Via JMG: Michele Bachmann Linked To Uganda's Pastor Martin "Kill The Gays" Ssempa

The Atlantic reports that Peter Waldron, the campaign aide who steered Michele Bachmann to her first place finish in Iowa, has quite the shady past, including an arrest for terrorism in Uganda where he boasts a friendship with Pastor Martin Ssempa. Ssempa, as most of you probably know, vigorously backed Uganda's proposed death penalty for homosexuality.

The evangelical organizer who helped Michele Bachmann win the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa Saturday was previously charged with terrorism in Uganda after being arrested for possession of assault rifles and ammunition in February 2006, just days before Uganda's first multi-party elections in 20 years. Peter E. Waldron spent 37 days in the Luriza Prison outside Kampala, where he says he was tortured, after being arrested along with six Congolese and Ugandan nationals for the weapons, which were described variously in news reports as having been found in his bedroom or a closet in his home. The charges, which could have led to life in prison, were dropped in March 2006 after a pressure campaign by Waldron's friends and colleagues and what Waldron says was the intervention of the Bush administration.

Warren Throckmorton provides the link to Waldron's relationship with Ssempa.

The American doctor also says he is a friend of the first family and a friend of Pastor Martin Sempa, according to the article, written by one Stuart Price. [snip] "They embrace Americans here,” he said enthusiastically. Indeed, as we sat together, a steady stream of young admirers who had seen Waldron in church came up to greet him. They made complicated handshakes, the way Ugandans do, and Waldron boasted to me that he had met privately with President Museveni and his born-again wife.” “It struck me that, for many Americans of faith, Uganda – a country where homosexuality and abortion are outlawed, where politicians freely mix church and state, and where outward displays of religious devotion are the norm – represents a kind of haven.” Waldron is said to have talked to several high-ranking government officials on arrest including some powerful ministers.

Just so we're clear here, Rep. Michele Bachmann, a leading Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States, has a top-ranking employee who was arrested for allegedly smuggling assault weapons to a foreign regime that is presently working to legalize the executions of gay people. Everybody got that?

Labels: 2012 elections, Christianists, gay death penalty, GOP, Martin SSempa, Michele Bachmann, Uganda

reposted from Joe