Why Isn't Jared Lee Loughner a Homegrown Terrorist?
Wednesday 12 January 2011
by: Sahar Aziz, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed
Jared Lee Loughner's mug shot, released by Pima County. Arizona, 1/10/2011
How many more members of Congress have to be victims of politically motivated violence before we acknowledge terrorism is defined by the act and not the identity of the actor? Any person who "use[s] violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature ... through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear" is a terrorist.
While clearly suffering from some sort of mental disorder, Jared Lee Loughner was motivated to some extent by anti-government politics. Had his name been Mohammed, we would be talking about homegrown terrorism, not gun control or mental illness.
The tragic shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is a wakeup call that religious profiling does not work. While our nation was obsessed with Muslim "homegrown terrorism," Loughner stealthily planned his terrorist scheme.
It is no secret that since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI has focused its anti-terrorism efforts on Muslims. Traveler watch lists have grown exponentially, primarily with Muslim and Arabic names. Internet web sites and chat rooms with expressions of political dissent coupled with Islamic rhetoric are presumably under vigilant surveillance. More recently, Muslim youth have become ensnared in sting operations as part of a zealous preventative campaign. So much so that civil rights groups claim the tactics may cross into unlawful entrapment.
To be sure, Muslims engaged in illegal terrorist activity should be investigated and prosecuted accordingly. But with its investigative authorities broadened after 9/11, why didn't the FBI stop Loughner before he shot a Congresswoman in the head, killed six civilians, including a federal judge and nine-year-old girl, and injured 17 people?
In light of the FBI's recent stings of Muslim terrorist suspects that involved months of surveillance, undercover operations and careful execution, where was the FBI when Loughner was plotting his murderous scheme? Did they fail to discover his plot because he did not fit the "profile" of a Muslim terrorist?
But Loughner is not the first time the FBI dropped the ball on countering homegrown terrorism. In February 2010, Joseph Stack flew an airplane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas, to protest tax laws and the IRS's order for him to pay his taxes. Prior to his crime, he publicly expressed his intent to protest the tax laws through violence. In the end, his terrorist act killed a federal employee and veteran. Had the plane crashed into the building a different time of the day, hundreds of IRS employees could have been killed.
In another troubling case in 2008, the FBI was apparently unaware of James Cummings' preparation of a dirty bomb. Only after the police investigated his shooting by his abused wife did the FBI discover that Cummings' house had a cache of radioactive materials suitable for building a "dirty bomb." In addition to literature on how to build dirty bombs and various radioactive materials, the FBI found evidence linking Cummings to white supremacist groups and his ardent admiration of Adolf Hitler. Fortunately for the prospective victims of his dirty bomb, he was unable to murder and terrorize an unknown number of people.
As our law enforcement fixates on young Muslim males in the legitimate goal to stop domestic terrorism, those outside the profile execute their terrorist acts undetected. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when law enforcement misguidedly focus their resources investigating individuals and communities based on ineffective racial or religious profiles, they miss the Loughners of the world.
The rise in terrorist plots by right-wing extremists is not accidental. Ever since Barack Obama's historic election, there has been a troubling proliferation of armed right-wing groups. Many of the groups question the legitimacy of Obama's presidency and by extension anyone supporting Obama's policies. Indeed, Giffords was among numerous elected officials subjected to threats because she voted for health care reform, pejoratively coined "Obamacare."
The violence in Arizona appears to be the latest episode in this troubling growth of right-wing violent extremism. It is a tragic reminder of the perils of focusing on only one particular religious, racial or ethnic group when countering homegrown terrorism. For the sake of our collective safety, not to mention our civil liberties, let's hope our government never forgets this basic fact.
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Comments
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The shooter does not show
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 15:39 — Anonymous (not verified)The shooter does not show evidence of a coherent political ideology. He was mad at Giffords about her answer to a question he asked which had to do with whether words have meaning. So does that make him one of the dreaded "wordist" terrorists?
He looks more like a lone nutcase to me.
He is (a terrorist).
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 15:46 — Anonymous (not verified)He is (a terrorist).
The Tea Party doesn't have a
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 15:47 — Anonymous (not verified)The Tea Party doesn't have a coherent ideology either. "I want my Medicare and other entitlements, but I hate the government, especially when run by a man of African descent."
White people are not
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 15:48 — Anonymous (not verified)White people are not terrorists according to the American definition. Only brown people.
It's a myth that he's a
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 15:49 — Anonymous (not verified)It's a myth that he's a "lone nutcase". There is something quite mad about a society that allows a mentally deranged youth to purchase a semiautomatic pistol.
White people are only
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 16:44 — B (not verified)White people are only terrorists if they are also environmentalists.
