“My name is Emily Lyons. I am a nurse, a wife, and a mother of two teenage daughters. I am also a victim of anti-choice terrorism. When you look at me the injuries you see are a direct result of a conspiracy of violence against abortion providers in this country.
“On January 29, 1998 my life changed forever when a bomb exploded outside the clinic where I worked. On that day I lost my friend, a police officer providing security at our clinic, and I nearly lost my own life. … In the last six and a half months, I’ve spent almost thirty hours on an operating table in nine different operations, only to still have dozens of pieces of shrapnel permanently left in my body. I can’t walk, drive a car, or go to work.
“Prior to the bombing, I had spent twenty (20) years working in the medical profession as a nurse. For quite some time, I was a labor and delivery nurse. Prior to moving to Birmingham, I provided home health care. Most of my home patients were elderly. I have helped bring many people into this world. I have also held the hands of many as they left.
“Now, my vision is too poor to read. My left eye was destroyed and had to be removed. My right eye was badly damaged. My right hand was mangled beyond repair. The skin was torn off my shins and my leg shattered. The blast tore a hole in my abdomen so that about ten (10) inches of my intestines had to be removed. My eardrum was ruptured and required extensive surgery. As a result, I am now a nurse who is unable to read, write, or stand for long periods of time. Instead of caring for others, others now have to care for me.” — Statement of Emily Lyons, July 17, 1998
Photo: Emily Lyons, July 18, 2005, at the sentencing of American terrorist Eric Rudolph
Below, in “Christian Terrorist Rudolph Sentenced — What the Rightwing Press Will not Say,” Juan Cole takes them ALL on — including the myopic moralizer Thomas Friedman. Cole’s anger is not just beautiful, it’s on target:
From Juan Cole, “Christian Terrorist Rudolph Sentenced — What the Rightwing Press Will not Say”:
Notorious Christian terrorist Eric Rudolph was sentenced to two life terms on Monday. The one-time fugitive had carried out four bombings that terrorized the southeastern areas of the United States. Among his crimes were the blowing up of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed a policeman, and a bombing of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia.
As his sister-in-law made clear, Rudolph is driven by the ideology of the “Christian Identity” hate group. Terry Nichols of the Oklahoma City bombing was likewise connected to Christian identity and their “Elohim City”.
Of course, you won’t see the headline above in American newspapers, even though any Muslim who acts as Rudolph did would be called an “Islamic terrorist” (a particularly objectionable term because “Islamic” means “having to do with the Muslim faith). It is like talking about “terrorism rooted in Christianity.”
Other things you won’t see in the American press about this story (satire alert):
Thomas Friedman will not write an op-ed for the New York Times about what is wrong with white southern Christian males that they keep producing these terrorists. He will also not ask why Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are not denouncing Eric Rudolph every day at the top of their lungs.
No reporter will interview frightened Iraqis about their fears at hearing that there are 138,000 armed Christians in their country belonging to the same faith as the bomber, Rudolph, some of them from his stomping grounds of Florida and North Carolina.
Daniel Pipes will not write a column for the New York Post suggesting that white southern Christians be put in internment camps until it can be determined why they keep producing terrorists and antisemites.
George W. Bush will not issue a statement that “Christianity is a religion of peace and we will not allow the Eric Rudolphs to hijack it for their murderous purposes.”
Frank Gaffney will not write a column for the Washington Post castigating the Republican Party for appeasement in surrendering to the terrorist threats of radical Christians, by now opposing reproductive rights.
Max Boot will not point out that if the United States could only keep the Philippines in the early twentieth century by killing 400,000 Filipinos, than that was what needed to be done, and if the US can only beat back radical Christians by killing 400,000 of them, then that may just be necessary.
Pat Buchanan will not write a column blasting King George III for having promoted the illegal immigration into the American south of criminal elements, whose maladjusted descendants are still making trouble.