It is a time of fear in the face of freedom, a time for the widening of previous roads and the opening of new paths, a time of an emptying country and swelling cities, yet a time when these paths are mined by knowing algorithms of the all-seeing eye. It is the time of the warrior's peace and the miser's charity, when the planting of a seed is an act of conscientious objection.
 | Why Isn’t the Government Going After These Terrorists? |
The Bush White House has, over the last few years, rapidly expanded the definition of “terrorist”. Under the new operational definition, terrorists now include anybody who disagrees with George W. Bush and the right wing Republicans.
The federal government says that a young man who let a bunch of minks free from their cages was a “terrorist”. The FBI and military spy units have investigated pacifists - you know, nonviolent people - as “potential terrorists”. Greenpeace has been labelled a terrorist organization by Bush’s government, though Greenpeace has never so much as murdered a single human being, much less tried to use massive acts of violence for political purposes. PETA - People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals - has been infiltrated by FBI agents as a part of some vague “anti-terrorist” campaign as well.
But what about anti-abortion radicals? Unlike all the progressive, nonviolent groups I just talked about, right wing anti-abortion groups have a history of using violent assault and murder as a political tool. Why, just this week, a bombing in Maryland by an anti-abortion activist was foiled in the nick of time.
The following is a report from United Press International:
“Maryland authorities allege a man arrested with a homemade pipe bomb planned to attack a College Park, Md., abortion clinic.
Police detonated the bomb in a friend’s house after trying to disable it, the Baltimore Sun reported.
Robert F. Weiler Jr., 25, of Forestville, Md., surrendered to police at a Garrett County, Md., highway rest stop. He was charged with possessing an illegal explosive device, making an illegal explosive device and carrying a stolen firearm and was ordered held without bond, the newspaper said.”
If nonviolent anti-war protesters and other progressive dissenters are being investigated as “terrorists”, why aren’t right wing anti-abortion groups with a history of violence, including bombings, being investigated? If the federal government has charged a young man with the crime of committing terrorist acts for opening the cages in which minks were held because he didn’t want them to be made into fur coats, then how come Robert F. Weiler, who planned to kill people with a bomb for political purposes, is not being charged with creating a terrorist conspiracy?
The answer is as plain as day. In the view of the Bush Administration, nonviolent progressive activists who disagree with George W. Bush are more of a threat than right wingers who plan to kill Americans with bombs. As far as our government works, the only people who are treated like terrorists are those people who are not part of the Republican Party’s political base
Contact Us
A conspiracy requires two or more people. These right-wing wackos tend to act alone.
Comment by Michael Hampton — 6/9/2006 @ 3:48 pm
Actually, no. They didn’t act alone when they bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Neither did that anti-abortion jerk who set off the bomb in Atlanta during the Olympics. He was helped by many to break the law and to evade the law.
So, Michael, why won’t the government pursue right wing Christian terrorists?
Are you saying that Weiler was not planning an act of terrorism?
Comment by Peregrin Wood — 6/9/2006 @ 4:23 pm
Good question. Maybe the government should start an independant investigation into it’s own practices and find that there’s nothing wrong with themselves.
Comment by Billy Buerger — 6/9/2006 @ 4:23 pm
Oops, Billy. They’ve already done that - a couple times.
Comment by Peregrin Wood — 6/9/2006 @ 4:24 pm
Silly liberals, don’t you understand?
Terror-based tactics done to SUPPORT government views can’t possibly be AGAINST the government, and as many conservatives will tell you; US Government is = to The US
Therefore these are good people who are on your side.
Comment by HareTrinity — 6/9/2006 @ 4:41 pm