title: John Pilger

text: In 2003, he criticised what he called the "liberal lobby" which "promote killing" from "behind a humanitarian mask". He said David Aaronovitch exemplified the "mask-wearers" and noted that Aaronovitch had written that the attack on Iraq will be "the easy bit". Aaronovitch responded to an article by Pilger about the mainstream media in 2003 as one of his "typical pieces about the corruption of most journalists (ie people like me [Aaronovitch]) versus the bravery of a few (ie people like him)".


title: John Pilger

text: During the Cold War, a group of Russian journalists toured the United States. On the final day of their visit, they were asked by their hosts for their impressions. 'I have to tell you,' said their spokesman, 'that we were astonished to find after reading all the newspapers and watching TV, that all the opinions on all the vital issues were by and large, the same. To get that result in our country, we imprison people, we tear out their fingernails. Here, you don't have that. What's the secret? How do you do it?'


title: John Pilger

text: On another occasion, while speaking to journalism students at the University of Lincoln, Pilger said that mainstream journalism means corporate journalism. As such, he believes it represents vested corporate interests more than those of the public.


title: John Pilger

text: In September 2014, Pilger wrote critically of "The Guardian" and other western media, regarding their reporting on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, writing "Without a single piece of evidence, the US and its NATO allies and their media machines blamed ethnic Russian 'separatists' in Ukraine and implied that Moscow was ultimately responsible". He asserted that "the newspaper has made no serious attempt to examine who shot the aeroplane down and why".


title: John Pilger

text: In January 2020, Pilger tweeted scepticism of contemporary mainstream narratives about the downing of MH17, and the downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 over Iran, saying "Lie upon lie. Hiroshima necessary to defeat Japan. Vietnam attacked US ships in Gulf of Tonkin. Saddam Hussein had WMD. Libya invaded to prevent massacre. Russia shot down MH17/put Trump in the White House. The US, not Russia, defeated Isis. Add Iran shot down Ukrainian airliner".


title: John Pilger

text: Pilger wrote in December 2002, of British broadcasting's requirement for "impartiality" as being "a euphemism for the consensual view of established authority". He wrote that "BBC television news faithfully echoed word for word" government "propaganda designed to soften up the public for Blair's attack on Iraq". In his documentary "The War You Don't See" (2010), Pilger returned to this theme and accused the BBC of failing to cover the viewpoint of the victims, civilians caught up in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He has additionally pointed to the 48 documentaries on Ireland made for the BBC and ITV between 1959 and the late-1980s which were delayed or altered before transmission, or totally suppressed.


title: John Pilger

text: Pilger was married to journalist Scarth Flett, granddaughter of the physician and geologist Sir John Smith Flett. Their son Sam was born in 1973 and is a sports writer. Pilger also has a daughter, Zoe Pilger, born 1984, with journalist Yvonne Roberts. Zoe is an author and art critic.


title: John Pilger

text: The John Pilger Archive is housed at the [[British Library]]. The papers can be accessed through the British Library catalogue.


title: Ray Parlour

text: Raymond Parlour (born 7 March 1973) is an English former professional footballer and sports radio pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport.


title: Ray Parlour

text: As a player he played as a midfielder from 1992 to 2007 and spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull City. He totalled 466 games and 32 goals for Arsenal, winning honours including three Premier League titles, four FA Cup and the 1994 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He played ten games for England in 1999 and 2000.


title: Ray Parlour

text: While at Arsenal he was nicknamed "The Romford Pelé", an ironic sobriquet reflecting his combination of solid performance with a humorous, self-deprecating, down to earth personality and an image wholly lacking in glamour. He has been described as an "unsung hero" and praised as a "fans' favourite" for his high work rate and commitment. After retiring, Parlour became a pundit on television and radio. In 2012, he briefly came out of retirement to play for Wembley in the club's FA Cup fixtures.


title: Ray Parlour

text: Parlour is most famous for his time at Arsenal, where he played for fifteen years. He joined the club as a trainee in 1989 and made his debut for the Gunners against Liverpool on 29 January 1992, conceding a penalty in a 2–0 defeat.


title: Ray Parlour

text: He rose to greater prominence in 1994–95, when he took part in Arsenal's European UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final loss to Real Zaragoza (having been an unused substitute in the Gunners' 1–0 triumph over Parma in 1993–94). After the arrival of Arsène Wenger as Arsenal's manager in 1996, he became a regular fixture on the right wing or in central midfield. In 1997–98 Arsenal won the Double, and Parlour was instrumental in his club's achievement: he was man-of-the-match in the Gunners' FA Cup Final win over Newcastle United, setting up Nicolas Anelka for the second goal in a 2–0 win. His increasing success in his Gunners shirt did not, however, secure him a place in England's 1998 World Cup squad, coach Glenn Hoddle preferring Spurs' Darren Anderton instead.


title: Ray Parlour

text: In March 2000, he hit a hat-trick in a 4–2 away win at Werder Bremen (6–2 aggregate) in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals. He was the only Arsenal player successful from the penalty spot in the team's shoot-out defeat by Galatasaray in the final. Seven months later, he contributed another hat-trick to a 5–0 win over Newcastle United at Highbury. In April 2001, at the same ground, he struck a 30-yard winner as Arsenal beat Valencia 2–1 in the first leg tie of a UEFA Champions League quarter-final. In 2002, another year in which Arsenal won the Double, he opened the scoring in the Gunners' 2–0 FA Cup Final victory over Chelsea, putting his club ahead with a 30-yard strike that "Soccer AM"s commentator Tim Lovejoy famously failed to anticipate: "Oh, it's all right, it's only Ray Parlour". In November 2003, he was the stand-in captain who led his team to a 5–1 victory over Internazionale at the San Siro.


title: Ray Parlour

text: In total, Parlour played 466 games for the Gunners, scoring 32 goals in all competitions. His "curriculum vitae" with the club includes three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, one League Cup and one European Cup Winners' Cup. As of April 2020, his record of 333 Premier League appearances for Arsenal has not been surpassed by any other player in the club's history. Even at the peak of his success, though, he was less acclaimed by football journalists than several of his Arsenal contemporaries, spending much of his time at the club in the shadow of Patrick Vieira in particular. Many Arsenal fans believe him to have been one of the most underrated players of his generation.


title: Ray Parlour

text: In July 2004, Parlour joined fellow Premier League club Middlesbrough on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract at the Riverside Stadium. He played 60 games for Boro in two and a half years, and was an unused substitute in their 4–0 defeat by Sevilla in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final. In October 2005, he was ruled out for two months for knee cartilage surgery. He was released from his contract on 25 January 2007, and returned to train at Arsenal.


title: Ray Parlour

text: On 9 February 2007, Hull City signed Parlour until the end of the 2006–07 season in the hope that his experience would help them to avoid relegation. With their place in the Championship secured, it was confirmed on 1 June that the club would not be retaining Parlour's services for the following season's campaign.


title: Ray Parlour

text: In June 2012, Parlour was one of several retired footballers enlisted by the semi-professional Wembley to assist them in the forthcoming season's FA Cup. His fellow former internationals Claudio Caniggia, Graeme Le Saux, Martin Keown and Brian McBride joined him as players, David Seaman was recruited as a goalkeeping coach and Terry Venables, formerly the manager of England, served as the club's technical advisor. A television documentary recorded the team's improbable quest for Wembley Stadium glory. In the event, although Wembley knocked out Langford, the club proved unable to progress beyond a replay against Uxbridge.


title: Ray Parlour

text: Parlour made his debut for the England under-21 team on 12 May 1992; he played the whole game as England drew 2–2 with Hungary in a friendly. He was a part of the squads that participated in the Toulon Tournament in 1992 and 1994, England would ultimately win the tournament in 1994 with Parlour playing in the final against Portugal. Parlour won the "Prix Spécial" award for his performances in the tournament.,


title: Ray Parlour

text: Overall, he appeared for the U21s on twelve occasions without scoring any goals. On 10 February 1998, he played for the B-team in a 1–0 loss to Chile at The Hawthorns.


title: Ray Parlour

text: He made his senior team debut as a substitute in a UEFA Euro 2000 qualifier against Poland on 27 March 1999; he won ten caps for England altogether, without ever scoring any goals. The closest he came to one was in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Finland on 11 October 2000, when he 'scored' with a 30-yard strike which hit the crossbar and crossed the goal-line but was incorrectly disallowed by a linesman, the match finishing 0–0. He did not feature in any tournament finals, a knee injury forcing him to withdraw from England's squad for Euro 2000. His final cap came in a friendly against Italy on 15 November 2000. He was called up into the squad several times by new manager Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2001, but was never sent onto the pitch.


title: Ray Parlour

text: Parlour began his career as a pundit with Setanta Sports in 2007. He has since appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport.


title: Ray Parlour

text: In 2019 and 2020, Parlour featured in both seasons of ITV show Harry's Heroes, which featured former football manager Harry Redknapp attempting get a squad of former England international footballers back fit and healthy for a game against Germany legends.


