Homegrown threat kills more than jihadis according to NY Tim

[The Romulan Republic]

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/0/25/us/tal ... 73026&_r=0

WASHINGTON — In the 14 years since Al Qaeda carried out attacks on New York and the Pentagon, extremists have regularly executed smaller lethal assaults in the United States, explaining their motives in online manifestoes or social media rants.

But the breakdown of extremist ideologies behind those attacks may come as a surprise. Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, antigovernment fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims: 48 have been killed by extremists who are not Muslim, including the recent mass killing in Charleston, S.C., compared with 26 by self-proclaimed jihadists, according to a count by New America, a Washington research center.

The slaying of nine African-Americans in a Charleston church last week, with an avowed white supremacist charged with their murders, was a particularly savage case.

But it is only the latest in a string of lethal attacks by people espousing racial hatred, hostility to government and theories such as those of the “sovereign citizen” movement, which denies the legitimacy of most statutory law. The assaults have taken the lives of police officers, members of racial or religious minorities and random civilians.

Non-Muslim extremists have carried out 19 such attacks since Sept. 11, according to the latest count, compiled by David Sterman, a New America program associate, and overseen by Peter Bergen, a terrorism expert. By comparison, seven lethal attacks by Islamic militants have taken place in the same period.

If such numbers are new to the public, they are familiar to police officers. A survey to be published this week asked 382 police and sheriff’s departments nationwide to rank the three biggest threats from violent extremism in their jurisdiction. About 74 percent listed antigovernment violence, while 39 percent listed “Al Qaeda-inspired” violence, according to the researchers, Charles Kurzman of the University of North Carolina and David Schanzer of Duke University.

Continue reading the main story
Homegrown Terrorism
In the United States since Sept. 11, terrorist attacks by antigovernment, racist and other nonjihadist extremists have killed nearly twice as many people as those by Islamic jihadists.

deaths
50
40
30
20
10
0
Jihadists
Nonjihadist extremists
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2015
Fort Hood shooting
–
Boston Marathon bombing
|
Charleston shooting
–

Source: New America Foundation
Continue reading the main story
RELATED COVERAGE

A photo from a white supremacist website showing Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston, S.C., church shooting.Federal Hate Crime Charges Likely in South Carolina Church ShootingJUNE 24, 2015
An honor guard carried the coffin of State Senator Clementa C. Pinckney, a shooting victim, in Columbia, S.C., on Wednesday.Charleston Families Hope Words Endure Past ShootingJUNE 24, 2015
State flags line the Capitol subway tracks in Washington.Calls to Cut Ties to Symbols of the SouthJUNE 23, 2015
The Council of Conservative Citizens was most visibly active in South Carolina during a fierce debate in 2000 over flying the Confederate battle flag on the grounds of the State House in Columbia, picketing in support of continuing to display the emblem.Council of Conservative Citizens Promotes White Primacy, and G.O.P. TiesJUNE 22, 2015
Earl Holt III, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, in a 2013 image taken from the council's website.White Supremacist Who Influenced Charleston Suspect Donated to 2016 G.O.P. CampaignsJUNE 22, 2015
A photo from a white supremacist website showing Dylann Roof, the suspect in the Charleston, S.C., church shooting.Dylann Roof Photos and a Manifesto Are Posted on WebsiteJUNE 20, 2015
A scene from a vigil at Morris Brown African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., for the victims.Many Ask, Why Not Call Church Shooting Terrorism?JUNE 18, 2015
“Law enforcement agencies around the country have told us the threat from Muslim extremists is not as great as the threat from right-wing extremists,” said Dr. Kurzman, whose study is to be published by the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security and the Police Executive Research Forum.

John G. Horgan, who studies terrorism at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, said the mismatch between public perceptions and actual cases had become steadily more obvious to scholars.

“There’s an acceptance now of the idea that the threat from jihadi terrorism in the United States has been overblown,” Dr. Horgan said. “And there’s a belief that the threat of right-wing, antigovernment violence has been underestimated.”

