EX-USA Navy Vietnam war veteran seeks asylum in India due to fears persecution in US

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
Vietnam war veteran seeks asylum in India


PTI | New Delhi

The Supreme Court on Friday directed the Centre to examine the plea by a 72-year-old ex-US Navy officer, who had fought in the Vietnam war between 1964-1967, for political asylum in India as he fears persecution in US.

A bench of Justices P Sathasivam and HL Dattu forwarded the petition filed by the self-confessed 'Gandhian' to Attorney General GE Vahanvati for his consideration and report back to the court. Appearing in person, Knaebel pleaded he should be granted political asylum in India as he feared persecution if he went back to the US.

Knaebel had on June 19, 2009, created ripples by destroying his passport at the memorial of Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat and condemned the 'imperialistic' policies of the US Government.

According to Knaebel, his act of destroying the passport would be considered as an act of 'treason and sedition' by the US Government which would prosecute him and hence sought asylum in India.

Though an American national, Knaebel has been in India since 1995 on an extended visa crisscrossing the country and spreading the message of Mahatma Gandhi.

Speaking to PTI, Knaebel said he was deeply influenced by the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi, Gautama Buddha, Ramakrishna Paramhamsa and Swami Vivekanada.

"Only India must provide the moral leadership to the entire world riven with strife, violence and war," he said. Knaebel claimed he became an ardent admirer of Gandhi and has been preaching his philosophy throughout the world as he was saddened by the loss of lives of thousands of people during wars.
 

ahmedsid

Top Gun
Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2009
Messages
2,960
Likes
252
This man must be provided Asylum, and I am sure that the US govt wont make a fuss out of it. Never knew that burning ones passport will mean Treason. Thats news to me. Why cant someone burn their passport? Its their personal belonging!
 

tarunraju

Sanathan Pepe
Mod
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
9,080
Likes
40,077
Country flag
Vietnam vets do all sorts of crazy stuff. You should watch The Men Who Stare At Goats for a dark-humor take on that. Most of them come to India for cheap coke and join the pacifist spirituality movements here.

Iraq-Afghan vets will end up like them 20~30 years from now.
 

AirforcePilot

Professional
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
194
Likes
70
Treason


"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or, in adhering to their Enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court." (Constitution of the United States of America, Art. III, Sec. 3, Par. 1)

Nobody is prosecuted for treason anymore. Fizzle Shahzad, the Time Square bomber could technically be charged with treason. If he was convicted of the offense he would be put to death.

Tearing up a passport is not considered treason. Maybe that dude belongs in an insane asylum.
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723
American Anti War Protestor Renounces U.S. Citizenship At Rajghat, Delhi


(MMD Newswire) June 22, 2009 – This evening in Delhi, former Alaska, USA resident, Jeff Knaebel renounced his US citizenship at the Mahatma Gandhi national monument in a demonstration of non-violent resistance. Shredding his US passport and placing the pieces upon the monument, Knaebel declared his independence from not only the American government, but all governments, renouncing his birth certificate as well, stating that citizenship must either be voluntary, or be considered forced slavery.

Upon entering the premises about 1900, Knaebel circled the central monument, laying pieces of his torn passport upon its corners, then began reading his declaration aloud. Within minutes, guards attempted to persuade him to leave the central portion of the monument, but his refusal forced them to physically carry him to the outer walkway, where they allowed him to continue delivering his declaration. Local police escorted Knaebel to the street, where they spoke to him for about a half hour, eventually directing him to turn himself in to the local station. He walked about three blocks to the local station, where he informed them of his tresspassing crime and of his current status of having no passport. ABRIDGED SUMMARY

Declaration of Renunciation and Severance of U.S. Citizenship
by Jeff Knaebel, Sovereign Individual of the Earth

This Declaration, made at New Delhi, India on 19 June 2009, WITNESSETH:

To the people of this Earth, my fellow human beings, my brothers and sisters, with special respect to the Grandmothers and Elders of all indigenous communities, and in memory of Black Elk and Chief Joseph,

I, Jeff Knaebel, hereby make this Declaration of Severance and Dissolution of all bonds between myself and the Government of the United States of America. I renounce my birth certificate – I renounce my citizenship – and reject all claims of whatsoever nature made by the United States against me. The United States does not own me. I am not a citizen of any Government. I renounce all of them.

I hereby destroy my United States passport by which the United States government claims control of my movement upon this earth, and thus lays claim upon my right to exist. I will place the shredded remains of my passport upon the monument of Mahatma Gandhi. I have chosen this monument because it is a symbol that all mankind can recognize: of nonviolent resistance to immoral, corrupt, and violent Governments.

By this deliberate act of rebellion and sedition, I hope to free myself and alert mankind to the dangers it has created by obeying Governments of the world. My refusal to remain a tax-compliant accomplice to State murder will be considered treason against the United States"¦

No permission is required to renounce that which I never sought, for which I never entered a contract, and which is imposed upon me against my will. Having declared myself not a citizen, I am therefore not a citizen. Citizenship is either voluntary, or it is forcible slavery.

The United States government is incomprehensibly malevolent and destructive. It takes our money, our identities, and our lives. It gives us back corruption, war, heinous crime, and lies. It has no moral right to exist. It ought to be abolished without further human bloodshed.