title: Ray Parlour

text: Parlour and his wife Karen were a couple from their early youth, although they did not get married until 1998. They have three children: Charlotte, Frankie and Georgina. Their separation in 2001 led to a very high-profile divorce. In July 2004, they agreed how to divide their existing wealthParlour giving Karen two mortgage-free houses and £250,000but they were unable to negotiate a mutually satisfactory arrangement over their income. Parlour thought that £120,000 a year would be enough to meet Karen's and their children's needs: Karen wanted more. The ensuing court case concluded in an award that increased Parlour's annual payment to £212,500, but neither party was satisfied with this outcome, and both appealed against the finding. The couple's second round of litigation resulted in Karen's being awarded an income of £440,000 a year to be paid for five years, an amount that the Court of Appeal thought sufficient to allow her to put aside £250,000 a year to add to her capital. The case led media commentators to suggest that the finding heralded a new era in the divorces of wealthy couples, with non-earning spouses being awarded a larger share of their former partner's income than hitherto, and some pundits forecast an increasing use of prenuptial agreements in consequence.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Pinaka (from Sanskrit: पिनाक, see Pinaka) is a multiple rocket launcher produced in India and developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for the Indian Army. The system has a maximum range of 40 km for Mark-I and 60 km for Mark-I enhanced version, and can fire a salvo of 12 HE rockets in 44 seconds. The system is mounted on a Tatra truck for mobility.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Pinaka saw service during the Kargil War, where it was successful in neutralising Pakistani positions on the mountain tops. It has since been inducted into the Indian Army in large numbers.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: As of 2014, about 5,000 missiles are being produced every year while an advanced variant is under development with enhanced range and accuracy.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: As of 2019, an upgraded guided missile version of the system has been test-fired, with a range of over 90 km.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Indian Army operates the Russian BM-21 Grad Launchers. In 1981, in response to the Indian Army's need for a long range artillery system, the Indian Ministry of Defence sanctioned two confidence building projects. In July 1983, the Army formulated their General Staff Qualitative Requirement (GSQR) for the system, with planned induction of one Regiment per year from 1994 onwards. This system would eventually replace the Grads.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Development began in December 1986, with a sanctioned budget of 26.47 crore. The development was to be completed in December 1992. Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), a Pune-based DRDO laboratory, led the development of the system. To decrease single source dependency from Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and increase competition in product pricing front, final developmental trials of Pinaka manufactured fully by Indian private sector Solar Industries under transfer-of-technology agreement from DRDO were successfully conducted by Indian Army at Pokhran Range on 19 August 2020.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: A series of 6 rockets were tested successfully for extended range version of Pinaka from Chandipur on 4 November 2020 that is now going to replace the older Mark I variant in production. This time DRDO has decreased the size of the rockets compared to the older generation Mark I.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: On 24 June 2021, DRDO successfully fired 25 Pinaka Mk I Enhanced variant at a range of 45 km in quick succession mode as part of saturation attack simulation. On 25 June 2021 DRDO successfully test fired 40 km range 122mm caliber rocket which are made to replace the older BM-21 Grad rockets in the Indian Army.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: On 11 December 2021, two different variants were simultaneously test fired from Pokhran Range. First one was done by Solar Industries for Pinaka Mark 1 Enhanced with a range of 45 km. The second one was called Pinaka Area Denial Munition (ADM) made by Yantra India Limited (YIL) in which 96.6% of Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munition (DPICM) exploded instead of the required benchmark set at 90%, thus decreasing the failure rate. Both the tests were successful. During these tests, ARDE evaluated locally developed Direct-Action Self Destruction (DASD) and Anti-Tank Munition (ATM) fuzes.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: As part of developmental tests, Pinaka Mark 1 Enhanced and Pinaka ADM were fired from Army Test Range at Pokhran for consistency and accuracy on 9 April 2022. The user trials were conducted on 24 August 2022.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Pinaka is a complete MBRL system, each Pinaka battery consists of: six launcher vehicles, each with 12 rockets; six loader-replenishment vehicles; three replenishment vehicles; two Command Post vehicle (one stand by) with a Fire Control computer, and the DIGICORA MET radar. A battery of six launchers can neutralise an area of 1,000 m × 800 m.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Army generally deploys a battery that has a total of 72 rockets. All of the 72 rockets can be fired in 44 seconds, taking out an area of 1 km. Each launcher can fire in a different direction too. The system has the flexibility to fire all the rockets in one go or only a few. This is made possible with a fire control computer. There is a command post linking together all the six launchers in a battery. Each launcher has an individual computer which enables it to function autonomously in case it gets separated from the other five vehicles in a war.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: K J Daniel, Project Director, Pinaka, calls it “a system” and explains how massive each system is. A Pinaka battery has six launchers, six loader vehicles, six replenishment vehicles, two vehicles for ferrying the command post and a vehicle for carrying the meteorological radar, which will provide data on winds.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Autonomous mode. The launcher is fully controlled by a fire control computer (FCC). The microprocessor on the launcher automatically executes the commands received from the FCC, giving the operator the status of the system on displays and indicators.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Stand-alone mode: In this mode, the launcher is not linked to the FCC operator, and the operator at the console enters all the commands for laying of the launcher system and selection of firing parameters.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Remote mode: In this mode, a remote control unit carried outside the cabin up to a distance of about 200 m can be used to control the launcher system, the launcher site and to unload the fired rocket pods from the launcher.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Manual mode: All launcher operations including laying of the system and firing are manually controlled. This mode is envisaged in the situations where the microprocessor fails or where there is no power to activate the microprocessor-based operator's console.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Pinaka was tested in the Kargil conflict and proved its effectiveness. Since then it has been inducted into the Indian Army and series production has been ordered. The Pinaka MBRL is stated to be cheaper than other systems. It costs per system compared to the M270 which costs .


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Pinaka project has been a significant success for the DRDO and its development partners in developing and delivering a state of the art, high value project to the Indian Army's demanding specifications. While DRDO was responsible for the overall design and development, its partners played a significant role in developing important subsystems and components. They include Tata Power SED, Larsen & Toubro, Solar Industries, Munitions India Limited and Yantra India Limited.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The first Pinaka regiment was raised in February 2000. Each regiment consists of three batteries of six Pinakas each, plus reserves. On 29 March 2006, the Indian Army awarded Tata Power SED and Larsen & Toubro's Heavy Engineering Division a contract worth , to produce 40 Pinaka MBRLs each. Tata Power SED declared that it would be delivering the first units within six months.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: On 29 October 2015, the Defence Acquisition Council chaired by the Defence Minister of India, cleared purchase of two more Pinaka regiments at a cost of . On March 18, 2016, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) cleared the purchase of two additional Pinaka regiments. To supplement the earlier 4 regiments, an order for additional six regiments was cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council on 7 November 2016. Ministry of Defence signed ₹2,580 crore contract with BEML Limited, Tata Power SED and Larsen & Toubro on 31 August 2020 to supply six Pinaka regiments with 70% indigenous content by 2024.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Each Pinaka regiment consists of three batteries of six Pinaka launchers; each of which is capable of launching 12 rockets with a range of 40 km in a space of 44 seconds. In addition to these, a regiment also has support vehicles, a radar and a command post.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Pinaka will be operated in conjunction with the Indian Army's Firefinder radars and Swathi Weapon Locating Radar of which 28 are on order. The Indian Army is networking all its artillery units together with the DRDO's Artillery Command & Control System (ACCS), which acts as a force multiplier. The ACCS is now in series production. The Pinaka units will also be able to make use of the Indian Army's SATA (Surveillance & Target Acquisition) Units which have been improved substantially throughout the late 1990s, with the induction of the Searcher-1, Searcher-2 and IAI Heron UAVs into the Indian Army, as well as the purchase of a large number of both Israeli made and Indian made Battle Field Surveillance radars. These have also been coupled with purchases of the Israeli LORROS Long-Range Reconnaissance and Observation System which is a combination of FLIR/CCD system for long range day/night surveillance.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Presently, 7 regiments of Pinaka have now been inducted by the Army. A total of 126 launcher units are active with combine of the 7 regiments, with Each regiment has 18 launcher units. An additional 3 are on order and in November 2016 the MoD has cleared a RFP for 6 more regiments. This led to the signing of a contract on 31 August 2020 for six additional regiments worth of launchers at Rs 2,580 crore from Tata Power Company Ltd. (TPCL) and engineering major Larsen & Toubro (L&T). Defence public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) which will provide the vehicles will also be part of the project.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Indian Army has plans to operate a total of 16 regiments by 2022 and increase this to 22 within the next 6 years as the older Grad MLRS regiments are retired.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: On 9 April 2022, DRDO successfully tested the extended Pinaka MBRL at the Pokhran ranges. The extended range Pinaka MBRL is set to start replacing the shorter range Mk-1 variant of the Indian Army soon. The extended variant has a range from 65 to 90 km which doubles the range of the artillery that uses the DRDO-made Pinaka and Russian Grad MBRLs. In addition, the extended range Pinaka rockets can be armed with the Pinaka Area Denial Munitions which were also tested on 9 April.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Pinaka Mk II is being developed by Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune; Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad; and Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad. Another variant of Mark II called Guided Pinaka is equipped with a navigation, guidance, control kit and has considerably enhanced the range and accuracy of the missile. The range of the missile is estimated to be between 60 km-75 km at all ranges.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: It was successfully tested at the Chandipur Test Range in January 2013, and on 20 December 2013. From 20 to 23 May 2016, four rounds of the Pinaka Mk-II were successfully fired from the test range of Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) at Chandipur-on-sea for testing a new guidance system. On 12 January 2017 and 24 January 2017, two successful tests was conducted with range of 65 km and 75 km respectively from Launch Complex-III, Integrated Test Range, Chandipur. On 30 May 2018, two rounds of tests were successfully conducted from Launch Complex-III, ITR, Chandipur. Another round of tests was conducted successfully on 11 March 2019. An extended range version was tested for a range up to 90 km on 19 December 2019, followed by another test on 20 December.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Pinaka Mark 2 manufactured by Solar Industries completed User Assisted Technical Trial (USTT) on 8 December 2021 and will now go for user trial which will be completed by March 2022. While Yantra India Limited (YIL) is developing prototype of Pinaka Mark 2 due to delay in transfer of technology by ARDE.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: The Pinaka is in the process of further improvement. Israel Military Industries teamed up with DRDO to implement its Trajectory Correction System (TCS) on the Pinaka, for further improvement of its CEP. This has been trialled and has shown excellent results. The rockets can also be guided by GPS to improve their accuracy. A wraparound microstrip antenna has been developed by DRDO for this system.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: While the Pinaka will not be developed further into a larger system, its success and the experience gained from the programme has led the ARDE and its partner organisations, to launch a project to develop a long range MRL similar to the Smerch MRLS. A 7.2-metre rocket for the Pinaka MBRL, which can reach a distance of 120 km and carry a 250 kg payload will be developed. These new rockets can be fired in 44 seconds, have a maximum speed of mach 4.7, rise to an altitude of 40 km before hitting its target at Mach 1.8. Integrating UAVs with the Pinaka is also in the pipeline, as DRDO intends to install guidance systems on these rockets to increase their accuracy. Sagem completed delivery of its Sigma 30 laser-gyro artillery navigation and pointing system to be equipped with the Pinaka multiple launch rocket system in June 2010. The Sigma 30 artillery navigation and pointing system is designed for high-precision firing at short notice.


