INVASION USA
Border agent says China ordered his prosecution
Now seeks $25 million from government after acquittal on excessive force charge
Posted: July 27, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com
A Border Patrol agent who was acquitted of a charge of using excessive force during a 2004 arrest of a Chinese national on suspicion of drug smuggling is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for $25 million.
And in a companion lawsuit, Robert Rhodes is seeking another $25 million from three Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents with the Office of Professional Responsibility.
He says the agents disregarded their oaths by pursuing a politically motivated prosecution against him to appease their superiors, who allegedly were seeking to do what communist China wanted.
"I was involved in a political prosecution that our government began at the demand of the government of communist China," Rhodes told WND. "The prosecution was promised to China by then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Tom Ridge."
His lawyer, Steven Cohen, concurs.
"My client's prosecution was ordered by the Bush administration to appease the Chinese government," Cohen told WND.
WND requests for comment from the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the Department of Homeland Security did not produce a response from either agency.
But it's not the only time there have been indications that U.S. prosecutors have agreed to file a case against a U.S. Border Patrol agent at the direction of a foreign government.
WND has reported that Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were prosecuted only after the Mexican Consulate intervened and presented Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican national drug smuggler who had illegally entered the U.S. in the Ramos-Compean incident, and demanded the Border Patrol agents who shot Davila be prosecuted.
WND also reported Rocksprings, Texas, Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was only prosecuted at the insistence of the Mexican Consulate.
WND has printed copies of a series of letters the Mexican Consulate wrote demanding that the U.S. government protect the civil rights of the Mexican national illegal immigrants who were in the fleeing van that Hernandez shot at, after the van allegedly tried to run Hernandez over in the process of fleeing from a routine traffic stop.
In Rhodes' case, the record shows that Powell and Ridge both apologized to China over the incident and promised to investigate the Border Patrol agents involved.
"By filing this lawsuit," Andy Ramirez, chairman of the Friends of the Border Patrol, a national advocacy group for federal border patrol agencies, explained to WND, "Robert Rhodes is standing up to the government and saying you cannot continue doing to my fellow Border Patrol officers what you did to me."
The July 21, 2004, incident that led to Rhodes' prosecution involved Zhao Yan, a Chinese national woman who was arrested by Rhodes at the Rainbow Bridge in the Port of Buffalo, New York. Zhao Yan was with two other female suspects who fled when Rhodes and 13 other Border Patrol agents attempted to arrest them.
Rhodes grabbed Zhao Yan, who proceeded to punch, kick, and scratch Rhodes as he attempted to subdue her.
Even though Rhodes was armed with a duty-issued Glock 9 mm weapon, he chose to use non-lethal pepper spray to subdue Zhao Yan.
But within a day of the Rainbow Bridge incident, Rhodes was arrested and charged with violating Zhao Yan's civil rights by having used excessive force in arresting her.
Other Border Patrol officers who had assisted Rhodes in the arrest gave inconsistent statements to investigators, claiming that Rhodes had forcefully grabbed Zhao Yan by the hair and smashed her head against the ground.
At his trial in August and September 2005, the jury acquitted Rhodes of all charges, after deliberating less than three hours.
Rhodes' allegations he was prosecuted at the insistence of the Chinese government are backed by postings yet archived on Chinese Consulate websites.
The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in Houston, Texas, continues to document on their website that Powell wrote a letter to the Chinese government promising that the U.S. government would "thoroughly investigate the beating case" of Zhao Yan.
The Chinese Consulate in Houston argued that Zhao Yan was "a business woman from China's northern coastal city of Tianjin," who was on her first U.S. business trip when "she was attacked at Niagara Falls near the U.S.-Canadian border on July 21 by Rhodes and other officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection."
The Consulate went on to claim that six days after Zhao Yan was "brutally attacked," she "was still suffering from a bad headache, swollen eyes and mental trauma. She also had a broken tooth and severe back pains which forced her to ride in a wheelchair."
But nowhere does the Chinese Consulate in Houston say she was suspected of drug smuggling.
Instead, the Consulate emphasized that Powell apologized because the U.S. is an "open society" that welcomes visitors. "Our goal is to ensure that visitors from around the world have a safe and enjoyable stay in the United States," the Consulate quoted Powell as saying. "The United States will continue to work that incidents such as this one do not occur again."
The Consulate-General of the People's Republic of China in New York still posts the apology from Ridge, who is quoted as expressing his "great regret" over "the beating of Chinese businesswoman Zhao Yan by officers of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection last week."
Ridge is further quoted as saying, "We have communicated to the Chinese Government that the U.S. customs officer was arrested by Customs and Border Patrol police and his case referred for criminal prosecution."
Even though he was acquitted at his trial, Rhodes paid a huge price for being indicted.
"Since the incident," Rhodes told WND, "I've lost my house, I've lost my pension. I have tried to find a job and I always get turned down. I feel like I have been black-balled by the government. I am on food stamps and public assistance. Right now, I have no health care insurance."
"Many Border Patrol agents tell us they're truly concerned about what will happen to them if they get into a struggle with someone trying to enter the country illegally," said Cohen. "How many terrorists and criminals will enter our country because our government won't support its own border enforcement officers?"
A complicating factor is Rhodes' admitted homosexuality. He earlier had complained to the Equal Employment Opportunity that Customs and Border Protection harassed him for minor offenses.
Cohen contended that every aspect of Rhodes' trial was political.
"Every day," he told WND, "the entire front row of the courtroom would be taken up by Chinese government officials and outside the courtroom Asian students picketed against Rhodes."
Cohen told WND that for two years after his trial Rhodes pursued unsuccessfully administrative paths to get his job back.
"Robert was suspended without pay immediately, right when the incident occurred," Cohen told WND, "But he wasn’t formally terminated until a few months ago."
