On Dennis Marks & Bill Ayres

File this Dennis Marks comment under the category of "pure delusion"...

Dennis Marks: [Bill] Ayers wasn't against the [Vietnam] war. He was an active combatant, having tried to murder innocent people in the US military in order to effect change. In this, he was no different from the VC. If he were against war, he would not have participated in it. (2/4/2014 at 5:31am).

Problem is, Dennis' version of events strongly disagrees with reality.

First all, let me be clear that I am no fan of Mr. Ayres nor should this post be interpreted as any kind of defense of him (because it isn't). He was, however, against the Vietnam War. That was the ENTIRE reason for forming the Weather Underground. And, while buildings were bombed, the bombers took care to make sure that they were empty. Mr. Ayres specifically tried to avoid killing anyone. Warnings were issued prior to detonations so buildings (and other bombing targets) could be evacuated.

The following is an excerpt from Wikipedia that describes Ayres motivations and goals (during his time with the WUO)...

In a November 2008 interview with The New Yorker... Ayers said that he had never been responsible for violence against other people and was acting to end a war in Vietnam in which "thousands of people were being killed every week". He also stated, "While we did claim several extreme acts, they were acts of extreme radicalism against property" and "We killed no one and hurt no one. Three of our people killed themselves".

Nobody killed except WUO members... so if he was trying to "murder innocent people in the US military" he did a very bad job of it. Actually, I'd say it was completely impossible for the WUO to have not killed anyone unless they were actively taking precautions not to.

And Wikpedia confirms this fact...

No persons were killed in any of their acts of property destruction, although three members of the group were killed in the Greenwich Village townhouse explosion, and former members of the group robbed a Brink's armored car in 1981, which resulted in the deaths of three people including Waverly Brown, the first black police officer on the Nyack police force.

Bill Ayres did not "participate" in the Vietnam War, he tried to end it. He went about it in a wrong and illegal manner, and should have gone to prison for the extensive property damage his group caused. And surely Ayres bears some responsibility for the deaths of the three WUO members who were killed, morally if not legally. Also, they did put lives in danger, even if nobody was killed.

Most certainly the WUO actions Ayres participated in should be condemned, but there is no need to mischaracterize what happened or fabricate motivations based on nothing but pure imagination as Mr. Marks has. But the delusional nutter often does just this, so his lying about Ayres is not really a surprise.

TADM #8