title: Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher

text: Armenia signed a combined deal worth for 4 Pinaka batteries and other defense equipment. The order includes supplies of extended range and guided rocket for Pinaka system in the future. Indonesia and Nigeria have also shown interest in Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launcher.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is a mainly residential planned community and neighborhood on the west side of the southern tip of the island of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by the Hudson River on the west, the Hudson River shoreline on the north and south, and the West Side Highway on the east. The neighborhood is named for the Battery, formerly known as Battery Park, located directly to the south.


title: Battery Park City

text: More than one-third of the development is parkland. The land upon which it is built was created by land reclamation on the Hudson River using over of soil and rock excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center, the New York City Water Tunnel, and certain other construction projects, as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island. The neighborhood includes Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center), along with numerous buildings designed for housing, commercial, and retail.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is part of Manhattan Community District 1. It is patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the New York City Police Department.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is bounded on the east by West Street, which separates the area from the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. To the west, north, and south, the area is surrounded by the Hudson River.


title: Battery Park City

text: The development consists of roughly five major sections. Traveling north to south, the first neighborhood has high-rise residential buildings, the Stuyvesant High School, a Regal Entertainment Group movie theater, and the Battery Park City branch of the New York Public Library. It is also the site of the 463-suite Conrad New York luxury hotel, which contains restaurants and bars such as the Loopy Doopy Rooftop Bar, ATRIO Wine Bar Restaurant, Mexican-themed El Vez, and two Danny Meyer-branded restaurants (Blue Smoke and Shake Shack); the hotel has a ballroom and a conference center. Other restaurants located in that hotel, as well as a DSW store and a New York Sports Club branch, were closed in 2009 after the takeover of the property by Goldman Sachs. Former undeveloped lots in the area have been developed into high-rise buildings; for example, Goldman Sachs built a new headquarters at 200 West Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: Nearby is Brookfield Place, a complex of several commercial buildings formerly known as the World Financial Center.


title: Battery Park City

text: Current residential neighborhoods of Battery Park City are divided into northern and southern sections, separated by Brookfield Place. The northern section consists entirely of large, 20–45-story buildings, all various shades of orange brick. The southern section, extending down from the Winter Garden, which is located in Brookfield Place, contains residential apartment buildings such as Gateway Plaza and the Rector Place apartment buildings. In this section lies the majority of Battery Park City's residential areas, in three sections: Gateway Plaza, a high-rise building complex; the "Rector Place Residential Neighborhood"; and the" Battery Place Residential Neighborhood". These subsections contain most of the area's residential buildings, along with park space, supermarkets, restaurants, and movie theaters. Construction of residential buildings began north of the World Financial Center in the late 1990s, and completion of the final lots took place in early 2011. Additionally, a park restoration was completed in 2013.


title: Battery Park City

text: Throughout the 19th century and early-20th century, the area adjoining today's Battery Park City was known as Little Syria with Lebanese, Greeks, Armenians, and other ethnic groups. In 1929, the land was the proposed site of a $50,000,000 residential development that would have served workers in the Wall Street area. The Battery Tower project was left unfinished after workers digging the foundation ran into forty feet of old bulkheads, sunken docks, and ships. Construction was halted and never restarted.


title: Battery Park City

text: By the late-1950s, the once-prosperous port area of downtown Manhattan was occupied by a number of dilapidated shipping piers, casualties of the rise of container shipping which drove sea traffic to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. The initial proposal to reclaim this area through landfill was offered in the early-1960s by private firms and supported by the mayor, part of a long history of Lower Manhattan expansion. That plan became complicated when Governor Nelson Rockefeller announced his desire to redevelop a part of the area as a separate project. The various groups reached a compromise, and in 1966 the governor unveiled the proposal for what would become Battery Park City. The creation of architect Wallace K. Harrison, the proposal called for a 'comprehensive community' consisting of housing, social infrastructure and light industry. The landscaping of the park space and later the Winter Garden was designed by M. Paul Friedberg.


title: Battery Park City

text: In 1968, the New York State Legislature created the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) to oversee development. Rockefeller named Charles J. Urstadt as the first chairman of the authority's board that year. He then served as the chief executive officer from 1973 to 1978. Urstadt later served as the authority's vice chair from 1996 to 2010. The New York State Urban Development Corporation and ten other public agencies were also involved in the development project. For the next several years, the BPCA made slow progress. In April 1969, it unveiled a master plan for the area, which was approved in October. In early-1972, the BPCA issued $200 million in bonds to fund construction efforts, with Harry B. Helmsley designated as the developer. That same year, the city approved plans to alter the number of apartments designated for lower, middle and upper income renters. Urstadt said the changes were needed to make the financing for the project viable. In addition to the change in the mix of units, the city approved adding nine acres, which extended the northern boundary from Reade Street to Duane Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: Landfill material from construction of the World Trade Center and other buildings in Lower Manhattan was used to add fill for the southern portion. Cellular cofferdams were constructed to retain the material. After removal of the piers, wooden piles and overburden of silt, the northern portion (north of, and including the marina) was filled with sand dredged from areas adjacent to Ambrose Channel in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as stone from the construction of Water Tunnel #3. By 1976, the landfill was completed. Seating stands for viewing the American Bicentennial "Operation Sail" flotilla parade were set up on the completed landfill in July 1976. Construction efforts ground to a halt in 1977, as a result of the city's fiscal crisis. That year, the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter approved mortgage insurance for 1,600 of the development's proposed units. In 1979, the title to the landfill was transferred from the city to the Battery Park City Authority, which financially restructured itself and created a new, more viable master plan, designed by Alex Cooper of Cooper, Robertson & Partners and Stanton Eckstut. By that time, only two of the proposed development's buildings had been built, and the $200 million bond issue was supposed to have been paid off the next year.


title: Battery Park City

text: The design of BPC to some degree reflects the values of vibrant city neighborhoods championed by Jane Jacobs. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) awarded the Battery Park City Master Plan its 2010 Heritage Award, for having "facilitated the private development of 9.3 million square feet of commercial space, 7.2 million square feet of residential space, and nearly 36 acres of open space in lower Manhattan, becoming a model for successful large-scale planning efforts and marking a positive shift away from the urban renewal mindset of the time."


title: Battery Park City

text: During the late-1970s and early-1980s, the site hosted Creative Time's landmark Art on the Beach sculpture exhibitions. On September 23, 1979, the landfill was the site of an anti-nuclear rally attended by 200,000 people.


title: Battery Park City

text: Construction began on the first residential building in June 1980. In April 1981, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (now the Empire State Development Corporation) issued a request for proposal, ultimately selecting six real-estate companies to develop over 1,800 residential units. The same year, the World Financial Center started construction; Olympia and York of Toronto was named as the developer for the World Financial Center, who then hired Cesar Pelli as the lead architect. By 1985, construction was completed and the World Financial Center (later renamed Brookfield Place New York) saw its first tenants. The newly completed development was lauded by "The New York Times" as "a triumph of urban design," with the World Financial Center being deemed "a symbol of change."


title: Battery Park City

text: During early construction, two acres of land in the southern section of the Battery Park landfill was used by artist Agnes Denes to plant wheat in an exhibition titled "Wheatfield - A Confrontation". The project was a visual contradiction: a golden field of wheat set among the steel skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan. It was created during a six-month period in the spring, summer, and fall of 1982 when Denes, with the support of the Public Art Fund, planted the field of wheat on rubble-strewn land near Wall Street and the World Trade Center site. Denes stated that her "decision to plant a wheatfield in Manhattan, instead of designing just another public sculpture, grew out of a long-standing concern and need to call attention to our misplaced priorities and deteriorating human values."


