Recently Chip Berlet of P0litical Research Associates spoke in Hawai’i about the rise of Right Wing Populism and its potential to veer into a fascist movement. The recent upsurge in “Tea Party” hate activity directed at members of Congress who voted for health care reform and the tripling of right wing militia activity in the U.S. indicate that the trend is worsening. It’s interesting to note that between the two articles attached below, the word “terrorism” is used only once.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/us/30militia.html?th&emc=th
Militia Charged With Plotting to Murder Officers
By NICK BUNKLEY and CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: March 29, 2010
CLAYTON, Mich.— David B. Stone Sr. and his wife, Tina, made no secret about the fact that they were part of a militia, neighbors say. The couple frequently let visitors in military fatigues erect tents in front of their trailer home at the intersection of rural dirt roads, and the sound of gunfire was routine.
U.S. Marshals Service, via Associated Press
Those arrested in the militia case were, top row, from left, David B. Stone Sr., David B. Stone Jr., Jacob Ward, Tina Mae Stone, and, bottom row, from left, Michael D. Meeks, Kristopher T. Sickles, Joshua J. Cough and Thomas W. Piatek.
“In Michigan, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to be in a militia,” said Tom McDormett, a neighbor.
He added: “They would practice shooting, but that’s not a big deal. People do that all the time out here.”
But last Saturday night, Mr. McDormett watched through binoculars as the police raided the Stones’ home, tearing off plywood from the base of their two connected single-wide trailers to search under the floors. By Monday, the Stones were in green prison garb in a federal courthouse in Detroit, two of nine defendants facing sedition and weapons charges in connection with what Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called an “insidious plan.”
In an indictment against the nine unsealed on Monday, the Justice Department said they were part of a group of apocalyptic Christian militants who were plotting to kill law enforcement officers in hopes of inciting an antigovernment uprising, the latest in a recent surge in right-wing militia activity.
The court filing said the group, which called itself the Hutaree, planned to kill an unidentified law enforcement officer and then bomb the funeral caravan using improvised explosive devices based on designs used against American troops by insurgents in Iraq.
“This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society,” Andrew Arena, the F.B.I. special agent in charge in Detroit, said in a statement. “The F.B.I. takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States.”
The Hutaree — a word Mr. Stone apparently made up to mean Christian warriors — saw the local police as “foot soldiers” for the federal government, which the group viewed as its enemy, along with other participants in what the group’s members deemed to be a “New World Order” working on behalf of the Antichrist, the indictment said.
Eight defendants were arrested over the weekend in raids in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, the Justice Department said. The authorities arrested the Stones’ eldest son, Joshua M. Stone, 21, shortly before 9 p.m. Monday in Pittsford, Mich., about 20 miles west of his family’s home, an F.B.I. spokeswoman, Sandra Berchtold, said.
A grand jury had secretly returned the indictments against the nine last Tuesday.
A law enforcement official said the plot appeared to be unconnected to recent threats against Democratic lawmakers who voted for legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system. According to the indictment, the group — apparently centered in Lenawee County, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit — has been meeting regularly since at least August 2008.
The group’s Web site suggested that it was motivated by apocalyptic religious scenarios more than any secular political fears. A rare mention of earthly politics on the site is a page devoted to discussion of efforts to unite Europe, with a suggestion that one high-ranking European official, Javier Solana, might be the Antichrist.
Chip Berlet, a senior analyst at Political Research Associates, a liberal-leaning nonprofit group that tracks far-right networks, said the Hutaree’s philosophy was drawn from a populist strand that fuses fear of a conspiracy to create a one-world government with a belief that a war is imminent between Christians and the Antichrist, as described in the Bible’s Book of Revelation.
In April 2009, the Department of Homeland Security produced a report warning of a rising threat of right-wing terrorism, citing factors like economic troubles, the election of a black president and perceived threats to United States sovereignty.
Mark Potok, who leads a program that tracks right-wing groups for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said it first took note of the Hutaree last year amid a surge in new “Patriot” movement groups, race-based hate groups, extremist anti-immigrant groups, Christian militants and other variations.
“We’re seeing all kinds of radical right-wing groups grow very rapidly, especially in the militia world,” Mr. Potok said.
The indictment said the Hutaree, in anticipation of a war against its enemies, had been engaging in “military-style training,” from weapons proficiency drills to “close quarter battle drills” and the use of “ambush kill zones.” The small group had acquired guns, ammunition, medical supplies, uniforms, communications equipment and “explosives and other components for destructive devices,” it said.
After attacking the police, the members planned to retreat to several planned “rally points” and wait for the authorities to come after them. They were preparing fighting positions as well as “trip-wired and command-detonated” bombs, it said.
“It is believed by the Hutaree that this engagement would then serve as a catalyst for a more widespread uprising against the government,” the indictment said.
In addition, Mr. Stone had announced “a covert reconnaissance exercise” in April, during which “anyone who happened upon the exercise who did not acquiesce to Hutaree demands could be killed,” the indictment said.
The United States attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, Barbara McQuade, said the government raided the group this past weekend because that exercise would have “had the potential of placing an unsuspecting member of the public at risk.”
