Weapons of Mass Destruction Found - in Texas. Why isn't Ashcroft publicising it?

[Northern_Piper]

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Last month, an east Texas man pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon of mass destruction. Inside the home and storage facilities of William Krar, investigators found a sodium-cyanide bomb capable of killing thousands, more than a hundred explosives, half a million rounds of ammunition, dozens of illegal weapons, and a mound of white-supremacist and antigovernment literature.
…
Experts say the case highlights the increased cooperation and quicker response by US agencies since Sept. 11. But others say it points up just how political the terror war is. “There is no value for the Bush administration to highlighting domestic terrorism right now,” says Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas in Austin. “But there are significant political benefits to highlighting foreign terrorists, especially when trying to whip up support for war.”

Mr. Levitas goes even further: “The government has a severe case of tunnel vision when it comes to domestic terrorism. I have no doubt whatsoever that had Krar and his compatriots been Arab-Americans or linked to some violent Islamic fundamentalist group, we would have heard from John Ashcroft himself.”

So, is this a fair criticism? Is the administration only concerned with highlighting foreign threats? Have people seen this case being raised in the big media outlets? I’m surprised it hasn’t got much play.

[Revtim]

I agree that what they make big deal about is almost pure politics, but the big one, 9/11, was indeed caused by foreign terrorists. A domestic terrorist attack never caused that many casualties, so perhaps do not warrant the same level of attention. Of course, that could change as soon as a domestic terrorist does something heinous.

I only read about the case in the OP from political blogs, making pretty much the same point as the CSM.

[The_Green_Feather]

From the memory hole
I’m not sure how accurate this site is, but I remember reading about it awhile ago.

[Master_Wang-Ka]

One can only make so much political hay off of domestic terrorists.

Evil, swarthy, (insert racial slur of choice here) FOREIGN terrorists, on the other hand, are much more politically advantageous…

[OneYogini]

Quote by RevTim: “A domestic terrorist attack never caused that many casualties, so perhaps do not warrant the same level of attention.”

“In June 1997, a jury convicted Timothy McVeigh of bombing the Oklahoma City federal building, a terrorist attack that left 168 people dead.” (CNN archives)

Posted in the OP: “Inside the home and storage facilities of William Krar, investigators found a sodium-cyanide bomb capable of killing thousands, more than a hundred explosives, half a million rounds of ammunition, dozens of illegal weapons, and a mound of white-supremacist and antigovernment literature.”

168 people killed vs. finding weapons capable of “killing thousands” - - I think that should “warrant the same level of attention.”

My 2 cents.

[Ilsa_Lund]

Weapons of Mass Destruction Found - in Texas.

George Walker Bush?

[GIGObuster]

*Originally posted by Ilsa_Lund *
**George Walker Bush? **

No dear, that is only a weapon of mass distraction!

It is fun (sad really) to find that Blair got into a “Freudian” slip when he spoke recently in Iraq:

http://www.news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=11602004

Blair downgraded the importance of finding WMDs
In a speech dogged by nervous mistakes, he mistakenly referred to “weapons of mass distraction”

:smack:

Plausible deniability is slithering away for both isn’t?

[Apos]

The Army of God still has active members who say that they remain committed to “Christian terrorism” and they’re probably as close as you’re likely to get to a home grown terrorist organization… and really it’s not all that close. It mostly seems to just exist to praise the exploits of lone gun terrorists rather than organizing things itself. I think that’s about the best you’re going to find here: lone guys, or maybe a pair at best, who are at best only cheered on by a small group of like minded people who wouldn’t actually get directly involved themselves.

[Dissonance]

It’s absolutely a fair criticism that the administration highlights threats of foreign terrorism and that domestic cases don’t get as much play in the media outlets. It’s not the first time that home grown terrorists have gotten their hands on cyanide, though, the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord, a Christian Identity group back in the 70s and 80s had a 30 gallon drum full of cyanide when their compound was raided by the FBI in 1985.

According to Kerry Noble, the second-in-command of the CSA who later abandoned his extremism, the barrel was obtained from Klan leader Robert Miles and its purpose was to allow the CSA “in the future, when the judgment time had arrived…[to] dump the cyanide into the water supply systems of major cities.” However, the judgment time never arrived and the CSA never used it.

I don’t recall the case getting that very much attention at the time.