Domestic Terrorism In The United States

NowPublic Opinion/Editorial by Gh0s7

For citizens of the United States, domestic terrorism is an uncommon occurrence, while for many other people around the globe it is a daily reality. Amazingly, even after the large amount of domestic terrorist attacks that occur in countries around the world, it is almost like Americans regard domestic terrorism like the big pink elephant in the room. Everyone knows that it is there, but many people want to believe that the government can somehow prevent an attack from every happening again. In reality, I think that we all know that this is not the reality of the situation at hand. After thinking about this, I have decided to do a rundown of domestic terrorism in the United States. First let me define Domestic Terrorism, which according to the FBI is “the unlawful use of force or violence, committed by a group(s) of two or more individuals, against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment there of, in furtherance of political or social objectives”. The United States Patriot Act restates most of the previous definition with the addition of saying that domestic terrorism incidents “occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States”. It may be necessary to clarify that there is a difference between terrorist acts by foreigners and terrorist attacks by domestic extremists, with the latter obviously being domestic terrorism. Not all politically motivated violence such as assassinations or hate crimes are considered to be terrorist actions. Domestic Terrorism is classified mostly by its political ideology, which can be Left or Right wing and Special Interest. Left wing domestic terrorism is considered to be activity by anti capitalistic revolutionary groups while right wing domestic is considered to be committed by people who favor individual freedoms over governmental regulations. Special Interest domestic terrorism is usually committed by a group that is on the fringes of society, such as acts by animal rights activists or environmental groups. Although almost all domestic terrorism from 2002 to 2005 was carried out by environmental activists, the FBI still considers right wing groups as the greatest domestic terrorist danger to the United States. Of the 205 lives claimed by terrorist in the United States from 1980 to 1999, eighty percent were killed in the Oklahoma City Bombing.  Below is a run down of some of the militant groups that have committed domestic terrorism in the United States.

·         The Ku Klux Klan (KKK): Used threats, violence, and arson from the end of the Civil War to the end of the Civil Rights Movement to achieve its white supremacist and anti-Semitic goals.

·         The Weathermen: A radical left organization that was in action from 1965 to 1975 and referred to themselves as a “revolutionary organization of Communist women and men”. The main goal of the group was to over throw the United States government, but the group soon collapsed after the United States withdraw from Vietnam.

·         The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA): The group referred to itself as a radical left urban warfare guerilla group. In the two years between 1973 and 1975, the group was responsible for bank robberies, murders, and other acts of violence.

·         Army Of God (AOG): The group is made up a group of loosely connected individuals that share the same ideology to use violence to end abortion in the United States.

·         Animal Liberation Front (ALF): A name that is used internationally by animal rights activists who engage in “direct action” tactics on the behalf of animals.

·         Earth Liberation Front (ELP): A group that is associated with environmental extremism and that advocated “direct action” against heavy polluters.

·         Black Panthers: Was an African-American organization that was established to promote civil rights and self-defense that was active in the United States from the mind-1960’s to the 1970’s.

·         Black Liberation Army (BLA): A group that is made up of the more extreme members of the Black Panthers Party. The goal of the group was to overthrow the United States government in the name of racial separatism and its Marxist ideals. The BLA is blamed for the deaths of 13 police officers and suspected in over 60 incidents of violence between 1970 and 1981.

A rundown of some of the more infamous domestic terrorist incidents in the United States:

·         Manhattan Draft Riots (1863): The Draft Riots lasted from July 11 to July 16 of 1863 and were the people’s reaction to new laws that were passed by congress to draft men into the American Civil War. Though it is the first noted incident of domestic terrorism in the United States, the riots were not terrorism in the modern sense.

·         Bombing of Los Angeles Times (1910): On October 1 of 1910, the Los Angeles Times building in Los Angeles, California was dynamited causing the deaths of 21 newspaper employees and the injuries of at least 100 more employees. John J McNamara and James B. McNamara were arrested for the terrorist act. James B admitted to setting the explosive and was convicted to life imprisonment while John J was sentenced to 10 years in prison for bombing a local plant.

·         Wall Street Bombing (1920): Occurred at 12:01 PM on September 16 of 1920, in the Financial District of New York. Thirty-eight people were killed and four hundred people were injured in the blast that came from a horse drawn carriage that contained 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast iron slugs.

·         UNABOMBER (1978 – 1995): Though argued by some not to be an incident of domestic terrorism, the UNABOMBER bombings were made up of 16 bombs that injured 23 people and killed three. The UNABOMBER was identified as 53 year old, Theodore Kaczynzki in 1996 when he was arrested by FBI agents.

·         Oklahoma City Bombing (1995): A truck bomb attack that took place on April 19, 1995 and targeted the Alfred P. Murray Federal Building. The bombing killed 168 people and left more than 800 persons injured. Until September 11, 2001 this attack was considered the deadliest attack on US soil. Two men were convicted of the bombings; 26 year old Timothy McVeigh and 40 year old Terry Nichols. Both were motivated by the governments handling of Waco and Ruby Ridge.  McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001 and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.

·         Centennial Park Bombing (1996): A bombing that occurred on July 27 of 1996, in Atlanta, Georgia. At the time of the bombing, Atlanta was hosting the 1996 Summer Olympics and the country was still recovering from the disaster of TWA Flight 800. The bombing was the first of four that were set off by Eric Rudolph. The three pipe bomb explosion killed 2 people and injured 111 and blew nails and shrapnel all over Centennial Park. After being caught years later in Asheville, North Carolina , Rudolph was sentenced to three concurrent life sentences and is now residing in the supermax Prison, ADX Florence.

After learning about these incidents and some of the groups that have initiated these attacks, I came to the realization that there really is not a lot that can be done to foresee a terrorist attack, other than the steps that are already being taken by the United States and other governments around the world. Domestic terrorism could come from what is called a "lone fox", someone who doesn't tell anyone the plans that they have to carry out an attack, therefore the only way to detect the onset of an attack is to monitor buying of chemicals that are nessesary for these kinds of attacks. True, many attacks do come from organized groups but some have come from single rogue persons in our country. An unfortunate reality of the modern world that we live in, is that foreign groups or elements are able to influence the ideals and actions of citizens of the United States, meaning that a terrorist group in Afghanistan could very well recruit followers from within the United States. This is one of the elements of the whole domestic terrorism issue that makes me very uncomfortable. I am very curious as to the opinions of any readers.