Only that IED wasn’t placed on a bench in Baghdad. This happened in Spokane, Washington. My home state. It was set to explode during the annual Martin Luther King Day parade this past January. Kevin Harpman, the man who allegedly set the bomb, isn’t an Islamic Fundamentalist or one of those "radical revolutionary Socialists" Glenn Beck warned his audience about. Harpman is a thirty-six-year-old army veteran and a member of the Neo-Nazi group National Alliance. Thankfully, the bomb he created was spotted by three parade workers before it detonated.
In April, Glenn Beck lambasted Howard Dean for suggesting that right-wing extremism has become a significant problem.
After airing a clip of Dean's remarks, Beck stated that he hasn't seen anyone on the right "burning down buildings and targeting cops like [Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn] did in the 1960s." Beck later added: "In fact, I haven't even seen as much as a potato chip bag left at a rally let alone some shrapnel or dead bodies or burning buildings.And it isn't just Beck. This has become the standard response of all right-wingers to violent right-wing extremism. When forced to confront it they either pretend that it doesn't exist or they dismiss it as a series of rare and "isolated incidents". They fall back on that old canard that most (if not all) acts of domestic terrorism are perpetrated by "radical liberals." While it's true that acts of domestic terrorism have been committed by left-wingers, to the best of my knowledge, in recent years their actions have not resulted in serious injuries or fatalities. The Justice Department will back me up on that, too.
Single Issue Terrorists...Of these Earth Liberation Front (ELF) and Animal Liberation Front (ALF) have been the most active in recent years. Neither of these groups has caused the death of any individual, although they have caused considerable property damage. "Policing Terrorism: An Executive's Guide." U.S. Department of Justice. Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. (2007)The right-wing may not have received the memo, but the Symbionese Liberation Army closed-up shop thirty-six years ago. These days, ELF and ALF are about as radical as the left gets. While I certainly don't condone their actions, one must admit, damaging property, however illegal and misguided, isn't the same as raping someone or murdering them in cold blood. And that is precisely what right-wing domestic terrorists are doing. You can repair property. You can't bring back the dead.
Earlier this year, David Neiwert at Crooks & Liars compiled a list of domestic terrorist attacks (and attempted attacks) involving physical violence that occurred between July 2008 and March 2011. There were twenty-four in all during that two-and-half-year period. Nearly all of them were perpetrated by individuals who were undeniably right-wing. I'm tired of the meme that these are just "isolated incidents." They aren't. Kevin Harpman isn't an anomaly. The recent terrorist attack in Norway should serve as a wake up call not only to Europeans, but to Americans, regarding the danger posed by right-wing extremism.
Unlike Norway, the United States has a lengthy history of domestic terrorism. Rather than speculate about the threat right-wing extremists pose in the future, I’d prefer to review the damage that’s already been done by highlighting some of the domestic terrorist attacks, and attempted attacks, committed during the last twenty years. Sadly, it's a long list, and I'm sure I've probably missed a few.