Daltrey Blasts Press, Politicos for Townshend's Ordeal

["O'Neal, Kevin W." <Kevin.ONeal@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Repost from O&S.
Thanks to Christian Tennant for spotting this.
Cool add with audio for Roger's work on The History Channel when you click on link below.
Oh, and Roger in a black cowboy hat!
A bit of homage to Johnny Cash perhaps?
Kevin in VT

http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|83809|1|,00.html

Daltrey Blasts Press, Politicos for Townshend's Ordeal 
By John Crook 

Lead singer for The Who Roger Daltrey says he is deeply saddened by the
humiliating ordeal bandmate Pete Townshend underwent earlier this year,
but he is even more "appalled" by the callous and superficial way British
reporters covered the story.
Townshend was cleared last May of all charges stemming from his January
arrest on suspicion of possessing child pornography he allegedly had
downloaded from the Internet. Nevertheless, the 58-year-old lead
guitarist of The Who will have his name listed in a register of sex
offenders for the next five years for using a credit card to access a
child pornography Web site in 1999.

Daltrey, 59, is livid at the way he says some public officials released
unfounded accusations as if they were fact, and a sensation-hungry press
corps allowed the trampling of Townshend's personal rights in its pursuit
of a hot story.

"They went through his computers, 14 of them, with military precision
without finding one image, which is exactly what he had told them,"
Daltrey says. "He explained to them that he works in this field, of
trying to get this stuff off the Internet. He was telling the truth, all
the way, and the whole thing is appalling to me, the way he has been
branded this dreadful thing, which he is not.

"Look, I have never known anyone in my life who has helped [victims of
pedophilia] more than Pete Townshend."

Townshend, who says he himself was sexually abused as a child, privately
helps abuse victims receive counseling and rehabilitation out of his own
pocket, Daltrey adds, but such benign stories don't sell as briskly as
sex scandals do.

"You should see some of the letters he has gotten from [people he has
helped], and I am talking about hundreds of people, and he also does just
incredible work in prisons," Daltrey says. "Most people don't even know
about that, because Pete doesn't have a publicist following him around
calling attention to all he does to help people. He says, 'No, these
people have to be protected,' bless him, so imagine how I feel, knowing
all this about him, and watching these second-rate journalists feeling
they can kick him around all they like. Well, I'd like to have a look in
their closets.

"I wouldn't lie for him. Child pornography is so completely abhorrent to
me, that no way would I defend him if I had even a shred of doubt, but I
tell you, no one has done more for these people than Pete Townshend. He
did what he said he did exactly for the reasons that he said he did it,
and he was found not f***ing guilty."

At first, Daltrey says, his own anger was directed at the public
officials who released false or misleading reports insisting that
Townsend had, in fact, downloaded the offending material by the simple
fact of accessing the site in question with his credit card.

"The list that Pete's name appeared on also had the names of a dozen
judges, 30-odd policemen, three [members of Parliamen]) -- we don't know
who the hell they were, because everyone focused on Pete, because his
name sold papers.

"Listen to me very carefully here: There were people in authority, people
other than just the police, who should have known better but who were
inflaming the press with sweeping, untrue statements that Pete had
actually downloaded this stuff. These people were telling what, well,
let's kindly call 'variations on the truth.' What Pete told was the whole
truth, from Day One, namely that he never downloaded even one image to
his computer. That stuff, the pornography, makes him physically sick, he
hates it so much."

Later, Daltrey says, his anger shifted to the reporters who missed what
he felt was a far bigger issue.

"I have to wonder what is going on here," he says. "We used to have such
a thing as investigative journalists who would not let politicians and
powers-that-be get away with this sort of thing, but now we're just kind
of sitting back and putting up with this garbage. If this were the '60s,
there'd be 200 journalists crawling all over this story and not letting
go of it. Where are they now? This has serious ramifications.

"There is a civil liberties issue here, a big one. We can't have the
police making judgments on people with no crime. It's not good for
democracy, and it's not good for the police, either. This could be done
to you tomorrow, or to me, in the same way. Pete did nothing [wrong].
It's disgusting."

Given that Townshend cooperated with police from the very first day, the
case also sends a chilling message to other innocent people who find
themselves under suspicion, Daltrey adds.

"It says to me, 'If you are arrested by the police, for f***'s sake,
don't tell them the truth. That's the message they're giving me," he
says. "My life is almost over, but my kids are going to go on, and I
don't want them living in a world where they can be tried, hung, drawn
and quartered without even facing a judge or a jury, or even a [formal]
charge for that matter. This could happen to anyone, and there is no one
fighting back. It's very scary."

Roger Daltrey hosts "Extreme History With Roger Daltrey," a limited
series premiering Sunday, Oct. 5, on The History Channel.