US-based Terrorist group arrested by government.

[FunkyTown]

Christian militia members held for plot to kill policeman and bomb funeral | World news | The Guardian

Plotting to commit terrorist attacks against the US government, a Michigan based group of Christian extremists have now been arrested.

What do you think this is a portent of in the future?

[gabelpa]

It probably won't be as well publicised as it should be, as the current bent is against Extremists of a non-Christian nature. Home grown Christian terrorists, is very newsworthy. We may yet see more of them in the coming years.

[NeuroTypical]

What do you think this is a portent of in the future?

If, by 'portent of the future', you mean do I believe the righ-wing fringe will begin taking up arms in greater and greater numbers against the government, then no. I do not believe that. I participate in a few right-wing fringe groups, and their reactions seem to be along the lines of "dangit - these yahoos give us a bad name!" Same reaction when dood flew his plane into the IRS building a while ago.

If, by 'portent of the future', you mean do I believe there will be more and more domestic terroism, then I'd have to ask you to open your eyes. It's been with us for a while, mainly as a result of 9/11. You may recall the Fort Hood shooting, the handful of airplane-related terrorist plots we've foiled like the shoe bomber one, etc. Militant radical islam still presents a much greater violent threat than right-wingers. For that matter, I'm more worried about the next ticked off teenager shooting up a public school, than I am about right-wingers.

We right wing fringists will certainly be fighting back against what we see as horrible dangers to our country - but we'll fight back with political campaigns and at the ballot box only.

LM

Edited March 30, 2010 by Loudmouth_Mormon

[Just_A_Guy]

The indictment is here, if anyone's interested.

Note that Count 2 labels bombs and land mines as "weapons of mass destruction". So, I guess Bush has been vindicated--WMD's have been found in Iraq after all!

[hordak]

I say we send them to gitmo and waterboard them. This serves 3 purposes

1 It show other homegrown extremist that they don't "get it easy", that we are too distracted by militant Islam terrorist to ignore them.

2 It shows our Muslim friends and citizens that we don't "play favorites". That is is terrorism we are at war with and not Islam

3 It shows our enemy's that we will not stand for terrorism in any form. "If they will do that to "there own" Christian brothers what will they do to us"

Ok maybe a bit extreme but i think really giving these guys the book, as publicly as possible, will serve the the first 2.

Edited March 30, 2010 by hordak

[FunkyTown]

I say we send them to gitmo and waterboard them. This servers 3 purposes

1 It show other homegrown extremist that they don't "get it easy", that we are too distracted by militant Islam terrorist to ignore them.

2 It shows our Muslim freinds and citizens that we don't "play faviorates". That is is terorism we are at war with and not Islam

3 It shows our enemy's that we will not stand for terrorism in any form. "If they will do that to "there own" Christian brothers what will they do to us"

Ok maybe a bit extreme but i think really giving these guys the book, as publicly as possible, will serve the the first 2.

If they're guilty. I hope they get a fair trial, rather than get used as political pawns.

[NeuroTypical]

3 It shows our enemy's that we will not stand for terrorism in any form. "If they will do that to "there own" Christian brothers what will they do to us"

Unfortunately, hordak is on to something. In order to impress 'our enemies' with how seriously we view such folks, we would have to violate their rights as citizens of the US.

The whole 'human rights' thing isn't nearly as respected, or even agreed with, amongst the folks who want us dead. They consider 'rights' a newish western concept that will fail as so many other cultural experiments have failed.

Yeah, even the smart ones belive this.

So yeah, again, I'm really much more worried about militant islamism than I am fringe militant right-wingerism.

LM

[prisonchaplain]

It probably won't be as well publicised as it should be, as the current bent is against Extremists of a non-Christian nature. Home grown Christian terrorists, is very newsworthy. We may yet see more of them in the coming years.

