# Domestic Terrorists **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 23, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-terrorists/89139 "2001-10-23T18:29:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-terrorists/89139/1 "2001-10-23T18:29:07Z")
While we in America are quick to point out the dangerous religious fanatics in other places around the globe, we cannot overlook that we have some of our own. The [Christian Identity](http://www.adl.org/hate-patrol/churchmovement.html) movement, including [Aryan Nations](http://www.adl.org/presrele/neosk_82/aryan_nations_82.asp), has the same hatred towards liberalism, democracy and plurality as does the Taliban. While these groups may be relatively small, they are violent. I worry that they may use the current national mood of near-panic to both recruit among fearful Americans and to instigate further terror. I would not be surprised if we find that the Anthrax mailings come from this domestic source of terror. While we are focused on the terrorists from “over there”, I hope we don’t forget the ones that are here. Is there any way to protect ourselves from home-grown terror? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-terrorists/89139/2 "2001-10-24T03:50:40Z")
[http://www.history.navy.mil/library/guides/terrorism.htm#definition](http://www.history.navy.mil/library/guides/terrorism.htm#definition) > [@](#): > > Definition of Terrorism > [Source: Patterns of Global Terrorism. Washington: Dept. of State, 2001: vi] > No one definition of terrorism has gained universal acceptance. For the purposes of this report, however, we have chosen the definition of terrorism contained in Title 22 of the United States Code, Section 2656f(d). That statute contains the following definitions: > > The term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant (1) targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience. > > The term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country. > > The term “terrorist group” means any group practicing, or that has significant subgroups that practice, international terrorism. > > The U.S. Government has employed this definition of terrorism for statistical and analytical purposes since 1983. > > Domestic terrorism is probably a more widespread phenomenon than international terrorism. Because international terrorism has a direct impact on U.S. interests, it is the primary focus of this report. However, the report also describes, but does not provide statistics on, significant developments in domestic terrorism. > > (1) For purposes of this definition, the term “noncombatant” is interpreted to include, in addition to civilians, military personnel who at the time of the incident are unarmed and/or not on duty. For example, in past reports we have listed as terrorist incidents the murders of the following U.S. military personnel: Col. James Rowe, killed in Manila in April 1989; Capt. William Nordeen, U.S. defense attache killed in Athens in June 1988; the two servicemen killed in the La Belle disco bombing in West Berlin in April 1986; and the four off-duty U.S. Embassy Marine guards killed in a cafe in El Salvador in June 1985. We also consider as acts of terrorism attacks on military installations or on armed military personnel when a state of military hostilities does not exist at the site, such as bombings against U.S. bases in Europe, the Philippines, or elsewhere. [http://www.rickross.com/reference/christian\_identity/christianidentity11.html](http://www.rickross.com/reference/christian_identity/christianidentity11.html) > [@](#): > > Earliest roots: Began in England in the 1840s by Rev. John Wilson who preached that Anglo-Saxons were God’s “chosen people” as the descendants of the “12 Lost Tribes of Israel.” They migrated across the Caucasus (and were so called Caucasians). Thus, the Lost Tribes were the people who inhabited northern Europe and the British Isles. Wilson’s teaching moved quickly to the United States because Caucasian followers surmised that if the English, and not the Jewish people, were the blood descendants of the ancient Israelites, then so were the white Americans. In the 1940s, the message was refined by Wesley Swift, founder of a California Identity Church, and William Potter Gale, a World War II aide to Gen. Douglas MacAurthur. > > Some white supremacist hate groups who follow the Christian Identity doctrine: Aryan Nations, Posse Comitatus, the Ku Klux Klan, the New Order and the Covenant, Sword and Arm of the Lord. The only one of these groups that could possibly qualify as a terrorist group, under the DOD’s definition, would be the KKK, and that would be only if you counted the lynching of blacks as some kind of “political” action, and if you could figure out who the audience was that the “political act” of lynching a black was intended to influence. These are just hate groups. They’re not terrorists. To paraphrase, “terrorism is something you do.” These hate groups just sit home and run their Internet sites, and then go out and have meetings. But they don’t blow up dams or train stations or fly jets into the World Trade Center. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/domestic-terrorists/89139/3 "2001-10-24T04:44:32Z")
Maybe [The Southern Poverty Law Center](http://www.splcenter.org/splc.html) site addresses some of these issues.