Libertarian Leanings

Road flares

The Clinton campaign hostage crisis ended peacefully yesterday when Leeland Eisenberg, 46, of Somersworth surrender just after 6 p.m.   After hours of negotiations, aided by the hostages themselves, police took Eisenberg into custody and discovered that the supposed bomb was only several road flares taped together.

ROCHESTER – Hostages played a pivotal role in ending a standoff yesterday at the local presidential headquarters of Sen. Hillary Clinton by becoming intermediaries between police and the man threatening to blow them up.

Leeland Eisenberg, 46, of Somersworth entered the headquarters at 28 N. Main St. about 12:30 p.m. yesterday with what appeared to be four sticks of dynamite duct-taped to his chest and held hostage four adults -- three campaign staffers and a volunteer -- and an infant younger than 1 year old in a standoff where his primary demand was to speak with Clinton.

Police secured Eisenberg's surrender just after 6 p.m. yesterday after hours of negotiations helped along by those being held hostage and found what Eisenberg claimed to be dynamite sticks were instead mere road flares.

"They were actually able to be the mediators between our negotiator and Mr. Eisenberg," Rochester Police Chief David Dubois said of the hostages.

Eisenberg is being charged with criminal threatening, reckless conduct and kidnapping, Dubois said, and authorities are also considering federal charges. None of the hostages was hurt during the ordeal; officials refused to release any of their names.

Eisenberg is not total a stranger to local police.

Eisenberg had been scheduled to appear in court yesterday afternoon on a domestic-violence complaint filed by his wife, Lisa (Warren) Eisenberg, Foster's Daily Democrat reported.

Rochester police logs indicated Eisenberg was charged with two counts of stalking in April, followed by a driving while intoxicated charge in June.

In the meantime, Hillary Clinton availed herself of a great PR opportunity.

Clinton rushes to comfort besieged campaign crew

by Jill Zuckman

A grateful Hillary Clinton flew to Portsmouth, N.H., Friday night to profusely thank law enforcement authorities for successfully ending a six-hour hostage crisis at her Rochester campaign office.

Clinton and her campaign suspended all activities – including a major speech before the Democratic National Committee – in order to keep in touch with law enforcement and relay information to the family members of the campaign staffers who were being held hostage by a mentally ill man with a bomb-like device strapped to his chest.

"It was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, frustration, outrage, anger – everything at the same time," Clinton said at a late-night press conference as she described her emotions over the course of the siege.

Not to be left out of such a dramatic publicity moment political rivals piled in with offers of moral support.

Clinton rivals supportive during crisis

BOSTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Rivals of presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton offered prayers and support when they learned of the hostage crisis at her Rochester, N.H. office.

"We're in solidarity with Hillary at this moment, when we think of what she's going through and what her staff is going through," an emotional Dennis Kucinich told Democrats in Virginia Friday.

One man was taken into custody Friday after holding several hostages, including Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers. No one was hurt, The Boston Globe reported Saturday.

Democrat Barack Obama, who has been verbally sparring with Clinton, called her to offer support while John Edwards, another Democratic rival, expressed relief no one was hurt.

"While we may support different candidates, each and every one of us are united by a belief that together, we can make our country the best it can be," Edwards said.

According to UPI Clinton, oddly enough, made it a point to say that no one on her campaign staff knew Eisenberg.

Clinton said Eisenberg was not known to her campaign staff until he walked in the door of the campaign office Friday.

Did she feel the need to dispel notions that Eisenberg might have been a plant?

by Jill Zuckman

A grateful Hillary Clinton flew to Portsmouth, N.H., Friday night to profusely thank law enforcement authorities for successfully ending a six-hour hostage crisis at her Rochester campaign office.

Clinton and her campaign suspended all activities – including a major speech before the Democratic National Committee – in order to keep in touch with law enforcement and relay information to the family members of the campaign staffers who were being held hostage by a mentally ill man with a bomb-like device strapped to his chest.

"It was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, frustration, outrage, anger – everything at the same time," Clinton said at a late-night press conference as she described her emotions over the course of the siege.

Not to be left out of such a dramatic publicity moment political rivals piled in with offers of moral support.

Clinton rivals supportive during crisis

BOSTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Rivals of presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton offered prayers and support when they learned of the hostage crisis at her Rochester, N.H. office.

"We're in solidarity with Hillary at this moment, when we think of what she's going through and what her staff is going through," an emotional Dennis Kucinich told Democrats in Virginia Friday.

One man was taken into custody Friday after holding several hostages, including Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers. No one was hurt, The Boston Globe reported Saturday.

Democrat Barack Obama, who has been verbally sparring with Clinton, called her to offer support while John Edwards, another Democratic rival, expressed relief no one was hurt.

"While we may support different candidates, each and every one of us are united by a belief that together, we can make our country the best it can be," Edwards said.

According to UPI Clinton, oddly enough, made it a point to say that no one on her campaign staff knew Eisenberg.

Clinton said Eisenberg was not known to her campaign staff until he walked in the door of the campaign office Friday.

Did she feel the need to dispel notions that Eisenberg might have been a plant?

Taji Awakening update

Portsmouth, New Hampshire native Nathan Ritzo is on his second tour with the U.S. Army in Iraq. At the moment he is in the area north of Baghdad called Taji where he is getting a first hand look at Iraqi efforts to reconcile and rebuild.  From Ritzo's perspective it's going pretty well.

Iraqi Shi'ite and Sunni leaders reached out to each other in the District of Taji on Nov. 8 to discuss the future of northern Baghdad Province. The conference was part of the "Taji Awakening," an historic political reconciliation between Iraqi Shi'ites and Sunnis in the region.

Shi'ite and Sunni tribal leaders from across Iraq met with officials from the Iraqi government, military and security forces to discuss expanding the new alliance between Iraq's Shi'ite and Sunni communities to combat Al Qaeda's presence in the region. Also discussed was how to improve the quality of life in northern Baghdad Province after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein, four years of terrorist occupation in the Taji region, and sectarian fighting after the regime change...

...Tom Burke is the team leader for the region's embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team (ePRT), which played an important role in aiding the Iraqis to plan and organize the event.

"Today the principle members of each of the tribes are present," Burke said. He continued by saying that the Iraqis selected who would attend the conference, and not the Coalition. "They did the selection. Not us. These are the key players for them," he said.

The conference began with speakers addressing the attendees on their concerns for the future of the Taji area and the various problems specific to the different tribes living in the region.

The conference became more informal as the day progressed; the attendees mingled with one another over lunch to further discuss matters concerning the reconciliation process, repairing infrastructure damage and the future of the region.

We take for granted, here in America, that our local elected officials will often confer with officials at the state and national levels to address local concerns.  We shouldn't lose sight of the fact that this is probably quite a novel concept to the average Iraqi. Saddam Hussein, and more recently al Qaeda, had a very different approach to solving local problems. 

Ritzo's earlier column on the Taji Awakening is here.