and eventually taking Alex's photograph. Soon, an ambulance showed up as well as many concerned activists. The paramedics provided first aid to Carlos but he did not seek further medical attention. Carlos sustained bloody cuts on his shins. He also reported bruises all over his torso and head where he was kicked.

The Capitol police bicycle patrol then appeared to break up the fight. Several officers including a female officer were engaged in breaking up the fight and were able to stop any further injuries from occurring. Hannah Jones who was walking with Carlos was also assaulted.

A bystander named Ramesh witnessed the whole encounter and also retrieved the picture of Alex for Carlos. He was quite distressed at how he watched the men follow Carlos as he pulled the memorial, purposefully yelling epiphets and eventually taking Alex’s photograph. Soon, an ambulance showed up as well as many concerned activists. The paramedics provided first aid to Carlos but he did not seek further medical attention. Carlos sustained bloody cuts on his shins. He also reported bruises all over his torso and head where he was kicked.

The People Who Assaulted a Gold Star Father on September 15th | AfterDowningStreet.org

Here are photos of members of "Gathering of Eagles" who assaulted gold star father Carlos Arredondo in broad daylight in Washington, D.C., on September 15, 2007, throwing him to the ground and kicking him:













This is completely despicable, and I hope rather than staying silent and embracing the actions of this group, Republicans and other pro-war people will condemn this morally repugnant action..

I hope they will also on Congress to pass legislation condemning this group as well, since unlike MoveOn who assaulted no one and was merely exercising free speech they disagreed with, these people assaulted the father of someone who gave their life in Iraq in an attempt to silence dissent and stop a peaceful protest.

[Ardentfrost]

Wow. That's really all I can say. Like, I don't even get it.

[Galactic Gigolo]

Originally Posted by Ardentfrost

Wow. That's really all I can say. Like, I don't even get it.

Disagree with the war, get your ass kicked.

What's so hard to understand?

But yeah, fuck these guys. At the very least liberals tend to just scream loud and interrupt speeches.

[kinggovernor]

who ever assaulted him should be arrested

[6SpeedTA95]

This is pretty disturbing but it looks like some of those photos could be pretty damning. My guess is these guys will get busted and hopefully go to prison...


As for wasting time of congress on such an issue I have mixed feelings. I think congress basically saying "bad ny times, bad" was a waste of time and money. Let the SEC deal with that shit, congress needs to fix this country

[RMNIXON]

Yes I condemn it in the strongest way.

But why would you suggest Republicans would be silent or that in doing so they embrace the actions of this group?

[garbagemanlb]

I hope those fuckers get tossed in jail. Despicable. They don't even have a right to call themselves patriots.

[garbagemanlb]

Originally Posted by RMNIXON

Yes I condemn it in the strongest way.

But why would you suggest Republicans would be silent or that in doing so they embrace the actions of this group?

Like if the tables were turned you wouldn't blame it on the 'far left' and their 'hate for the military' in general.

[Diesel66]

Originally Posted by garbagemanlb

Like if the tables were turned you wouldn't blame it on the 'far left' and their 'hate for the military' in general.

Except that is the chants from some of the far left. The far right doesnt say they hate soldiers or soldier's familes, so why would they attack one ?


Whoever attacked him should be thrown in prison, end of story.

[JaJae]

It looks like one person to me.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by JaJae

It looks like one person to me.

It appears to be one or perhaps two, hard to tell what the guy in the orange shit with his back to the camera is doing, obviously not the majority or anything close and it looks like a few of the men are trying to stop the attack.

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

It appears to be one or perhaps two, hard to tell what the guy in the orange shit with his back to the camera is doing, obviously not the majority or anything close and it looks like a few of the men are trying to stop the attack.

The guy singled out with the contrast box also looks enraged. For some reason I wouldn't be surprised to find there was more to this story than the sympathetic article posted. The Gathering of the Eagles has always demonstrated with much more class and integrity at their rallies than the anti-war crowds. When the anti-war groupies constantly get themselves arrested the Eagles have always been well behaved.

[6SpeedTA95]

I'm beginning to wonder about this Carlos character, makes me wonder what exactly he did to perhaps provoke this...

CNN.com - Father*torches van after news of son's death - Aug 25, 2004


Makes me wonder just what type of other extreme behavior if any he has been involved in. Perhaps he provoked the individual (s) with the Eagles? Either way the Eagle member(s) need to be prosecuted but there could be a lot more to this than some of these questionable media outlets are reporting.

[motivez]

Sure, blame the victim.. it's obviously his fault.

I mean, after his sons death he was extremely emotional (How did you feel when your son was killed in the war? Oh? You don't have kids?) and did some crazy shit.. so obviously, contrary to ALL the evidence and eye witnesses, he must have done something to those fine, upstanding conservative gentleman who kicked him in the head after he defended the memorial of his son from being defaced

[JaJae]

Originally Posted by motivez

Sure, blame the victim.. it's obviously his fault. I mean, after his sons death he was emotional and did some crazy shit.. so obviously, contrary to ALL the evidence and eye witnesses, he must have done something to those fine, upstanding conservative gentleman who kicked him in the head

He's a victim by whose standards?



This isn't the full story, nor is it even a credible story in the least. We have a picture of a guy pissed off at someone who has a history of fire bombing government vehicles and a joke of a site claiming the "victim" didn't start it.

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by motivez

Sure, blame the victim.. it's obviously his fault. I mean, after his sons death he was emotional and did some crazy shit.. so obviously, contrary to ALL the evidence and eye witnesses, he must have done something to those fine, upstanding conservative gentleman who kicked him in the head

So I post something that this guy has a rather odd past and somehow I'm dismissing what the attacker did? Despite my post stating the opposite?

Until there's more information on this it will be hard to tell just what happened. There's blogs all over the place talking about this incident but not much real information other than the fact that he was indeed attacked.

[motivez]

Originally Posted by JaJae

He's a victim by whose standards?

So you disagree with his politics, and suddenly he's not a victim after being assaulted, kicked in the head, etc?

Originally Posted by JaJae

This isn't the full story, nor is it even a credible story in the least. We have a picture of a guy pissed off at someone who has a history of fire bombing government vehicles.

Oh, it's not a credible story because you disagree with the politics of the eyewitnesses?

@ partisan bullshit

[motivez]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

So I post something that this guy has a rather odd past and somehow I'm dismissing what the attacker did? Despite my post stating the opposite?

You're trying to justify what they did to him by offering them up some good reasons

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by motivez

You're trying to justify what they did to him by offering them up some good reasons

Ummm I justified it? Really? Where? I said they shoudl be prosecuted, t