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| 10 years after Oklahoma City, the militia movement is dead |
| 2005-04-24 |
| Ten years after the Oklahoma City bombing, the anti-government militia movement that spawned America's deadliest act of domestic terrorism apparently is a wisp of its former self. After a spike in interest after the April 19, 1995, bombing, militias fell into decline, according to those who monitor such groups. Today, anti-immigration vigilantes on the U.S.-Mexico border, environmental extremists, skinheads and neo-Nazis pose a greater threat of violence, former FBI officials and watchdog groups say. Since the mid-1990s, more than four-fifths of the so-called patriot groups have disbanded, according to the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center. Those remaining bear little resemblance to the high-profile militants who inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up a Ryder truck packed with racing fuel and farm fertilizer next to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, killing 149 adults and 19 children. "It was a broad movement, much broader than the Klan or the neo-Nazis," said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. Potok and others who have studied the militias say they were spawned by resentments to new gun-control laws, the 1993 federal siege of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco and global free-trade policies such as the North American Free Trade Agreement. They either retreated from government's reach or openly confronted government power. "What they had in common were conspiracy theories," Potok said. "Waco was very much seen as what the federal government was willing to do to crush the politically unorthodox, particularly people who were interested in guns." McVeigh, who with co-conspirator Terry Nichols attempted to join a militia in Michigan, chose the second anniversary of the fiery end of the Waco episode for his attack in Oklahoma City. Norm Olson, a founder of the Michigan Militia Corps who later disbanded the group, said that after the bombing, "about a third walked away from the militia altogether. They didn't want to be involved in it." Danny Defenbaugh, a retired FBI agent who headed the Oklahoma City investigation, agreed that McVeigh's act was seen as so repugnant that many people severed their militia ties. "I had discussions with a number of militia leaders who said McVeigh and Nichols did their cause a lot of harm," Defenbaugh said. "Because of the children being killed, they were being portrayed as baby killers." However, as a result of a raft of publicity, the militia movement grew in the immediate months following Oklahoma City. "It took a year for militia members to see through the haze of theories. Militia leaders immediately claimed the federal government set off the bomb to discredit them," said Daniel Levitas, author of The Terrorist Next Door. Numbers crested in 1996, when, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there were 858 groups attracting as many as 50,000 active members. But the spike didn't last long. Mark Pitcavage, director of fact-finding for the Anti-Defamation League, said several factors led to the movement's decline, starting with law enforcement's response. "When hundreds of militia members started going to prison on weapons and conspiracy charges, a lot of members began backing away," he said. McVeigh, a Persian Gulf War veteran, was convicted on federal murder, conspiracy and weapons charges and executed in 2001. Nichols is serving a life sentence. In Texas, Republic of Texas leader Richard McLaren was twice convicted and all but one of his five followers were also given prison time for their roles in a 1997 military-style raid that led to a seven-day siege in the Davis Mountains. The FBI hired 570 new agents within a year of the bombing, assigning many to regional counterterrorism task forces, and Justice Department guidelines restricting investigations of suspicious groups were relaxed. "We were allowed to range more widely," said Defenbaugh, who in the late 1990s headed the FBI's Dallas office, where the country's largest task force was based. Meanwhile, federal agents rethought their approach to negotiations and standoffs and defused several potentially deadly and incendiary incidents without resorting to violence. "Agents-in-charge went through management training in how to handle these situations and there was a considerable effort to meet with domestic groups," Defenbaugh said. "I talked with a lot of them. I'd tell them, 'You have a right to bear arms and join together. You have a right to discord with the U.S. government. But here is the line. Once you cross it, we'll investigate you and investigate you aggressively.' " At the same time, states and local prosecutors began cracking down on so-called paper terrorists and tax resisters aligned with the militias. In the late 1990s, more than 30 states, including Texas, passed laws outlawing the filing of unjustified property liens and simulating legal process. Today, there are about 152 "patriot" groups scattered through 30 states, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates. Ten are in Texas, including the Republic of Texas in Overton and the Constitution Society in Austin, the center says. The numbers have been fairly stable for the past four years. Levitas said militias have had a difficult time recruiting in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center. "When Americans are being killed, it's difficult casting the federal government as the problem," he said. Still, last year in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Montana, militia members were arrested on weapons charges. In Tyler, anti-government extremist William J. Krar received an 11-year sentence for possessing an arsenal that included more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition, machine guns, pipe bombs and a sodium cyanide bomb. "Although they're small in size, there remain people who are hardcore and devoted and not averse to criminal action," Pitcavage said. "They're still causing crimes and causing problems." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #18 SPoD, on account of your repeating that part about 'males between 17 and 45' I thought you meant that gender was relevant. So sorry. I was trying to make a little joke. Guess that didn't work too well, huh? I dislike using Fred's bandwidth for meaningless argument, so this is the last post on this subject I plan to make. Please read what I wrote again. I never mentioned anything about a US militia nor did I mention anything about Federal law. I mentioned a 'well-regulated militia' which, in these parts, is a light-hearted synonym for our State Guard and was such long before nanny-state gun-grabbers such as Kennedy-Kerry-Soros arrived on the scene. (Too many hyphens?) Other than that, I have no idea what you are talking about. But please don't feel obligated to enlighten me as I really don't give a flying rat's ass. I'll let you have the last word. :) |