title: Battery Park City

text: Throughout the 1980s, the BPCA oversaw a great deal of construction, including the entire Rector Place neighborhood and the river esplanade. It was during that period that Amanda Burden, later City Planning Department Director in the Bloomberg administration, worked on Battery Park City. During the 1980s, a total of 13 buildings were constructed. The Vietnam Veterans Plaza was established by Edward I. Koch in 1985. In the early-1990s, Battery Park City became the new home of the Stuyvesant High School. During the 1990s, an additional six buildings were added to the neighborhood. By the turn of the 21st century, Battery Park City was mostly completed, with the exception of some ongoing construction on West Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: Initially, in the 1980s, 23 buildings were built in the area. By the 1990s, 9 more buildings were built, followed by the construction of 11 buildings in the 2000s and 3 buildings in the 2010s. The Battery Park City Authority, wishing to attract more middle-class residents, started providing subsidies in 1998 to households whose annual incomes were $108,000 or less. By the end of the decade, nearly the entire landfill had been developed.


title: Battery Park City

text: The September 11 attacks in 2001 had a major impact on Battery Park City. The residents of Lower Manhattan and particularly of Battery Park City were displaced for an extended period of time. Parts of the community were an official crime scene and therefore residents were unable to return to live or even collect property. Many of the displaced residents were not allowed to return to the area for months and none were given government guidance of where to live temporarily on the already-crowded island of Manhattan. With most hotel rooms booked, residents, including young children and the elderly, were forced to fend for themselves. When they were finally allowed to return to Battery Park City, some found that their homes had been looted.


title: Battery Park City

text: Upon residents' return, the air in the area was still filled with toxic smoke from the World Trade Center fires that persisted until December 2001. More than half of the area's residents moved away permanently from the community after the adjacent World Trade Center towers collapsed and spread toxic dust, debris, and smoke. Gateway Plaza's 600 building, Hudson View East, and Parc Place (now Rector Square) were punctured by airplane parts. The Winter Garden and other portions of the World Financial Center were severely damaged. Environmental concerns regarding dust from the Trade Center are a continuing source of concern for many residents, scientists, and elected officials. Since the attacks, the damage has been repaired. Temporarily reduced rents and government subsidies helped restore residential occupancy in the years following the attacks.


title: Battery Park City

text: After September 11, 2001, residents of Battery Park City and Tribeca formed the TriBattery Pops Tom Goodkind Conductor in response to the events of the attacks. The “Pops” have been Grammy-nominated and are the first lower Manhattan all-volunteer community band in a century.


title: Battery Park City

text: Since then, real estate development in the area has continued robustly. Commercial development includes the 200 West Street, the Goldman Sachs global headquarters, which began construction in 2005 and opened for occupancy in October 2009. 200 West Street is seeking gold-level certification under the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program by incorporating various water and energy conservation features. Several residential projects are underway, including LEED buildings.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is owned and managed by the Hugh L. Carey Battery Park City Authority (BPCA), a Class A New York State public-benefit corporation created by New York State in 1968 to redevelop outmoded and deteriorated piers, a project that has involved reclaiming the land, replanning the area and facilitating new construction of a mixed commercial and residential community. It has operated under the authority of the Urban Development Corporation. Its mission is "to plan, create, coordinate and sustain a balanced community of commercial, residential, retail, and park space within its designated 92-acre site on the lower west side of Manhattan". The authority's board is composed of seven uncompensated members who are appointed by the governor and who serve six-year terms. B. J. Jones is the president and chief executive officer. The BPCA is invested with substantial powers: it can acquire, hold and dispose of real property, enter into lease agreements, borrow money and issue debt, and manage the project. Like other public benefit corporations, the BPCA is exempt from property taxes and has the ability to issue tax exempt bonds. In 2021, the BPCA has operating expenses of $69.1 million as well as an outstanding debt of $875.09 million, and it employed 200 people.


title: Battery Park City

text: Under the 1989 agreement between the BPCA and the City of New York, $600 million was transferred by the BPCA to the city. Charles J. Urstadt, the first chairman and CEO of the BPCA, noted in an August 19, 2007, op-ed piece in the "New York Post" that the aggregate figure of funds transferred to the City of New York is above $1.4 billion, with the BPCA continuing to contribute $200 million a year. The Independent Budget Office of the City of New York also recommended the city take over Battery Park City in a report published in February 2020. The report echoed Urstadt's proposal as a way to increase revenue to the city. An article published by "The Broadsheet Daily" described the complex shared ownership structure of Battery Park City between the city and state that was set up by Urstadt.


title: Battery Park City

text: Excess revenue from the area was to be contributed to other housing efforts, typically low-income projects in the Bronx and Harlem. Much of this funding has historically been diverted to general city expenses, under section 3.d of the 1989 agreement. However, in July 2006, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Governor George Pataki, and Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr. announced the final approval for the New York City Housing Trust Fund derived from $130 million in Battery Park City revenues. The fund aimed to preserve or create 4,300 units of low- and moderate-income housing by 2009. It also provided seed financing for the New York Acquisition Fund, a $230 million initiative that aims to serve as a catalyst for the construction and preservation of more than 30,000 units of affordable housing citywide by 2016. The Acquisition Fund has since established itself as a model for similar funds in cities and states across the country.


title: Battery Park City

text: By 2018, thirty residential buildings had been built in Battery Park City and no new construction was planned. The Battery Park City Authority's main focus turned to maintenance of existing infrastructure, security and conservancy of the public spaces. The authority was creating over 1,000 free activities per year.


title: Battery Park City

text: Condo owners in Battery Park City pay higher monthly charges than owners of comparable apartments elsewhere in New York City because residents pay their building's common charges in addition to PILOT (payments in lieu of taxes). The PILOT payments replace real estate taxes and the land lease. As a result, residential units have higher monthly costs compared to other neighborhoods. The cumulative effect is lower property values for homeowners.


title: Battery Park City

text: Because none of the properties in Battery Park City own the land they are built on, many banks have refused to write loans when those ground leases are periodically up for renewal. This has been a regular source of anger and frustration for owners in Battery Park City who are looking to sell.


title: Battery Park City

text: For census purposes, the New York City government classifies Battery Park City as part of a larger neighborhood tabulation area called Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan. Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Battery Park City-Lower Manhattan was 39,699, an increase of 19,611 (97.6%) from the 20,088 counted in 2000. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of . The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 65.4% (25,965) White, 3.2% (1,288) African American, 0.1% (35) Native American, 20.2% (8,016) Asian, 0.0% (17) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (153) from other races, and 3.0% (1,170) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.7% (3,055) of the population.


title: Battery Park City

text: The entirety of Community District 1, which comprises Battery Park City and other Lower Manhattan neighborhoods, had 63,383 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 85.8 years. This is higher than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are young to middle-aged adults: half (50%) are between the ages of 25–44, while 14% are between 0–17, and 18% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 11% and 7% respectively.


title: Battery Park City

text: As of 2017, the median household income in Community Districts 1 and 2 (including Greenwich Village and SoHo) was $144,878, though the median income in Battery Park City individually was $126,771. In 2018, an estimated 9% of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan residents lived in poverty, compared to 14% in all of Manhattan and 20% in all of New York City. One in twenty-five residents (4%) were unemployed, compared to 7% in Manhattan and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 38% in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 45% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan are considered high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.


title: Battery Park City

text: , about 10,000 people live in Battery Park City, most of whom are upper middle class and upper class (54.0% of households have incomes over $100,000). When fully built out, the neighborhood is projected to have 14,000 residents.


title: Battery Park City

text: Based on the 2020 census, the racial makeup of Northern Battery Park City (10282) was 66% White, 2% Black, 0% Native American, 16% Asian, 0% Islander, 0% from other races, and 5% from two or more races. Hispanic of Latino of any race were 11% of the population. The racial makeup of South Battery Park City (10280) was 69% White, 1% Black, 0% Native, 17% Asian, 0% Islander, 0% from other races, 3% from two or more races, and 11% Hispanic.


title: Battery Park City

text: A largely Arab-American neighborhood existed adjacent to what is today southeastern Battery Park City from the late 1880s to the 1940s. "Little Syria" encompassed Washington Street from Battery Park to Rector Street. It declined as a neighborhood as the inhabitants became successful and moved to other areas, especially Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, and disappeared almost entirely when a great deal of lower Washington Street was demolished to make way for entrance ramps to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, which opened in 1950. The overwhelming majority of the residents were Arabic-speaking Christians, Melkite and Maronite immigrants from present-day Syria and Lebanon who settled in the area in the late 19th century, escaping religious persecution and poverty in their homelands – which were then under control of the Ottoman Empire – and answering the call of American missionaries to escape their difficulties by traveling to New York City.


title: Battery Park City

text: However, many other ethnic groups had lived in this diverse neighborhood, including Greeks, Turks, Armenians, Slovaks, Poles, Hungarians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Czechs, and Irish.


title: Battery Park City

text: A long-standing reminder of the ethnic past was the former St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was destroyed in the September 11 attacks. An additional historic church, St. George's Syrian Catholic Church, still stands at 103 Washington Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: The first residential building in Battery Park City, Gateway Plaza, was completed in 1983. , the population of the area was 13,386. Some of the more prominent residential buildings include:


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City, which is mainly residential, also has a few office buildings. The seven buildings in the Brookfield Place complex, as well as 200 West Street, are the neighborhood's only office buildings.


title: Battery Park City

text: Located in the middle of Battery Park City and overlooking the Hudson River, Brookfield Place, designed by César Pelli and owned mostly by Toronto-based Brookfield Properties, has been home to offices of various major companies, including Merrill Lynch, RBC Capital Markets, Nomura Group, American Express and Brookfield Asset Management, among others. Brookfield Place also serves as the United States headquarters for Brookfield Properties, which has its headquarters located in 200 Vesey Street. Brookfield Place also has its own zip code, 10281.