The Nation State is a criminal organization which must be opposed in its very concept"¦

The State represents a terminal disease of human consciousness that is anti-life, anti-ethics, and suicidal"¦

Blind obedience to incompetent, violent and morally depraved authority is a clear case of mental disease"¦

All political authority is arbitrary: arbitrary as to the form it takes; arbitrary as to the boundaries it establishes; arbitrary as to the limits of its jurisdiction; and arbitrary as to the taxation it collects"¦

Even in its most equitable form, it is impossible for government to disassociate itself from evil"¦

From the most democratic to the most totalitarian form of government there is ultimately no difference among the powers they exercise"¦ Everything it has, the State has stolen or plundered"¦

The United States government is a stain upon humanity. It is a grotesque distortion of the human conscience"¦ Only its end product speaks clearly for what it is and what it does"¦ children's blood flowing in the streets"¦ I love life too much to be forced to participate in its murder.

The laws of the Great Spirit, the five precepts of the Buddha are morally and practically superior to political laws. We must not kill. We all must love our neighbors as we love ourselves"¦

It is up to the individual to discern his duty to his fellowmen and to act accordingly"¦ The first duty of love is not to kill, to do no harm"¦

What do you do when you awaken to the awfulness of the lies of the State and the State of the lie? How does one negotiate with pathological liars?

Against whom, then, shall I commit treason? The brotherhood of man? My rational mind and common sense? My moral conscience? Or the United States government?

The shredding of my government permission-to-exist documents is offered as a prayer that the government of the United States may be without bloodshed dissolved and abolished from this earth forever.

I no longer have a Government name; I have no country, no travel papers, no passport, and no Government identification. Under the law of every Government, I am an illegal human being"¦

What man can declare another to be "illegal?" We are insane to submit to rule by the depraved"¦

If deported to the United States, the Government will subject me to draconian penalties"¦

Remember my message: Awaken from your slumber"¦ You can withdraw your consent"¦

There comes a time when the abuses are so great, the mindless destruction so wanton, the suffering so stupidly unnecessary, that one must resist the Power of rulership with his life. I love Life too much to participate in its murder.

I bid you farewell, those who would remain in voluntary bondage. Go about your life peacefully, respecting yourself, all others, and the earth upon which we live"¦

My prayer is to love and to serve. From my heart I seek to act in a good way, in a sacred way, for the benefit of many, in support of life, that the seventh generation of children may yet live and be happy. We must recover Respect — for life, and for each other.

The "why" of what I do is put completely to rest by the statement, "I love." The final answer to any question about my actions is "I love." What is the value of human life — this is the real question.

Executed at New Delhi this 19th day of June 2009

Jeff Knaebel
 

ajtr

Tihar Jail
Banned
Joined
Oct 2, 2009
Messages
12,038
Likes
723

Armand2REP

CHINI EXPERT
Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2009
Messages
13,811
Likes
6,734
Country flag
I'm sure the US won't mind revoking his citizenship... less Social Security they have to pay.
 

pmaitra

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2009
Messages
33,262
Likes
19,593
Vietnam War Veterans indeed are a special lot. Here is a comment about John McCain, who we are told is a Senator, representing the state of Arizona, a desert, just like Saudi Arabia.

Fred Dietz 15 hours ago
McCain’s father, also named John McCain, was a naval admiral who covered up the deadly Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967. Admiral John McCain, Jr., was Commander-in-Chief of US Naval Forces Europe at that time (June 8, 1967). The attack was by all accounts premeditated.

His son seems to have been a reckless aeronautical showoff who was more responsible than anyone else for starting the deadly July 29th fire (the following month) onboard the aircraft carrier the USS Forrestal stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin. McCain insisted on “customizing” his A4 Skyhawk with a pair of thousand pound M-65 bombs from WWII without having it provisioned for these heavy (and old) munitions through the proper channels. Instead, the skipper of the aircraft carrier, Captain John K. Beling, seems to have let McCain get away with it simply for being an admiral’s son.

On the morning of July 29th, McCain took it upon himself to “wet start” his A4. A “wet start” causes a big flame to shoot out of the tail of the aircraft. Apparently, this was part of a gag to shake-up the pilot directly behind him on the carrier. However, the flame then “cooked off” one of the Zuni rockets carried by the plane behind him, launching the rocket, which then knocked-off one of the two M-65 bombs from McCain’s wing hardpoint.

McCain knew the M-65 had a 60-second fuse; the pilot behind him did not—and so whereas McCain knew to bail to safety, the pilot in the rear was killed in the consequential ball of fire (as were 26 other servicemen, with over 100 wounded). McCain was immediately transferred off the Forrestal (the only member of its crew to be immediately transferred), and three months later he was captured flying over North Vietnam. How much preferential treatment he received from the North Vietnamese merely for being an admiral’s son—and how much he had to earn by divulging state secrets—these are matters only the Viet Cong and McCain, himself, know about (suffice it to say, he received considerably better treatment than he would have as an unknown enlisted soldier).

Such is the ugly truth about the man. He and George W. Bush were both jet jockeys from “American royalty” who were groomed for public office from their earliest age forward, and once the Viet Cong released McCain alive and reasonably healthy, his newfound POW status was simply factored-in to this pre-planned mystique. But notice there have never been any comments from McCain about the entire Vietnam War being predicated on a falsehood (in 1968, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara publicly admitted the Gulf of Tonkin incident never happened—that it was either a mistake or an outright lie—and almost certainly the latter). Judging from McCain’s words, you would think the entire Vietnam War (58,220 known American dead) was a “good idea” regardless of how it came about.
This comment is somewhat relevant to this thread, but not the video where this comment was posted. The video is:

And a poem on John McCain.
 
Last edited:

Latest Replies

Global Defence

New threads

Articles

Top