Come on stupid liberal. The
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 17:23 — Anonymous (not verified)Come on stupid liberal. The poor kid was mentally ill. My uncle is schizophrenic and he also claims to be against the government because of its nutrasweet police. This guy is not a domestic terrorist. He is a psychologically ill person deserving of treatment.
You're playing politics as much as the right on this and it's disgusting.
"Jared Lee Loughner was
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 21:02 — edgar valderrama (anarchist wannabe) (not verified)"Jared Lee Loughner was motivated to some extent by anti-government politics."
Me too, I guess this puts me on the "watch list!"
"Come on stupid liberal. The
Wed, 01/12/2011 - 23:54 — Anonymous (not verified)"Come on stupid liberal. The poor kid was mentally ill....You're playing politics as much as the right on this and it's disgusting."
What willful ignorance of today's climate is this?
Fox news, ignorant am talk radio, sarah palin, glenn beck, and on and on.
The left has no voice in the media, the right crams it's violent rhetoric of "second amendment remedies" against politicians and fellow americans into every spare inch of airwaves, every mm of newsprint.
Genocidal calls to kill any and all who dare disagree with the wingnut authoritarian right, these people even call nixon and eisenhower pinkos and disavow them.
These people are very much culpable, giving a vehicle, goal, and purpose to their paranoia.
The left does not do this, the left does not have a voice with which to do this, and has not had one for at least 30 years.
Jared attended the same
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 05:46 — Anonymous (not verified)Jared attended the same synagogue as Gabbi !
Yet the liberals both jews and nonJews threw out this anit-semetic nonsense right from the start.
It's a myth that he's a
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 08:34 — Anonymous (not verified)It's a myth that he's a "lone nutcase". There is something quite mad about a society that allows a mentally deranged youth to purchase a semiautomatic pistol.
What's your sources? You have none. The other person of interest was found out to be his cab driver\ http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/police-release-photo-person-interest-arizona-shooting-rampage/story?id=12574636. He's also a registered Independent http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20028120-503544.html
"Be who you are and say what
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 09:50 — Anonymous (not verified)"Be who you are and say what you feel. Those who mind don't matter. Those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss
Any person who "use[s]
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 11:12 — tyler_durden (not verified)Any person who "use[s] violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are political or religious or ideological in nature ... through intimidation or coercion or instilling fear" is a terrorist.
If that's the definition to use, every member of congress, the executive branch, and all wings of the military are terrorists and should all be rounded up and shipped to cuba. Right? Right?
And the founding fathers
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 11:14 — tyler_durden (not verified)And the founding fathers also classify as terrorists.
For a nation that claims "violence solves nothing" our history sure does prove otherwise.
Can we dispense with the
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 14:09 — Anonymous (not verified)Can we dispense with the bush-era rhetoric? You don't have to be of any particular political persuasion to know the "war on terror" is a farce, and the real terrorists are those who pulled off 9/11 and got away with it, who still hold positions of power in this government.
Good lord people, do you have to adopt the terminology of proven liars?
People who knew Loughner
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 15:02 — Jenny (not verified)People who knew Loughner describe him as a leftist. He described himself as an atheist. The guy who flew a plane into the IRS building wrote a rant denouncing corporations and corporate power. When will truthout say anything about the hate rhetoric of the Left?
I knew this shooting would
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 18:28 — Anonymous (not verified)I knew this shooting would result in the whole homegrown terrorist label getting flung around
It's only a matter of time before this will be exploited to create a bill like "The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007" -- a bill that was tantamount to a thought-crimes bill, which would give the government far too much power to decide what is and what is not terrorism (even civil disobedience could potentially qualify under the definition of that bill), as well as being able to justify censorship of the internet (there was significant discussion around the time this bill was proposed about the internet being used as "a tool for violent radicalization and homegrown terrorism").
The writer makes a good
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 20:12 — goobagooba (not verified)The writer makes a good point.
And it can be thrown into the face of the administration that created the Homeland Security Act, a massive over-reaction to an aberrant event (the facts of which are still rightfully debated!).
We treat our white folks with a bit more compassion than is their due; to call this an apolitical act is to overlook its context.
Facts splintered apart soon after the action like glass in a traffic accident, and those with the loud voices and the platforms from which to project them grabbed what shards were most advantageous to their causes to draw attention back to themselves in a jealous P.R. stampede.
to 1/14 @ 1:12. It is not
Fri, 01/14/2011 - 17:07 — Anonymous (not verified)to 1/14 @ 1:12. It is not about white/non white. Remember the Bush assault on the eco-terrorists who were described as a MAJOR threat to US security? Mostly white kids. No it has to do with politics and you can see it plainly in this thread. We are definitely blind in the right eye when it comes ot identifying right wing terrorists, but the FBI does, and it is a long list. .
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