title: Battery Park City

text: Brookfield Place's ground floor and portions of the second floor are occupied by a mall; its center point is a steel-and-glass atrium known as the Winter Garden. Outside of the Winter Garden lies a sizeable yacht harbor on the Hudson known as North Cove.


title: Battery Park City

text: The building's original developer was Olympia and York of Toronto, Ontario. It used to be named the World Financial Center, but in 2014, the complex was given its current name following the completion of extensive renovations. The World Financial Center complex was built by Olympia and York between 1982 and 1988; it was damaged in the September 11 attacks but later repaired. It has six constituent buildings – 200 Liberty Street, 225 Liberty Street, 200 Vesey Street, 250 Vesey Street, the Winter Garden Atrium, and One North End Avenue (a.k.a. the New York Mercantile Exchange building).


title: Battery Park City

text: 200 West Street is the location of the global headquarters of Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm. A , 44-story building located on the west side of West Street between Vesey and Murray Streets, it is north of Brookfield Place and the Conrad Hotels, across the street from the Verizon Building, and diagonally opposite the World Trade Center. It is distinctive for being the only office building in the northern section of Battery Park City. It started construction in 2005 and opened in 2009.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan are patrolled by the 1st Precinct of the NYPD, located at 16 Ericsson Place. The 1st Precinct ranked 63rd safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. Though the number of crimes is low compared to other NYPD precincts, the residential population is also much lower. , with a non-fatal assault rate of 24 per 100,000 people, Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 152 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.


title: Battery Park City

text: The 1st Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 86.3% between 1990 and 2018. The 1st precinct reported 2 murders, 15 rapes, 135 robberies, 121 felony assaults, 191 burglaries, 848 grand larcenies, and 68 grand larcenies auto in 2021.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is served by the New York City Fire Department (FDNY)'s Engine Co. 10/Ladder Co. 10 fire station, located at 124 Liberty Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: , preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan than in other places citywide. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, there were 77 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 2.2 teenage births per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide), though the teenage birth rate is based on a small sample size. Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan have a low population of residents who are uninsured. In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 4%, less than the citywide rate of 12%, though this was based on a small sample size.


title: Battery Park City

text: The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan is , more than the city average. Sixteen percent of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan residents are smokers, which is more than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, 4% of residents are obese, 3% are diabetic, and 15% have high blood pressure, the lowest rates in the city—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively. In addition, 5% of children are obese, the lowest rate in the city, compared to the citywide average of 20%.


title: Battery Park City

text: Ninety-six percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is more than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 88% of residents described their health as "good," "very good," or "excellent," more than the city's average of 78%. For every supermarket in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, there are 6 bodegas.


title: Battery Park City

text: The nearest major hospital is NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital in the Civic Center area.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City is located within two ZIP Codes. The neighborhood north of Brookfield Place is covered by 10282, while much of the neighborhood south of Brookfield Place is covered by 10280. Brookfield Place is part of 10281, and the southernmost tip is part of 10004. The United States Postal Service does not operate any post offices in Battery Park City. The nearest post office is the Church Street Station at 90 Church Street in the Financial District.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan generally have a higher rate of college-educated residents than the rest of the city . The vast majority of residents age 25 and older (84%) have a college education or higher, while 4% have less than a high school education and 12% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 64% of Manhattan residents and 43% of city residents have a college education or higher. The percentage of Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan students excelling in math rose from 61% in 2000 to 80% in 2011, and reading achievement increased from 66% to 68% during the same time period.


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is lower than the rest of New York City. In Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan, 6% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, less than the citywide average of 20%. Additionally, 96% of high school students in Battery Park City and Lower Manhattan graduate on time, more than the citywide average of 75%.


title: Battery Park City

text: The New York City Department of Education operates the following public schools in Battery Park City:


title: Battery Park City

text: Battery Park City has a New York Public Library branch at 175 North End Avenue, designed by 1100 Architect and completed in 2010. A , two-story library on the street level of a high-rise residential building, it utilizes several sustainable design features, earning it LEED Gold certification.


title: Battery Park City

text: Sustainability was a driving factor in the design of the library including use of an energy-efficient lighting system, maximization of natural lighting, and use of recycled materials. 1100 Architect, in collaboration with Atelier Ten, an international team of environmental design consultants and building services engineers, designed the library's energy-efficient lighting system. The open plan layout and large use of glass allow for ample natural daylight year-round and low-energy LED light illuminates communal spaces. Recycled materials are incorporated into the design including carpet made from re-purposed truck tires, floors made from reclaimed window frame wood, and furniture made from FSC-certified plywood and recycled steel. Design features include a seemingly "floating" origami-style ceiling made up of triangular panels hung at varying angles and a padded reading nook fitted into the library's terrazzo-finished steel and concrete staircase. The interior uses an easy-to-navigate layout with its three distinct spatial areas of entry area, first floor space, and mezzanine visually unified through the ceiling.


title: Battery Park City

text: The building also won the "Interior Design", Best of Year Merit Award in 2011, followed by "The National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association", Port Morris Tile and Marble Corporation Craftsmanship Award in 2011 and the "Contract", Public Space Interiors Award in 2012.


title: Battery Park City

text: Currently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority provides bus service to the area. , the bus lines service parts of Battery Park City, with the nearby at Battery Park. Additionally, the Downtown Alliance provides a free bus service that runs along North End Avenue and South End Avenue, connecting the various residential complexes with subway stations on the other side of West Street.


title: Battery Park City

text: There is currently no New York City Subway access in Battery Park City proper; however, the West Street pedestrian bridges, as well as crosswalks across West Street, connect Battery Park City to subway stations and the PATH station in the nearby Financial District. The West Concourse, a tunnel from Brookfield Place passing under West Street, also provides access from Battery Park City to the World Trade Center PATH station, the WTC Cortlandt station, and the Fulton Street station (New York City Subway).


title: Battery Park City

text: The Battery Park City Ferry Terminal is at the foot of Vesey Street opposite the New York Mercantile Exchange and provides ferry transportation to various points in New Jersey via NY Waterway and Liberty Water Taxi routes. NYC Ferry's St. George route, to West Midtown Ferry Terminal and St. George Terminal, stops at Battery Park City Ferry Terminal.


title: Battery Park City

text: The West Thames Street Bridge, one of the West Street pedestrian bridges connecting Battery Park City to the Financial District, was completed in 2019, replacing the older Rector Street Bridge. On June 11, 2021, it was dedicated as the Robert F. Douglass Bridge. Its namesake, who died in 2016, was an early advocate for lower Manhattan as a senior advisor to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and later as a founding member and chairman of the Downtown Alliance and board member of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Chevie O'Brien Kehoe (born January 29, 1973) is an American convicted murderer. He is serving three consecutive life sentences for the kidnapping, torture, and murder of William Mueller and his family. His accomplice, Daniel Lewis Lee, was sentenced to death for the murders, and was executed on July 14, 2020.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Kehoe was born in Orange Park, Florida, United States. He was the oldest of eight sons born to Kirby and Gloria Kehoe, and was named after his father's favorite brand of automobile (Chevrolet). His father had served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. When Kehoe was an infant, his father moved the family to Madison County, North Carolina.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: In 1985, Kirby moved the family again, this time to a property near Deep Lake in Stevens County, Washington. Kehoe entered Colville Junior High School as a ninth grader in 1987 where he was an honor student. Future serial killer Israel Keyes was a family friend. In 1988, his parents pulled him and his younger brother, Cheyne, out of public school, and from then on they were home-schooled.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Raised with increasingly extreme anti-government and white supremacist beliefs, Kehoe formed a plan to bring down the United States government with his self-styled "Aryan People's Republic" militia. Kehoe married Karena Gumm and the couple had three children. Kehoe took a second wife, Angie Murray in 1993, but the relationship only lasted for 54 days.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: In June 1995, Kehoe and an accomplice kidnapped and robbed Malcolm and Jill Friedman, a couple believed to be Jewish, who owned a store at which Kehoe was once employed.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: In January 1996, Kehoe and another accomplice, Daniel Lewis Lee, left the state of Washington and traveled to Arkansas. On January 11, 1996, they arrived at the home of William Frederick Mueller, a gun dealer who lived near Tilly, Arkansas, and who was in possession of a large collection of weapons, ammunition, and cash. Kehoe and his father had previously, in February 1995, robbed Mueller once already, and Kehoe expected to find valuable property at the house. Dressed as FBI agents, the two men tried to enter the home of the Muellers, but they were not at home. When the Muellers returned, Lee and Kehoe overpowered and incapacitated Mueller and his wife, Nancy Ann Mueller (née Branch). They then questioned Nancy Mueller's 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Powell, about where they could find the cash, guns, and ammunition, forcing her to talk by shocking her with an electric cattle prod.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: After finding $50,000 in cash, guns, and ammunition, they shot each of the three victims with a stun gun, causing them to pass out. They then placed plastic bags over their heads, and sealed the bags with duct tape, suffocating them to death. There is some evidence that Lee was unwilling to kill Sarah, so Kehoe killed her. They took the victims in Kehoe's vehicle to the Illinois Bayou, where they taped rocks to them and threw each family member into the swamp. The bodies were discovered in Lake Dardanelle near Russellville, Arkansas in late June 1996.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Kehoe and his family took the stolen property to a motel in Spokane, Washington, by way of the Christian Identity community of Elohim City, Oklahoma.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: William Mueller had put some of the stolen firearms into a Federal Firearms License registry as insurance against potential theft. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) used the ID numbers in the registry to trace the stolen firearms to several other men who confirmed they had purchased them in Spokane from Chevie Kehoe and his father Kirby.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: On February 15, 1997, Kehoe and his brother Cheyne were involved in a shootout with an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper, John Harold Harker and a Clinton County, Ohio Sheriff's Office deputy, Robert Gates, in Wilmington, Ohio. The Highway Patrol trooper had stopped their vehicle, a blue Chevy Suburban, for driving too slowly and erratically on the road and found the license plate and registration had expired; the brothers also failed to produce any driver's licenses. Chevie, the driver, complied with the officer's orders to get out of the car but warned him against touching him when he tried to search him. The deputy noticed the trouble the state trooper was having with Chevie and stopped to help. As one of the officers called for a tow truck to impound the vehicle, Chevie suddenly began to dash back to the vehicle with the officers in pursuit. The officers had pinned Chevie to a patrol car and were trying to subdue him when Cheyne produced a handgun from his passenger seat and opened fire on the officers, allowing Chevie to jump back into the Suburban and escape. Cheyne himself fled into the nearby woods, where police searched unsuccessfully for him for the whole day. Later that day, Chevie was involved in a shootout in an electrical supply company parking lot with two Wilmington police officers, Ofc. Richard "Rick" Wood and Sgt. Robert "Bob" Martin. During the second shootout, a passer-by motorist, 56-year-old Frank Marsden, was hit in the shoulder. The two shootouts were recorded on both the trooper and the sergeant's dashboard camera in their patrol vehicle and was widely broadcast in the media at the time. Footage of the shootout was first aired in 1997 on FOX's "World's Scariest Police Shootouts". It has since been shown on such television programs, among others, as "Most Shocking" and "World's Most Amazing Videos".