The Hutaree Web site features the motto “Preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive” and a video showing rifle-toting men in camouflage running through woods and firing weapons.
“Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment,” the Web site says, adding, “The Hutaree will one day see its enemy and meet him on the battlefield if so God wills it.”
By Monday, the Stones’ house stood empty, its front door ajar and two dogs still tied up in the muddy yard, which was littered with dilapidated furniture, a washing machine and tires.
The Stones’ two sons were among those arrested. Joshua, the eldest, left the local school system after the fifth grade in 1999 to be home-schooled, and the younger son, David B. Stone Jr., 19, had never been enrolled, an official said.
Also charged were Joshua J. Clough, 28, of Blissfield, Mich.; Michael D. Meeks, 40, of Manchester, Mich.; Thomas W. Piatek, 46, of Whiting, Ind.; Kristopher T. Sickles, 27, of Sandusky, Ohio; and Jacob Ward, 33, of Huron, Ohio.
They could face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction.
Nick Bunkley reported from Clayton, Mich., and Charlie Savage from Washington. Mary M. Chapman contributed reporting from Detroit.
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Hutaree militia arrests point to tripling of militias since 2008
Federal authorities arrested nine members of the Hutaree militia, a fringe Christian group in Michigan, this weekend. The indictment alleges that the group was planning to kill law-enforcement officers as part of a plan to ‘levy war’ on the United States.
Various objects litter the yard of David Brian Stone, the leader of Hutaree militia, on Monday in Clayton, Mich. The FBI raided the residence Sunday, part of raids that resulted in the arrest of nine members of the Christian militia, which federal authorities say was conspiring to kill police officers.
Madalyn Ruggiero/AP
By Mark Guarino, Staff writer / March 29, 2010
ChicagoThe arrests of nine members of the Hutaree militia, a Midwestern Christian militia Hutargroup, are illustrating a rise in militia activity, which had been relatively quiet during the term of President George W. Bush but has shot up dramatically since the election of President Obama, experts that track militia groups say.
The FBI conducted raids Saturday and Sunday in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, and suburban Chicago to round up senior members of the group, which a federal indictment released Monday calls an “anti-government extremist organization” intending to “levy war against the United States.”
The group is charged with five counts, including seditious conspiracy and attempts to use weapons of mass destruction, which refers to the allegation in the indictment that Hutaree members planned to use roadside bombs. If convicted, the suspects could face life in prison, the maximum penalty for the weapons of mass destruction charge.
The Hutaree is one of 127 armed militias in the US, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a nonprofit organization in Montgomery, Ala., that tracks hate groups nationwide. That number has increased 200 percent since 2008, when there were 42, SPLC says.
There is “no question” the catalyst was President Obama’s election, says Heidi Beirich, the center’s director of research. A similar upswing took place after President Clinton’s election in 1993. Militias and the antigovernment groups that spawn them often become more active when the federal government turns more liberal.
“A major shift to the left certainly helped” in both cases, Ms. Beirich says.
The economic meltdown and the growth of minorities such as Latinos are also a factor, she adds.
Who are the Hutaree?
Federal authorities say the Hutaree started to conduct military-style training in Michigan’s Lenawee County in August 2008.
After debating different scenarios, the group decided upon killing a local law enforcement official and attacking the subsequent funeral procession, the indictment says. The indictment says the Hutaree planned to use “improvised explosive devices” and “explosively formed projectiles” that, authorities say, qualify as weapons of mass destruction.
The group accelerated training in February and March with plans to carry out the attack in April, the indictment states.
The Hutaree is unique because it interacted with militia groups outside Michigan, notes Beirich. Many groups the size of the Hutaree tend to be insular and segregated from larger groups. The Hutaree, however, had 350 MySpace members despite its apparently small membership.
Christian connection
On its website, the Hutaree uses Christian terminology and Bible quotes that position it as a military organization prepared to confront an Antichrist. “Jesus wanted us to be ready to defend ourselves using the sword and stay alive using equipment.… We, the Hutaree, are prepared to defend all those who belong to Christ and save those who aren’t,” a passage reads.
The site’s homepage includes a picture of 17 men and women posing in camouflage uniforms and brandishing assault weapons.
The accused comprise: David Brian Stone; his wife, Tina Stone; sons Joshua Matthew Stone and David Brian Stone Jr.; Joshua Clough; Michael Meeks; Thomas Piatek; Kristopher Sickles; and Jacob Ward.
Seven arrived in US District Court in Detroit Monday and were ordered held without bond until Wednesday, when bond hearings will take place.
True Christians do not kill in the name of God or Christ (same thing). They believe everyone should live as long as possible on this planet so that they can eventually be confronted with the Truth. Self defense is an entirely different matter, but murder is completely The Wrong Thing To Do.
The purpose of this is to make your neighbor the New Terrorist. Anyone could be a Terrorist. Call Homeland Security on your neighbor. If the people of Hawaii were armed to the teeth at the time of the takeover, would we be a U.S. Colony right now?