More Domestic Terrorism

Saturday May 1, 2004

The American government is, naturally, concerned about terrorism - but that concern seems to be almost exclusively focused upon terrorism committed by foreigners, in particular Muslims. Domestic terrorism committed by right-wing Americans has fallen almost completely off the radar. Police still make arrests, but you won't find the Bush administration making any announcements or press conferences about the successes. Why is that?

Michael J. Breit is an Illinois man who was found with "several hundred rounds of ammunition, components for pipe bombs, shotguns, more than 700 rounds of AK-47 ammunition, a cannon fuse and a recipe for dynamite." His goal? To kill prominent liberals and Democrats. He is quoted in the news as saying "I will die for my cause, for it is just. I won't put my hands up and surrender -- I will not rest till I purge these United States from the treasonist (sic) parasites."

Dave Neiwert comments:

Information about this case is nowhere to be found at the Web sites of either the FBI or the Justice Department -- though of course, both carry voluminous reports discussing threats from international terrorists. And of course, the FBI has a full phalanx of reportage on various aspects of "eco-terrorism," which is currently the agency's prime domestic-terrorism focus.

Also unanswered in the Breit case is the lingering question that almost certainly would be raised were we talking about the arrest of a Muslim man: Is there any evidence that his plans to employ 15 other conspirators to gun down Democrats proceeded beyond the mere fantasy stage? As with the Texas cyanide bomb case, there seems to be relatively little concern about the possibility of active and uncaught co-conspirators.

So, the Bush administration is concerned when it comes to Islamic terrorists and even with "eco-terrorists," but right-wing nuts who what to go out and shoot or blow up Democrats don't merit any serious attention. Again, I ask: why is that? Why are domestic terrorists who pursue an extremist conservative agenda given a free pass by the federal government with only local police doing anything to stop them?

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