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: After fleeing from police, Chevie and Cheyne Kehoe traveled secretly with their families through different states before settling in a ranch in Utah. They worked for the local ranch owner for a time, but disputes between the brothers over Chevie's extremist ideology grew bitter and eventually violent, and ultimately Cheyne left, taking his family with him. He subsequently surrendered to local police and directed them and the FBI back to the Utah ranch, where Chevie Kehoe was arrested on June 17, 1997.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Kehoe denies the criminal accusations against him and has filed appeals. His appeals have been denied.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: On February 20, 1998, Kehoe pleaded guilty in Ohio state court to felonious assault, attempted murder, and carrying a concealed weapon related to a February 15, 1997, shootout in Wilmington, Ohio, with an Ohio State Highway Patrol Trooper and a Clinton County sheriff's deputy during a traffic stop resulting from expired tags on his 1977 Chevrolet Suburban.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: In 1999, Kehoe was convicted in federal court for the January 1996 murders of gun dealer William Mueller, his wife Nancy Mueller, and her 8-year-old daughter, Sarah Powell. He received three sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Kehoe's mother Gloria and his younger brother Cheyne served as prosecution witnesses and testified against him at the trial. However, they both kept the secret until he got caught. Cheyne Kehoe received a 24-year prison sentence for attempted murder and weapons possession due to his role in the Ohio shootout.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Kehoe was imprisoned at United States Penitentiary, Florence ADX in Fremont County, Colorado, under Federal Bureau of Prisons register number: #21300-009. In November 2019 he was transferred to United States Penitentiary, Florence High On December 18, 2020, Kehoe was transferred to United States Penitentiary, McCreary in Kentucky. He was then held at United States Penitentiary, Big Sandy in Inez. As of 2022, he is held at United States Penitentiary, Terre Haute.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: Kehoe has been accused by his brother Cheyne and a Spokane motel manager of being involved in, or having prior knowledge of, the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. Cheyne claimed to have knowledge of Chevie's involvement in the bombing shortly after he was sentenced for his role in the shootout. The manager of the Shadow motel in Spokane claimed to have seen Chevie with convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh at the motel four to six months prior to the bombing. The manager also claimed that on the morning of the bombing, Chevie showed up to the motel and asked him to put on CNN and became ecstatic when news of the bombing appeared. The manager also claimed that Chevie had told him in the days prior that something big would happen on April 19. Kehoe denied the allegations and the FBI found no evidence that McVeigh had ever travelled to Spokane.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: The Discovery Channel's docudrama series "The FBI Files" reenacts the behavior of Kehoe and Lee while also showing the forensic science used by the FBI to arrest them in season 2, episode 16, "Deadly Mission", originally aired: 2000.


title: Chevie Kehoe

text: The A&E criminal justice series "American Justice" profiled Chevie Kehoe's white supremacist motivations on season 10, episode 14, "Raised on Hate", originally aired on August 8, 2001.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a solo artist, and has played in other bands. He is a left-handed guitarist. In 2018, Easton was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Easton is a founding member of The Cars and was its lead guitarist. The band was formed in 1976. Its debut album, "The Cars" (1978), contained the hit single "Just What I Needed". The band went on to release five more albums over the next nine years before breaking up in 1988. Easton was the youngest member of the band.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Easton released one solo album, "Change No Change" (1985), featuring songs co-written with Jules Shear. One single, "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel", was released and became a moderate hit on the rock charts.


title: Elliot Easton

text: In the mid-1990s, Easton produced and played on the first two albums by Amy Rigby. He was also the lead guitarist on Jules Shear's 1994 album 'Healing Bones'.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Easton was a member of The New Cars, along with original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, former Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. In June 2006, the band released a live album, "It's Alive!", that includes three new studio tracks.


title: Elliot Easton

text: In 2010, Easton reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars to record their first album in 24 years, entitled "Move Like This". The album was released in 2011, and the band toured in support of it.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Easton next became a founding member of The Empty Hearts supergroup formed in 2014. The band also included The Chesterfield Kings bassist Andy Babiuk, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, The Romantics guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmar, and Faces pianist Ian McLagan.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash has cited Easton as one of his musical influences, praising Easton's concise and melodic solos.


title: Elliot Easton

text: In 2013, the Gibson Guitar Company launched the Elliot Easton "Tikibird" Firebird guitar, which is a modified version of their Firebird model.


title: Elliot Easton

text: Easton has been married twice. As of 2018, he is married to Jill Easton. He has a daughter, Sydney, from his first marriage. He lives in Bell Canyon, California.


title: Hognose

text: Hognose snake is a common name for several unrelated species of snake with upturned snouts, classified in 2 colubrid snake genera and 1 pseudoxyrhophiid snake genus.


title: Hognose

text: The North American "Heterodon" species are known for their habit of thanatosis: playing dead when threatened.


title: Hognose

text: The hognose snakes' most distinguishing characteristic is their upturned snout/Rostral scale, which aids in digging in sandy soils by using a sweeping, side to side motion. They also like to burrow in masses of humus. "Lieoheterodon" species are known to dig up the eggs of lizards.


title: Hognose

text: Hognose snakes are extremely variable in color and pattern. "Heterodon nasicus" and "H. kennerlyi" tend to be sandy colored with black and white markings, while "H. platirhinos" varies from reds, greens, oranges, browns, to melanistic (i.e. black) depending on locality. They are sometimes blotched and sometimes solid-colored. "Leiohetereodon geayi" is a brown or tan colored snake with dark speckling on it.


title: Hognose

text: When threatened, hognose snakes will hiss, flatten their necks and raise their heads off the ground like cobras. They sometimes feign strikes, but actual "Heterodon" bites are very rare. This behaviour has earned them local common names such as "puff adder", "blowing adder", "flathead", "spreadhead", "spreading adder" or "hissing adder". Note: For "Heterodon", "puff adder" is a common name inconsistent with established usage. "Puff adder" is the accepted common name of "Bitis arietans", an unrelated, dangerously venomous African species of viper, which incidentally does "not" flatten its neck in any threat display.


title: Hognose

text: If this threat display fails to deter a would-be predator, "Heterodon" species often roll onto their backs and play dead, going so far as to emit a foul musk and fecal matter from their cloaca (in liquid form) and let their tongues hang out of their mouth, sometimes accompanied by small droplets of blood. If they are rolled upright while in this state, they will often roll back as if insisting they really are dead. It has been observed that the snake, while appearing to be dead, will still watch the threat that caused the death pose. The snake will 'resurrect' sooner if the threat is looking away from it than if the threat is looking at the snake.


title: Hognose

text: They are rather timid snakes and commonly hide from predators by burrowing down into leaves, sand, etc.


title: Hognose

text: "Heterodon" are diurnal active foragers that typically consume their prey live without any constriction or body pinning, primarily relying on only their jaws to subdue their prey.


title: Hognose

text: For most hognose snake species, the bulk of their diet is made up of rodents and lizards. "Heterodon platirhinos" is an exception, and specializes in feeding on toads, although other food items such as eggs and insects can make up as much as 50% of its diet.


