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Daniel McGowan - Another "War on Terrorism" Victim
By Stephen Lendman (about the author) Page 4 of 7 page(s)
Counts 57 - 65
Charged him in more detail for the vehicle arson.
Signed:
Kirk A. Engdall
Assistant United States Attorney
In total, McGowan was charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit arson, 14 counts of arson, and two counts of use or possession of a destructive device. If tried and convicted of the latter two, he faced a minimum 30 year sentence. For all counts, he faced a mandatory life sentence - even though he neither hurt or intended to hurt any person or animal and acted only to defend the earth against real environmental terrorists against whom no charges were brought.
Given the possibility of life in prison, McGowan pled guilty to minor arson offenses against Jefferson Poplar Farm and Superior Lumber in return for the Justice Department dropping the more serious charges, including using destructive devices.
He did so on condition that he wouldn't implicate or identify anyone but himself. Three other co-defendants did the same. In his statement to the judge he "accept(ed) full responsibility for (his) actions and at the same time remain(s) true to (his) strongly held beliefs."
He said his "actions were not those of (a) terrorist but of a concerned young man who was deeply troubled by the destruction of Oregon's beautiful old-growth forests and the dangers of genetically modified trees." Yet he realized after participating in two actions that "burning things down (violated his) visions or belief about how to create a better world. So (he) stopped committing these crimes."
He "never intended to hurt people (and expressed) great remorse....for the harm that (he) caused." He then thanked the court for letting him express his thoughts and feelings. His role was to be a lookout on one of the incidents. On the other, he helped set the fire.
His lawyers asked for a maximum 63 months imprisonment, or no more than 18 months higher than for another co-defendant. On June 4, 2007, McGowan was sentenced to seven years, and is now at the newest Communications Management Unit (CMU) at the US Penitentiary (USP), Marion, IL.
US Federal Prison Communication Management Units (CMUs)
Several times, this writer addressed the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI), Terre Haute, IN's CMU, most recently on March 18, and described it as a facility for so-called "high-security risk" Muslim and Middle Eastern prisoners in violation of federal law that prohibits severely limiting or cutting them off entirely from other inmates as well as outside contacts and communications.
US Prison Bureau regulations ban the practice, and so did the Supreme Court in Johnson v. California (February 2005). Nonetheless, it exists. The Bush Department of Justice established it. Obama's has done nothing to address it.
In early 2007, it was learned that FCI Terre Haute had a CMU. Now, so does US Penitentiary (USP), Marion, IL. Because they're illegal, they're kept secret so perhaps others also exist in federal and/or state facilities. And for cover, they include one or more non-Muslims like McGowan, briefly held at Terre Haute and since early February at Marion. He, like them, was investigated, arrested, prosecuted, and interned as a political prisoner. They for being Muslims at the wrong time in America. He as a victim of USA Patriot Act "justice" that established the crime of "domestic terrorism" and included "eco-terrorism" as an offense.
At Marion, like at Terre Haute, he's segregated from the general prison population and treated like a terrorist, which he is not, nor is he violent. He also comes under special rules for CMU prisoners that violate Federal Bureau of Prison regulations.
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