By Brigitte L. Nacos
Even before the publicity surrounding two lethal terrorist strikes within less than two weeks it was obvious that the virtual hate speech on right extremist web sites had increased significantly and become more offensive and threatening. The conservative attacks on a Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) report on the increased radicalization and recruitment resurgence of right-wing extremism were totally unfounded as was DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano’s apology for what is sound assessment by the law enforcement community. But the relentless attacks from Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, and the likes were quite successful: One of the earliest reports about Wednesday’s Washington shooting mentioned that the Department of Homeland Security did not deem it to be terrorism.
Terrorism means violence—and the threat of violence—against civilians for political ends. As anyone with merely cursory knowledge of the virtual and real right extremist scene would know, both shootings were acts of terrorism, not criminal acts.
White supremacists, neo-Nazi, Christian Identity, and anti-immigration fanatics have clearly defined political ideologies and distinct political goals. Their extremist Internet postings as well as their books are the stuff for inspirational radicalization and contagion of individuals susceptible to such extremist propaganda. It is well known that the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVaigh was inspired by and used as a blue print for his attack a book (The Turner Diaries) written by right-wing extremist William Pierce.
James van Brunn, the perpetrator of the terrorist act in the Holocaust Museum, distributed his own propaganda of hate via his own web sites and books. It seems that his was the deed of a lone wolf. But there cannot be any doubt that his white supremacy fabrications are very much in tune with the right extremist ideology.
The following is an excerpt from the posting “The Coming Civil War” on the Aryan Nation’s web site that is strikingly similar to von Brunn’s writings:
“WHITEY is waking up to the Jew conspiracy bullshit that has been thrown into the face of all Whites for quite some time.
WHITEY is sick and tired of being the scapegoat for all the crimes of racial violence in the United States.
WHITEY is buying guns and ammunition at a record pace .... no-stop since the Marxist Communist Obama entered illegally (not a U.S. confirmed citizen) into the White House, and WHITEY is awakening to the Jews and their` financial rip-off of the U.S. Treasury (U.S. taxpayers) and the giving of such, to the JEW banks, lending financial houses, and to the Jews themselves without having to disclose where and how much money went where!!”
There are many thousand of such right-extremist web sites with the same fanatic and inciting content. Obviously figuring that attack is the best defense for the apologists for and enablers of right-extremist lies, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners about the shooter in Washington’s Holocaust Museum: “This guy is a leftist if anything.” Limbaugh, no doubt, knows better--but obviously, too, that he can sell snake oil to his clueless audience.
What about the terrorism that killed Dr. Tiller? The Democratic Party’s control over White House and Congress and thus over the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court justices revitalized the extremist fringe of the pro-life movement. This has triggered anger among those who consider themselves warriors in the war against abortion and fear that the hoped for repeal of Roe v. Wade may not materialize. Scott Roeder, Tiller's killer, is a hero among like-minded fanatics and, unfortunately, an inspiration for anti-abortion extremists.
This is how one of the most notorious anti-abortion web sites “reports” on the premeditated act of terrorism that killed Dr. Tiller and eliminated one more abortion provider clinics for good:
"Tiller resume updated as of 5/31/2009 when Tiller the Killer became Tiller the Killee:
He was extreme late term aborted by Scott Roeder."
No doubt, then, that the assessments contained in the Homeland Security Department’s recent report on the resurgence of right extremism were based on evidence and, sadly, confirmed by the two recent acts of domestic terrorism.
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