| Posted by: Quana 2005-04-24 10:15:14 PM |
| #17 Your state code is not Federal law. Federal law and the constutition define the US Milita. Your sex is not relevant. What you wrote most certainly is from a Soros funded orginazation that even has had to change it's name it because it became so discredited. You may research whom funded the group that propagated that thought on your own. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-24 9:32:27 PM |
| #16 There is absolutely no reason for you to be rude, SPoD. I understand completely and I've not bought into any Soros-funded anything. Our State Code defines our State Guard as a 'well-regulated militia'. And I'm not male. |
| Posted by: Quana 2005-04-24 9:26:30 PM |
| #15 "well-regulated militia = State Guard". I see you have bought into the Soros funded anti-firearm BS. The truth is ALL males between 17 and 45, Regulating a firearm is being able to hit what you are intending to. I repeat since you can't read: TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 311. Militia: composition and classes (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are— (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-24 9:18:52 PM |
| #14 wrong side of the spectrum. Today it's the left that's into black-helicopter crackpot conspiracymongering. The FBI should be scrutinizing Kos and DU. |
| Posted by: thibaud (aka lex) 2005-04-24 9:05:57 PM |
| #13 Yeah, Deacon...same here. In this case, "well-regulated militia = State Guard". |
| Posted by: Quana 2005-04-24 8:22:44 PM |
| #12 Today, anti-immigration vigilantes on the U.S.-Mexico border,.. Oh puuuuhlease. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-24 8:18:46 PM |
| #11 Okay, okay, call it the Civil Air Patrol without planes. I expect you're part of a mounted sherrif's posse Deacon? Got one of those here too.... but it's under the control of an elected official, the sherrif. Not Col JumpedOutOfAPlane Intheday. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-04-24 6:18:09 PM |
| #10 I actually do belong to a group that one could define as a militia, The Tennessee Defense Force that has as it's leader the Governer. We are nothing like what is portrayed on the news shows or whats in this article. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2005-04-24 6:13:36 PM |
| #9 Militias were the bete noir of the Clintonista and Janet Reno era, justifying their gun-grabbing nanny state (helllooo Elian!). They played it masterfully. Today's Minutemen are an American Neighborhood Watch and that's to be respected. Notice that the only criticism from the Border Patrol comes from bureaucrats and BP union spokesmen.... |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-04-24 4:37:16 PM |
| #8 There may be some mixed messages and crosstalk at work, here. The only "militia" I respect are represented by the individuals who have banded together to protect their rights - and ours - and call themselves the Minutemen. The ones running around in the Idaho forest with White Supremacy as their goal or pretending to give a shit about the Constitution by breaking the law do not serve anyone but the power-seekers who run them. Real American patriots are individuals first and always, not skinheads or haters or racists or freaks filled with fantasy bullshit who need to belong to some tough-talking asshat group because they're dysfunctional and have no identity without it. When we are truly threatened, such as on our borders, the American individual stands up - just as the citizen-soldiers in our National Guard. Then, when the danger has passed or the politicians buy a clue and do their sworn Constitutional duty for a goddamned change, they disperse and return to their homes peaceably. My $0.02. |
| Posted by: .com 2005-04-24 4:34:10 PM |
| #7 The un-organized milita is alve and well. The locals who wanted to have an "organized" milita here were refered to as the Moron Milita (This towns name was originally Moron.) We tried to convince them that T-Shirts with a Bulls-Eye on them would be a good choice of uniform. Them being the first SOBs that would "get it" if the shit ever hit the fan. They were to a person, fucktards of the first water. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-24 4:29:23 PM |
| #6 I assume all the militias fight on the same side. The LoneStar Love Patrol and the California Pink Bear Recon have no conflict. It's all dress up and play grown up. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-04-24 4:14:43 PM |
| #5 That's all well and good. Stop the militia crap, it's insane and a dead cold loser of an issue. Anyone got a nice picture of him/herself with a bag over the head? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-04-24 4:10:48 PM |
| #4 BTW Southern Poverty Law center is a front for a communist organization that only has the destruction of the US Constitution and Christianity as it's goal. It has little to do with ending real poverty or protecting the poor from abuse from the legal system. The have been helpful in getting rid of some KKKers and Proto and Neo-Nazi groups but the government is better suited to deal with such scum. Person belonging to or supporting or even quoting the members of the Southern Poverty Law center should be treated like on treats venomous snakes in the wild, go around them if you can but don't ignore them or trust them. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-24 3:59:57 PM |
| #3 Message to author. You have no clue. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-04-24 3:25:18 PM |
| #2 TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 311. Militia: composition and classes (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are— (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. Maybe 'unorganized' but still on call. |
| Posted by: Grising Shereling2932 2005-04-24 3:10:58 PM |
| #1 Too bad law enforcement isn't interested in illegal aliens who are "causing crimes and causing problems", hmmm? In spite of what this article intimates, I remain a loyal member of a well-regulated militia. |
| Posted by: Quana 2005-04-24 2:19:36 PM |