By: Johnny Hill- House Of Public Discourse
Domestic Terror Groups Are The Real Danger To National Security
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| Photo Courtesy of trackingterrorism.org |
With the big emphasis being on counter-terrorism since 9/11, what has gone unnoticed has been the rising number of events amounting to domestic terrorism that were committed in the same time frame.
People who commit “acts against the state” and draw their inspiration from U.S. inspired ideologies and movements have killed American citizens and damaged property across the country. The Department of Justice [DOJ] and the FBI do not officially list domestic terrorist organizations but have them listed as a “threats” category. Crimes in the name of ideologies supporting animal rights, environmental rights, anarchism, white supremacy, anti-government ideas, black separatism, and anti-abortion beliefs were all labeled as “threats to public safety.”
All too often, we hear in America just how awful Jihadi terrorism is and very little is made of the rising events of domestic terrorism and the horror they invoke as well. What’s disheartening is that these events are on the rise with no end in sight. In the last decade, there has been a steady increase in hate groups across America. There are your usual players, the “Klan,” and Neo-Nazis organizations. However, surprisingly where the biggest rise came from was the so-called “Patriot Movement.” There have been two-dozen incidents of domestic terrorism since 9/11, and there appears to be growth in the anti-government extremist activity according to several watchdog groups.
We are inundated daily by hawkish right-wing politicians proclaiming the terrorists are coming to get us and that we should go blow their country to kingdom come. But when a right-wing extremist spurred on by the rhetoric of hate from Republican politicians and their media echo chamber Fox News goes out and shoots up the public square and takes hostages? Mum’s the word.
Dylan Roof shoots nine people in a historic Charleston, South Carolina church and he is clearly a racist…a poster boy for white supremacists. Now, along comes Robert Lewis Dear killing three people and injuring nine others at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. What’s sad is these are not isolated incidents. In America and across the world the world, terrorism is associated with the religion of Islam. When a domestic terrorist strikes here in America, who are they associated with and what are their motivations?
It has been widely reported that Dear was motivated by politics, abortion, and he even made a comment about “no more body parts.” Undoubtedly this came from recent remarks by a Republican presidential candidate based on a bogus video suggesting that Planned Parenthood sold body parts.
There is a larger question to be answered about domestic terror. These individuals who perpetrate these acts of violence are always categorized as a “lone wolf terrorist.” Never are they considered connected to a larger domestic terror group. According to PolitiFact, since 9/11 jihadist groups like ISIS have killed 26 Americans on U.S. soil, while those with right-wing leanings have killed 39.
Any act of terror by any person or group is a concern for American citizens. When it’s done by a foreign terrorist it’s all in the news but when it’s done by a domestic right-wing terrorist it’s sweep under the rug and chalked up as a person with a mental illness. The bottom line is that domestic terror has been more of a problem than terrorism from abroad. More number of attacks, and more number of people killed. In fairness to George W. Bush, there was implemented a division within the “Homeland Security” to track the activity of right-wing extremist groups. However, when the Obama administration expanded the division due to the increasing incidents of domestic terror events by right-wing extremists, Republicans and conservatives declared Obama was targeting right-wingers.
We could create a bullet-point list a mile long of domestic terror events acted out by individuals with right-wing leanings. Their crimes do amount to domestic terror and they should be labeled as such.
Yes, many of these homegrown terrorists do act alone, but what is the root cause leading to this behavior? When you have politicians on a daily basis demonizing abortion, same-sex marriage, and proclaiming the wrath of GOD will be upon us, it’s not surprising that disturbed people like Randolph Lynn burn down mosques.
Americans should be against all types of violence. No matter the source. And people going out committing these acts of domestic terror in the name of GOD and country are in fact Christian terrorists. Muslim jihadist groups like ISIS are right-wing radicals no different than right-wing groups in American like the Klan. The common thread between these groups is religious fundamentalism. Both jihadist and right-wing terrorist in America share a sentiment of nationalism, patriotism, and racism and all this behavior stems from right-wing ideologies.
The acts we are seeing played out on a monthly basis here in America clearly indicate that domestic terror groups are the real danger to national security. Until we put an end to the politics of fear and anger and all the hate speech streaming forth by Republican politicians like Donald Trump, Mike Huckabee, and Ted Cruz don’t expect this terror to decrease but, in fact, you can count on it to increase.
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