title: Hognose

text: Hognose snakes are frequently found in herpetoculture. "Heterodon nasicus" is often considered to be the easiest to care for, and captive-bred stock is easily found. "Heterodon platirhinos" is also commonly found, but their dietary requirements can be a challenge for some keepers, and there is anecdotal evidence to suggest that feeding them a diet of exclusively rodents contributes to liver problems and a shortened life span. "Leioheterodon" species are imported regularly from Madagascar, but they are not often bred in captivity and get much larger, so they can pose a set of different challenges for care. "Lystrophis" species are fairly new to the commercial reptile trade, and are now commonly bred in captivity, but can be some of the more expensive hognose snakes available. Some states, such as the state of Colorado, have strict laws on keeping the western hognose snake. It is considered a native species to Colorado, so it is protected by law. The law states that an individual can keep no more than four native snakes, and forbids the shipping, selling, and breeding of them in the state of Colorado.


title: Hognose

text: Hognose snakes have mildly toxic venomous saliva and are frequently mistaken for the slightly more dangerous rear fanged snakes which possess grooved teeth and saliva intended for dispatching prey. Hognose saliva fails to meet the definition of a venom because they have no injection system and do not have behaviours typically seen in venomous animals. Indeed, the teeth of the hognose are smooth and strong without grooves and the mildly toxic duvernoy's secretions are produced by the Duvernoy's gland, well away from the unique evisceration fangs for which the genus is named. Hognose have never been formally documented using their saliva to kill prey, rather they kill by sawing and impaling prey, biting prey from the side rather than at the head to facilitate this process. Although it is possible that some day one or more species may provide data that alter the current classification of mildly toxic saliva to actual venom, the absence of any injection mechanism and indeed adaptations counter to venom injection will most likely always leave them difficult to classify. Hognose are perhaps best described as a transitional species with toxic saliva that is only produced during feeding, failing to fall into either of the classic recognisable categories of venomous or non venomous. Although their saliva is not likely to cause serious injury to humans in small amounts, should the toxic feeding saliva make its way into a cut in large enough amounts over an extended period of time the resulting swelling and localized tissue damage can be problematic in at least one species, H. Nasicus. Such occurrences are rare however as they are uninclined to bite, instead striking with mouth closed or playing dead. For these reasons they have been popular pets for more than 100 years despite the irritation experienced should they mistake their keeper's hand for food.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: Sanjay Subrahmanyam (born 21 May 1961) is a historian who specialises in the early modern period and in Connected History. He is the author of several books and publications. He holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at UCLA which he joined in 2004.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: Sanjay Subramanyam is the son of K. Subrahmanyam and his wife Sulochana. His father, K. Subrahmanyam, was a prominent expert on strategic affairs. Sanjay has an older sister and two older brothers, namely Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who retired from the Indian Foreign Service as its head, and serves now as India's Minister of External Affairs; and S. Vijay Kumar, who followed their father into the Indian Administrative Service. Subrahmanyam is married to a UCLA historian of modern France, Caroline Ford.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: Sanjay Subrahmanyam graduated with a BA (Hons) in economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi. He received his MA and PhD in 1987 in economic history from the Delhi School of Economics on the topic of "Trade and the Regional Economy of South India, c. 1550–1650".


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: Subrahmanyam taught economic history and comparative economic development at the Delhi School of Economics till 1995. He then moved to Paris as Directeur d'études in the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, where he taught history of the Mughal empire, and the comparative history of early modern empires till 2002. In 2002, Subrahmanyam moved to Oxford as the first holder of the newly created Chair in Indian History and Culture. In 2004 he became the Navin and Pratima Doshi Chair in Indian History at UCLA, and a year later, in 2005, he became the founding Director of UCLA's Center for India and South Asia. In 2014 he was appointed to the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at UCLA.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: In 2012, Subrahmanyam was awarded the first Infosys Prize in Humanities, for his 'path-breaking contribution to history'. He also served as a Humanities jury member for the prize from 2019.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2009 and as a corresponding fellow to the British Academy in 2016. Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania selected Dr. Subrahmanyam as the 2009 Mary Flexner Lecturer. He was elected professor and to the chair "Histoire Globale de la Première Modernité" at the Collège de France in 2013.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: On 67 February 2017, Subrahmanyam received an "honoris causa" doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: The Martine Aublet Prize for 2018 was awarded to Subrahmanyam for his book, L'inde sous les yeux de l'Europe: mots, peuples, empires (Alma Editeur, 2018), by the Musée de Quai Branly.


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: In February 2019, Sanjay Subrahmanyam was awarded the Dan David Prize for History (jointly with Kenneth Pomeranz, Chicago).


title: Sanjay Subrahmanyam

text: His scholarship spans the entire early modern period, from the 15th to 18th centuries CE, and more besides. Similarly, his geographical expertise stretches from South, South-East and West Asia to Western Europe and Latin America. Then there are his technical skills, ranging from statistical analysis of economic data to interpretation of literary and visual materials. Although Subrahmanyam began as an economic historian, he has branched out to work on political, intellectual and cultural history. He works in over ten European and Asian languages and draws on sources from a dazzling array of archives. Finally, there is his sheer productivity. Subrahmanyam seems to write top-class history faster than most of us can read.


title: Pupienus

text: Marcus Clodius Pupienus Maximus ( 168 238 AD) was Roman emperor with Balbinus for 99 days in 238, during the Year of the Six Emperors. The sources for this period are scant, and thus knowledge of the emperor is limited. In most contemporary texts he is referred to by his cognomen "Maximus" rather than by his second nomen (family name) Pupienus ().


title: Pupienus

text: The "Historia Augusta", whose testimony is not to be trusted unreservedly, paints Pupienus as an example of advancement through the "cursus honorum" due to military success. It claims he was the son of a blacksmith, was adopted by one Pescennia Marcellina (otherwise unknown), and who started his career as a "Centurio" "primus pilus" before becoming a tribunus militum, and then a praetor. Pupienus's career was allegedly impressive, serving a number of important posts during the reign of the Severan dynasty throughout the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. This included assignment as Proconsul of the senatorial propraetorial provinces of Bithynia et Pontus, Achaea, and Gallia Narbonensis.


title: Pupienus

text: In fact Pupienus was part of the aristocracy, albeit a minor member, and his family had possibly been elevated only recently. Hailing from the Etruscan city of Volterra, it has been speculated that Pupienus was the son of Marcus Pupienus Maximus, a senator who was the first member of his family to enter the Senate, and wife Clodia Pulchra.


title: Pupienus

text: The claim in the "Historia Augusta" that Pupienus held three praetorian proconsular governorships is unlikely. For one thing, as Bernard Rémy points out, during Pupienus' lifetime the province of Bithynia et Pontus was an imperial one, governed by an imperial "legatus". Remy points out another problem: that being awarded three praetorian proconsular governorships violates what we know of Roman practice, and lacks any similar cases. Remy pointedly quotes the opinion of André Chastagnol, who recommended "to admit an information provided by the "Augustan History" only if it is confirmed by another document" and considers that, faced with such an unreliable source, one must permit "methodical doubt and hypercritical attitude to prevail."


title: Pupienus

text: After his consulship (around the year 222), his "cursus honorum" is much more reliable. Pupienus was later assigned as imperial legate to one of the German provinces, most probably after his first suffect consulship, circa 207 AD. While governor he scored military victories over the Sarmatians and German tribes. At some point after he concluded his duties in the German province, the sortition awarded him proconsular governorship of Asia.


title: Pupienus

text: In 234, during the last years of Severus Alexander's reign, he was installed as consul for the second time. In that same year he was also appointed Urban Prefect of Rome and gained a reputation for severity, to the extent that he became unpopular with the Roman mob.


title: Pupienus

text: When Gordian I and his son were proclaimed emperors in Africa, the Senate appointed a committee of twenty men, including the elderly senator Pupienus, to co-ordinate operations against Maximinus Thrax until the arrival of the Gordians. On the news of the Gordians' defeat and deaths, however, the Senate met in closed session in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and voted for two members of the committee to be installed as co-emperors: Pupienus and Balbinus. Unlike the situation in 161, both emperors were elected as "pontifices maximi", chief priests of the official cults.


title: Pupienus

text: According to Edward Gibbon (drawing on the narratives of Herodian and the "Historia Augusta"), the choice was sensible, as:


title: Pupienus

text: the mind of Maximus [Pupienus] was formed in a rougher mould [than that of Balbinus]. By his valour and abilities he had raised himself from the meanest origin to the first employments of the state and army. His victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans, the austerity of his life, and the rigid impartiality of his justice whilst he was prefect of the city, commanded the esteem of a people whose affections were engaged in favour of the more amiable Balbinus. The two colleagues had both been consul... and, since the one was sixty and the other seventy-four years old, they had both attained the full maturity of age and experience.


title: Pupienus

text: However, factions within the Senate who had hoped to profit from the accession of the Gordians manipulated the people and the Praetorian Guard to agitate for the elevation of Gordian III as their imperial colleague. Leaving his senior colleague Balbinus in charge of the civil administration at Rome, sometime during late April, Pupienus marched to Ravenna, where he oversaw the campaign against Maximinus, recruiting German auxiliary troops who had served under him whilst he was in Germania. After Maximinus was assassinated by his soldiers just outside Aquileia, Pupienus dispatched both Maximinus' troops and his own back to their provinces (along with a considerable donative) and returned to Rome with his newly acquired German bodyguard.