Seems to me that the media is reporting with due viligence this matter. I can almost hear the bold font and underlining of the word "Christian" in those reports. I don't like it. Gives me just a small taste of what Muslims in America must feel when they hear the repeated "Muslim terrorist" news stories. How Christian were these folks, really? Then again, despite our outsider "exposes" of Islamic teaching, how Muslim were the 9-11 terrorists? Or Al Quaida for that matter?

[ADoyle90815]

To be honest, those homegrown terrorists worry me more than radical Islamic ones because they can blend in easier in society, and they claim to be Christian. Also, in Nevada, a LDS talk by Harry Reid had to be canceled when local leaders started to fear for their safety.

My Real Life Was Backordered: Political Ranters Need Not Apply

[mrbeanroxs]

What ever happened to blessed are the peacemakers?

[Moksha]

Was wondering about these thought from the Seattle Times:

Christian militia arrests: zealots perverting religious beliefs

READERS elsewhere might skim past news accounts of Christian militia members arrested on charges of plotting to kill law-enforcement officers. Not those of us around Puget Sound.

The region knows the pain of a spate of murderous assaults on the men and women who wish to do no more than serve and protect.

Motives change, but the visible targets of irrational frustrations and lethal anger stay the same.

Arrests in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio were spurred by a group's apparent desire to spread the gospel by fomenting armed revolution. If nothing else, it is a timely reminder that no world faith contains all the zealots willing to pervert core religious beliefs.

A group of armed, weekend hobbyists in camouflage with a skewed view of the Scriptures is one thing, but converting those delusions into assassination plots to fuel an imagined revolution is quite another. Too much time on their hands, too much isolation from reality.

This is the creepy realm of the mad bomber Timothy McVeigh, and even the butcher Charles Manson. Evil visions of how to bring about apocalyptic violence to cleanse the world. Yikes....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2011482198&zsection_id=2008831910&slug=edit31extreme&date=20100330

[LocalFarms]

Point I wanted to bring up about this... If they were so bent on shooting police officers as the media points out; then why did they waste their opportunity and surrender peacefully. To me these two points don't match up. Thoughts?

[FunkyTown]

Point I wanted to bring up about this... If they were so bent on shooting police officers as the media points out; then why did they waste their opportunity and surrender peacefully. To me these two points don't match up. Thoughts?

Could be. I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the government in most cases, as people on here know. But I'm also willing to give the benefit of the doubt to the accused. They need to get a fair trial.

[Just_A_Guy]

From what I can gather, these guys tried to recruit the local militia (they are not a genuine "militia" movement, apparently; thought his may be like Mormons trying to say that the FLDS aren't "real" Mormons), and the militia told them they were delusional and should turn themselves in before someone got hurt.

Edited March 31, 2010 by Just_A_Guy

[talisyn]

I'm glad it wasn't an Idaho militia

[Moksha]

I'm glad it wasn't an Idaho militia

The way some people are inflaming the passions of these borderline terrorists, over healthcare, there is a distinct possibility that this could happen elsewhere.

[john doe]

Yes, they used terrorist tactics in the 1960s, they won't hesitate to use them again when their ideology is threatened.

[Moksha]

Yes, they used terrorist tactics in the 1960s, they won't hesitate to use them again when their ideology is threatened.

1980's too, when the death squads continued their slaughter after the Sandinistas won Nicaragua's democratic election.

[talisyn]

Ewww those were bad times, Moksha. May they never happen here.

[john doe]

You forgot the SLA, the BLA, and the Weather Underground Organization. But now that some of their members have the ear of the White House they couldn't possibly have been terrorists, could they?

[talisyn]

I'm sure in 20 years or so our newly-arrested freedom fighters will have the ear of someone in the White House as well. It's the whole circle of life thing in action

[john doe]

I doubt it, but I find it sad that these kinds of things don't even bother some people as long as their ideologies match up.

[talisyn]

So do I, John Doe, so do I.

[Elgama]

American citizens have been funding terrorist attacks in my country for many years,

[talisyn]

Yikes, sorry about that. Yeah, some people have more money than sense