He said Rhodes legal fees including lawyers, expert witnesses, and investigators amounted to more than $200,000.
"The vast majority of the legal fees have gone unpaid," Cohen told WND. "Rhodes was tremendously outgunned by the government. The government brought a staggering amount of resources to the job, not of searching for the truth, but making sure Rhodes was convicted, regardless what it cost."
Michael Battle was the U.S. attorney whose office prosecuted Rhodes. In the controversy surrounding Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Battle resigned his position as the director of the executive office of U.S. Attorneys.
Cohen said Rhodes' lawsuit against DHS alleges that the government investigators knowingly disregarded pertinent information and violated standard investigation procedures to pursue a politically motivated prosecution.
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| Another Heatwave Sizzles Southeastern Europe | |||||||
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| Fires are erupting, infrastructure is failing and hundreds are dying from record high temperatures rolling across central and southeastern Europe this week. For a week, Hungary has been on its highest-level heat alert—the first time this level has been applied in the country. Hungary’s chief medical officer announced that an estimated 500 people had died in one week from the heat. During that same period, firefighters were called upon to quench 3,000 blazes. In Romania, where temperatures have recurrently exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 800 people were reported to have fainted in the streets. Many communities have no water because wells are drying up. On Tuesday, Reuters reported that the hot spell has put 19,000 Romanians in hospital. Farmers estimate losses of $2 billion or more. Heat and fires are also ravaging large sections of Bulgaria, where some areas in the south are experiencing temperatures soar to 120-year highs. In addition to sparking numerous fires, extreme temperatures in many Balkan nations are causing massive power outages and water shortages. On Wednesday, Albania endured renewed power and water cuts as hydroelectric stations struggled to cope with demand. “For more than a month Albanians have suffered power cuts of up to 15 hours at a stretch, while residents of Tirana, the capital, had access to water through the city’s mains for only two hours a day” (abc News, July 26). Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia are also enduring breakdowns in water and power infrastructure. Temperatures have been so hot that in some places train and tram services have been delayed because rails are warping. Extreme temperatures are also leaving their mark on Italy and Greece, two nations heavily dependent on summer tourism. “In southern Italy, thousands of tourists were trapped on beaches in the Puglia region as a fast-moving bushfire forced people from campsites and hotels to run for their lives. At least two people have died, local authorities said” (Reuters, July 24). In Athens, where temperatures exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit this week, authorities are warning people to minimize movement, remain indoors and drink plenty of water. Compounding the misery are high pollution levels, humidity and stagnant air. Southeastern Europe is not alone in its struggle against extreme weather. Weather crises are inflicting many nations around the world. Britain is drowning in some of the worst floods in its history; the western and southeastern regions of the United States are experiencing extremely hot temperatures and severe droughts; inland China is being flooded; Australia is enduring massive droughts and intermittent floods at the same time; and the list of weather-related calamities goes on. Wouldn’t you like to know why this world’s weather has gone stark, raving mad? Some scientists and media outlets will tell you the reason is global warming. But there is another side of this story. Read the answer to why these weather calamities in the coming August/September cover story of the Trumpet. ************************************************************************************  DEBKA Reports: Iran buys 250 long-distance Sukhoi fighter-bombers, 20 fuel tankers, from Russia July 27, 2007, 7:15 PM (GMT+02:00)
Tehran and the Russian Rosoboronexport arms group are about to sign a mammoth arms deal running into tens of billions of dollars for the sale to Tehran of 250 Su-30MKM warplanes and 20 IL-78 MKI fuel tankers. DEBKAfile’s military sources report Iran has stipulated delivery of the first aircraft before the end of 2007. The transaction, Russia’s largest arms deal in 30 years, will endow Iran with a long-range aerial assault capability. The Sukhoi can sustain a four-and-a-half hour raid at its maximum range of 3,000 km against long-distance, marine and low-lying ground targets across the Persian Gulf and Middle East, including Israel and Lebanon. The fuel tankers extends the Su-30MKM’s assault sustainability to 10 hours and its range to 8,000 km at altitudes of 11-13 km. The closest comparable plane in the West is the American F-15E fighter bomber. Iran’s acquisition of an exceptionally large fleet of the Russian fighter-bomber will elevate its air force to one of the two largest and most advanced in the region, alongside the Israeli Air Force. Iranian air crews are already training on the new Sukhoi aircraft, ready to start flying them early next year with only a short delay after delivery. DEBKAfile’s sources report that Moscow is selling Tehran the same Sukhoi model as India received earlier this year. The Iranians leaned hard on New Delhi to let them have the Israeli avionics and electronics the Indian Air Force had installed in the Russian craft. India refused. Russia began delivering the same craft in June to Malaysia, which also sought Israeli avionics without success. The Su-20MKM has won the nickname of “Islamic Version of Sukhoi.” Its two-member crew shares the workload. The first pilot flies the aircraft, controls weapons and maneuvers the plane in a dogfight. The co-pilot employs BVR air-to-air and air-to-ground guided weapons in long-range engagements, sweeps the arena for enemy craft or missiles and performs as command-and-control in group missions. Some of the plane’s systems are products of the French Thales Airborne Systems company. Moscow’s contract with Tehran for the sale of the Su-30MKM must therefore be cleared with Paris. There is no decision in Jerusalem about asking Paris to withhold its consent to a deal which would substantially upgrade the long-range air assault capabilities of the Islamic Republic whose leaders want to wipe Israel off the map. However, President Nicolas Sarkozy is in mid-momentum of a diplomatic drive in the Arab and Muslim world and unlikely to be receptive to an Israeli approach. The only chance of aborting the Russian sale would be to route the approach through Washington. |