title: Pupienus

text: Balbinus, in the meantime, had failed to keep public order in the capital. The sources suggest that Balbinus suspected Pupienus of using his German bodyguard to supplant him, and they were soon living in different parts of the Imperial palace. This meant that they were at the mercy of disaffected elements in the Praetorian Guard, who resented serving under Senate-appointed emperors, and now plotted to kill them. Pupienus, becoming aware of the threat, begged Balbinus to call for the German bodyguard. Balbinus, believing that this news was part of a plot by Pupienus to have him assassinated, refused, and the two began to argue just as the Praetorians burst into the room. Both emperors were seized and dragged back to the Praetorian barracks where they were tortured and hacked to death in the bath house. They only ruled 99 days.


title: Pupienus

text: Three individuals have been identified as his children. Titus Clodius Pupienus Pulcher Maximus, "consul suffectus" c. 235, and patron of the town of Tibur outside Rome, has been identified as his oldest son. Marcus Pupienus Africanus Maximus, "consul ordinarius" in 236 as the colleague of the Emperor Maximinus Thrax, has been identified as his youngest son. These consulships in the family, across the reigns of Severus Alexander and Maximinus Thrax, suggest that the family was influential and in high favour. Pupienus also had a daughter, named Pupiena Sextia Paulina Cethegilla, wife of Marcus Ulpius Eubiotus Leurus.


title: Superior orders

text: Superior orders, also known as the Nuremberg defense or just following orders, is a plea in a court of law that a person, whether a member of the military, law enforcement, a firefighting force, or the civilian population, should not be considered guilty of committing actions that were ordered by a superior officer or official.


title: Superior orders

text: One of the most noted uses of this plea, or defense, was by the accused in the 1945–1946 Nuremberg trials, such that it is also called the "Nuremberg defense". The Nuremberg trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the main victorious Allies after World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of the defeated Nazi Germany. These trials, under the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal that established them, determined that the defense of superior orders was no longer enough to escape punishment, but merely enough to lessen punishment.


title: Superior orders

text: Apart from the specific plea of superior orders, discussions about how the general concept of superior orders ought to be used, or ought not to be used, have taken place in various arguments, rulings and statutes that have not necessarily been part of "after the fact" war crimes trials, strictly speaking. Nevertheless, these discussions and related events help to explain the evolution of the specific plea of superior orders and the history of its usage.


title: Superior orders

text: Historically, the plea of superior orders has been used both before and after the Nuremberg Trials, with inconsistent rulings, up to the final ruling of International Criminal Court in the "Prosecutor v Ntaganda" case.


title: Superior orders

text: In 1474, in the trial of Peter von Hagenbach by an ad hoc tribunal of the Holy Roman Empire, the first known "international" recognition of commanders' obligations to act lawfully occurred. Hagenbach offered the defense that he was just following orders, but this defense was rejected and he was convicted of war crimes and beheaded.


title: Superior orders

text: Specifically, Hagenbach was put on trial for atrocities committed under his command but not by him directly, during the occupation of Breisach. This was the earliest modern European example of the doctrine of command responsibility. Since he was convicted for crimes "he as a knight was deemed to have a duty to prevent", Hagenbach defended himself by arguing that he was only following orders from the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, to whom the Holy Roman Empire had given Breisach.


title: Superior orders

text: During the Second Boer War, three Australian officers (Morant, Handcock and Witton) were charged and tried for a number of murders, including those of prisoners who had surrendered. A significant part of the defense was that they were acting under orders issued by Lord Kitchener to "take no prisoners". However, these orders were verbal, were denied by Kitchener and his staff, and could not be validated in court, resulting in a guilty verdict against all three men.


title: Superior orders

text: On June 4, 1921, the legal doctrine of superior orders was used during the German Military Trials that took place after World War I: one of the most famous of these trials was the matter of Lieutenant Karl Neumann, who was a U-boat captain responsible for the sinking of the hospital ship the "Dover Castle". Even though he frankly admitted to having sunk the ship, he stated that he had done so on the basis of orders supplied to him by the German Admiralty and so he could not be held liable for his actions. The Reichsgericht, then Germany's supreme court, acquitted him, accepting the defense of superior orders as a grounds to escape criminal liability. Further, the court stated "... that all civilized nations recognize the principle that a subordinate is covered by the orders of his superiors."


title: Superior orders

text: Many accused of war crimes were acquitted on a similar defense, creating immense dissatisfaction among the Allies. This is thought to be one of the main causes for the specific removal of this defense in the August 8, 1945 London Charter of the International Military Tribunal. The removal has been attributed to the actions of Robert H. Jackson, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, who was appointed Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials.


title: Superior orders

text: On the other hand, when the defendants could not reasonably claim that they did not know their orders were clearly illegal, the defense was ineffective. For instance, Lieutenants Dithmar and Boldt were ordered to fire on lifeboats, obeyed the order, and were found guilty in the same German Military Trials. However, their sentence was overturned on appeal.


title: Superior orders

text: On October 8, 1945, Anton Dostler was the first German general to be tried for war crimes by a US military tribunal at the Royal Palace of Caserta. He was accused of ordering the execution of 15 captured US soldiers of Operation Ginny II in Italy in March 1944. He admitted to ordering the execution but said that he could not be held responsible because he was following orders from his superiors. The execution of the prisoners of war in Italy, ordered by Dostler, was an implementation of Adolf Hitler's Commando Order of 1942, which required the immediate execution of all Allied commandos, whether they were in proper uniforms or not, without trial if they were apprehended by German forces. The tribunal rejected the defense of Superior Orders and found Dostler guilty of war crimes. He was sentenced to death and executed by a firing squad on December 1, 1945, in Aversa.


title: Superior orders

text: The Dostler case became a precedent for the principle that was used in the Nuremberg Trials of German generals, officials, and Nazi leaders beginning in November 1945: using superior orders as a defense does not relieve officers from responsibility of carrying out illegal orders and their liability to be punished in court. The principle was codified in Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles, and similar principles are in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


title: Superior orders

text: In 1945 and 1946, during the Nuremberg trials the issue of superior orders again arose. Before the end of World War II, the Allies suspected such a defense might be employed and issued the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), which explicitly stated that following an unlawful order is not a valid defense against charges of war crimes.


title: Superior orders

text: Thus, under Nuremberg Principle IV, "defense of superior orders" is not a defense for war crimes, although it might be a mitigating factor that could influence a sentencing authority to lessen the penalty. Nuremberg Principle IV states:


title: Superior orders

text: The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.


title: Superior orders

text: During the Nuremberg Trials, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, and other defendants unsuccessfully used the defense. They contended that while they knew Hitler's orders were unlawful, or at least had reason to believe they were unlawful, their place was not to question, but to obey. They claimed they were compelled to do so by the "Führerprinzip" (leader principle) that governed the Nazi regime, as well as their own oath of allegiance to Hitler. In most cases, the tribunal found that the defendants' offenses were so egregious that obedience to superior orders could not be considered a mitigating factor.


title: Superior orders

text: Before the trials, there was little Allied consensus about prosecuting Nazi war prisoners. Winston Churchill was inclined to have the leaders 'executed as outlaws'. The Soviets desired trials but wished there to be a presumption of guilt.


title: Superior orders

text: The German military law since 1872 said that while the superior is ("solely") responsible for his order, the subordinate is to be punished for his participation in it if he either transgressed the order on his own account, or if he knew the order to be criminal. The Nazis did not bother (or were too reluctant) to formalize many of their offenses (e.g., killing a non-combatant without trial), so the prosecutors at Nuremberg could have argued that the defendants broke German law to begin with. However, this line of argument was infrequently used.


title: Superior orders

text: The trials gained so much attention that the "superior orders defense" has subsequently become interchangeable with the label "Nuremberg defense", a legal defense that essentially states that defendants were "only following orders" ("Befehl ist Befehl", literally "an order is an order") and so are not responsible for their crimes.


title: Superior orders

text: However, US General Telford Taylor, who had served as Chief Counsel for the United States during the Nuremberg trials, employed the term "Nuremberg defense" in a different sense. He applied it not to the defense offered by the Nuremberg defendants but to a justification put forward by those who refused to take part in military action (specifically America's involvement in the Vietnam War) that they believed to be criminal.


title: Superior orders

text: The defense of superior orders again arose in the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Israel, as well as the trial of Alfredo Astiz of Argentina, who was responsible for many disappearances and kidnappings that took place during its last civil-military dictatorship (1976–1983). The dictators forced state-sponsored terrorism upon the population, resulting in what (to several sources) amounted to genocide.


title: Superior orders

text: The 1950s and 1960s saw the defense of "Befehlsnotstand" (), a concept in which a certain action is ordered which violates law but where the refusal to carry it out would lead to drastic consequences for the person refusing. This was quite successful in war crimes trials in Germany. With the formation of the Central Office of the State Justice Administrations for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes this changed, as its research revealed that refusing an unlawful order did not result in punishment.


title: Superior orders

text: In 1957, the Israeli legal system established the concept of a 'blatantly illegal order' to explain when a military (or security-related) order should be followed, and when it "must not" be followed. The concept was explained in 1957 in the Kafr Qasim massacre ruling. The trial considered for the first time the issue of when Israeli security personnel are required to disobey illegal orders. The judges decided that soldiers do not have the obligation to examine each and every order in detail as to its legality, nor were they entitled to disobey orders merely on a subjective feeling that they might be illegal. On the other hand, some orders were manifestly illegal, and these must be disobeyed. Judge Benjamin Halevy's words, still much-quoted today, were that "The distinguishing mark of a manifestly illegal order is that above such an order should fly, like a black flag, a warning saying: 'Prohibited!' Illegality that pierces the eye and revolts the heart, if the eye is not blind and the heart is not impenetrable or corrupt."