A White Lie: All Terror Attacks Are By Jihadis

By V. Balachandran

August 12, 2012

Walter Laqueur counted 179 right wing militia websites operating in Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, etc.

 People participate in a vigil near the White House on Wednesday for the victims of a shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. AP/PTI

It is a wrong notion that most terrorist attacks, including attempts in the United States are by Jihadi terrorists. The William Webster Commission, which was asked to inquire into the 5 November 2009 Fort Hood (Texas) killing by US Army Major Nidal Hasan, causing 13 deaths, and whose report has been recently released said, "...violent radicalization transcends any one religion — and, indeed, religion — and can find causes in political, social, environmental, and other contexts. The FBI's report on terrorist acts in the US between 1980 and 2005 identified 318 events (including bombings, arson and malicious destruction, and shootings); only 7% of those events were attributed to Islamic extremists."

In 1999, Walter Laqueur, a well known authority on international terrorism, counted 179 right wing militia websites operating in states such as Montana, Michigan, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida and California. He also located 600 White working class militias. He said that Turner Diaries (1978) by Andrew Macdonald (William Luther Pierce) had sold more than 200,000 copies outside bookstore distribution. The novel dealt with the violent overthrow of the US government by Earl Turner, a White Aryan. The Washington Post (12 December 1984) said: "The revolution in the book begins in 1991 and ends successfully after 8 years with the murder of many people, the destruction of the 'liberal Jewish press', the bombing of FBI Headquarters, the obliteration of Israel with nuclear weapons..." Laqueur said that this was the favourite book of white extremist Timothy McVeigh, who caused 168 deaths through a truck bomb in Oklahoma City (1995) on the second anniversary of the "Waco Siege", in which 74, including David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader, had perished. The FBI, which is hated by these supremacists, has been waging a tough battle against them since 1918. On 11 December 1984, they had a fierce gun battle with the Aryan Nation, an Idaho based group, in which Robert Mathews, the leader, was killed. They wanted to overthrow the government, remove Jewish influence and other minority groups from American society. According to FBI documents, The Turner Diaries were their Bible.

A liberal interpretation of the US Constitution complicates matters. To quote the William Webster Commission report: "Radicalism is not a crime. Radicalization alone, without incitement to violence, may not constitute a threat. Our Constitution protects thoughts, words, and even actions associated with extremism, including speeches, public assemblies, and attendance at places of worship..." Fanciful interpretation of such incidents with no thought on the likely societal damage by litterateurs also added to the confusion. Gore Vidal's piece in Vanity Fair (September 2001), 'The meaning of Timothy McVeigh', criticising the FBI for the Idaho and Waco killings, which were cited by McVeigh in his defence as motive, caused sensation at that time. McVeigh had requested him to be a witness at his execution. Gore Vidal wrote: "Since we had been told for weeks that the Branch Davidian leader, David Koresh, was not only a drug dealer but the sexual abuser of the 27 children in his compound, the maternal Ms. Reno in essence decreed: Better that they all be dead than defiled. Hence, the attack."

This provides the background for the killing of the six innocent Sikhs on 5 August at Oak Creek near Wisconsin by Wade Michael Page. Page, like McVeigh, was a former soldier and believed in "White Power" and tried to purchase goods from the National Alliance, a Neo-Nazi hate group. To a question by CNN whether Page understood the difference between Muslims and turbaned Sikhs, his friend said that it did not matter to him, all he wanted was that only the "Whites" should be there. Prof. Mark Juergensmeyer of the University of California at Santa Barbara, the author of Gandhi's Way (2002) says: "First off, this would have to be classified as a case of Christian terrorism — if you're going to talk about Muslim terror and so on. Wade Michael Page being a veteran fits into a pattern of war mentality of a crusader. This can be especially pronounced among veterans, who have been trained to kill, but also occurs with those who see themselves as soldiers, like the Norwegian Anders Breivik who claimed he was saving Northern Europe from the scourge of multiculturalism allowing for domination by non-whites."

V. Balachandran is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

Source: http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/a-white-lie-all-terror-attacks-are-by-jihadis

URL: https://newageislam.com/war-terror/a-white-lie-all-terror/d/8247