Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Leonard Clark...Not arrested so what happened?

Clark's wife, Marisela, said her husband called her Tuesday morning to say he "was not arrested anymore" and told her not to worry about him."

He sounded very different and very sad, but he said, 'I'm OK,' " she said.

There's more at the article, which I can confirm from yesterday's adventures. I spent most of the day trying to find out more without alot of success. I had been told he wasn't arrested but that wasn't enough to really go on.

So I'm going to assume it was a natural over-reaction to him being called in to be questioned since he had been warned if he didn't stop writing and take down the blog something was going to happen. I wasn't aware he had formally filed for his candiacy on April 7th, nor that he had called the Arizona Republic and gone "on the record" as declaring his candidacy.

In a phone call to The Republic in early June, Clark declared, "If I come back alive, I will challenge him (Kyl)." He said then that he opposed the war, but felt he needed to serve out of duty to his country.

I'm not quite sure I agree with the Arizona Republic's suggestion that it might be publicity related, seems a bit early to be doing that. Though it did cause quite a bit of internet stir yesterday with alot of people contacting varying media sources out of concern. I know I contacted media sources, because we all thought he had been arrested.

In the end? He's okay, will he blog again? That's a whole different issue that I guess we will find out later. "His" blog has been updated with a a media contact person and the articles about him in the newspaper. This was another learning experience for me and I met some pretty awesome people in the media and the blogosphere thru yesterday's "information search".

A post script to this.

I went to Kos after I wrote this to see what was going on, found one recent diary where they didn't mention the fact he was no longer under arrest. So I'm going to semi-rant. Hundreds of people yesterday sent numerous media requests, some made phone calls all under the assumption that Leonard had been arrested. Shouldn't the news that he wasn't arrested be as big as the call to action? Did any of us yesterday that blogged or contacted the media have an affect on his release? That's doubtful since early into this the Military stated he wasn't under arrest. In my opinion, we did demonstrate that we believe soldiers should be able to blog, however in Leonard's case different rules apply since he has announced he is a candidate for political office. Some of the soldiers that have quit blogging in fear of arrest because of this case really shouldn't have, unless they have announced some firm political action. Maybe some good will come out of this and there will be some clarification from the military as to blogging, because there still seems to be a great deal of confusion concerning this.




9 comments:

Scott G said...

I am still torn on this guy. I think he is either really stubborn, really stupid, or trying to get attention to help out in his campaign.

I would liketo believe that he really wants to make a difference, but the whole blog thing makes it seem like there is an agenda beyond that. I think if he wanted to make a difference, he would want to do it within the military because the military tends to close up when interfered with from outside. Plus, while he is in and serving, all of this is a distraction for the whole unit.

But like I said, I hope he is doing it for the greater good

Unknown said...

I'm more torn on it now that I was before. When it was made to appear to be a case of a fellow blogger being threatened it was something I could support fully. I'm not sure that is really the truth of it anymore.

Scott G said...

I want to believe the guy, but something in me keeps saying that the something doesn't fit. It is just something in my gut telling me that the whole story is far less noble and brave then we are being led to believe.

Unknown said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels we don't know all of it, even though I am more libertarian than you...

:-)

Scott G said...

Apparently Stalin is more libertarian than I am. Why won't anyone admit to scoring lower

Unknown said...

It's good you have the lowest score me4, it could help you in your quest for justice...

:-)

Scott G said...

Do you think that if I called myself a liberal terrier that people would think I was saying libertarian and think I was cool

Unknown said...

I'm biased me4, I'd think you were cool if you called yourself a liberal anything

:-)

Scott G said...

The feeling is mutual