This letter was sent to the New York Times editorial board by William C. Ibershof, who was chief prosecutor of the Weathermen. If it's been diaried, I haven't seen it, but I thought it was worth posting for those who'd like a tangible response to all the ludicrous claims about Barack Obama and Bill Ayers. The letter is below the jump. There's a link in the Body to an article VincaMajor posted from today's L.A. Times in the Comments of this thread.
Send the linked letter and the article from today's L.A. Times VincaMajor posted in the Comments and give the heads up to everyone in your address book. Obama's been getting BOMBARDED with Ayers crap. Let's fling some back!
Letter
Prosecuting Weathermen
Published: October 9, 2008
To the Editor:
As the lead federal prosecutor of the Weathermen in the 1970s (I was then chief of the criminal division in the Eastern District of Michigan and took over the Weathermen prosecution in 1972), I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child.
Although I dearly wanted to obtain convictions against all the Weathermen, including Bill Ayers, I am very pleased to learn that he has become a responsible citizen.
Because Senator Obama recently served on a board of a charitable organization with Mr. Ayers cannot possibly link the senator to acts perpetrated by Mr. Ayers so many years ago.
I do take issue with the statement in your news article that the Weathermen indictment was dismissed because of "prosecutorial misconduct." It was dismissed because of illegal activities, including wiretaps, break-ins and mail interceptions, initiated by John N. Mitchell, attorney general at that time, and W. Mark Felt, an F.B.I. assistant director.
William C. Ibershof
I hope this can provide some ammo for those of us who regularly encounter the 'Ayers' smears. Seems a rather simple rebuttal.
I also point out that the school reform board Obama sat on with Ayers was funded by Republican and close friend of Ronald Reagan, Walter Annenberg, that there were conservative Republicans on the board, and surely Annenberg wouldn't have tolerated Ayers if he had reservations about his service.
I know this is short, but what else is there to say?