Continue reading the main story
RELATED IN OPINION

Op-Ed Contributors: White Supremacists Without BordersJUNE 22, 2015
Homegrown HateJUNE 24, 2015
Counting terrorism cases is a subjective enterprise, relying on shifting definitions and judgment calls.

If terrorism is defined as ideological violence, for instance, should an attacker who has merely ranted about religion, politics or race be considered a terrorist? A man in Chapel Hill, N.C., who was charged with fatally shooting three young Muslim neighbors had posted angry critiques of religion, but he also had a history of outbursts over parking issues. (New America does not include this attack in its count.)

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story
Likewise, what about mass killings in which no ideological motive is evident, such as those at a Colorado movie theater and a Connecticut elementary school in 2012? The criteria used by New America and most other research groups exclude such attacks, which have cost more lives than those clearly tied to ideology.

Some killings by non-Muslims that most experts would categorize as terrorism have drawn only fleeting news media coverage, never jelling in the public memory. But to revisit some of the episodes is to wonder why.

In 2012, a neo-Nazi named Wade Michael Page entered a Sikh temple in Wisconsin and opened fire, killing six people and seriously wounding three others. Mr. Page, who died at the scene, was a member of a white supremacist group called the Northern Hammerskins.

In another case, in June 2014, Jerad and Amanda Miller, a married couple with radical antigovernment views, entered a Las Vegas pizza restaurant and fatally shot two police officers who were eating lunch. On the bodies, they left a swastika, a flag inscribed with the slogan “Don’t tread on me” and a note saying, “This is the start of the revolution.” Then they killed a third person in a nearby Walmart.

And, as in the case of jihadist plots, there have been sobering close calls. In November 2014 in Austin, Tex., a man named Larry McQuilliams fired more than 100 rounds at government buildings that included the Police Headquarters and the Mexican Consulate. Remarkably, his shooting spree hit no one, and he was killed by an officer before he could try to detonate propane cylinders he drove to the scene.

Continue reading the main story
RECENT COMMENTS

New Boethius 5 minutes ago
Let us consider another ratio: the ratio of murders by white extremists to the size of the white population compared to the ratio of...
Ferrylas 6 minutes ago
BOTH type of homegrown terrorists need to be attended toNeither is 'worse' than the other.... They are BOTH ... The worst.Pretending that...
Joe T 7 minutes ago
"On several occasions since President Obama took office, efforts by government agencies to conduct research on right-wing extremism have run...
SEE ALL COMMENTS WRITE A COMMENT
Some Muslim advocates complain that when the perpetrator of an attack is not Muslim, news media commentators quickly focus on the question of mental illness. “With non-Muslims, the media bends over backward to identify some psychological traits that may have pushed them over the edge,” said Abdul Cader Asmal, a retired physician and a longtime spokesman for Muslims in Boston. “Whereas if it’s a Muslim, the assumption is that they must have done it because of their religion.”

On several occasions since President Obama took office, efforts by government agencies to conduct research on right-wing extremism have run into resistance from Republicans, who suspected an attempt to smear conservatives.

A 2009 report by the Department of Homeland Security, which warned that an ailing economy and the election of the first black president might prompt a violent reaction from white supremacists, was withdrawn in the face of conservative criticism. Its main author, Daryl Johnson, later accused the department of “gutting” its staffing for such research.

William Braniff, the executive director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland, said the outsize fear of jihadist violence reflected memories of Sept. 11, the daunting scale of sectarian conflict overseas and wariness of a strain of Islam that seems alien to many Americans.

Advertisement

Continue reading the main story
Advertisement

Continue reading the main story
Advertisement

Continue reading the main story
“We understand white supremacists,” he said. “We don’t really feel like we understand Al Qaeda, which seems too complex and foreign to grasp.”

CONTINUE READING THE MAIN STORY
702
COMMENTS
The contentious question of biased perceptions of terrorist threats dates back at least two decades, to the truck bombing that tore apart the federal building in Oklahoma City in April 1995. Some early news media speculation about the attack assumed that it had been carried out by Muslim militants. The arrest of Timothy J. McVeigh, an antigovernment extremist, quickly put an end to such theories.

The bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children, remains the second-deadliest terrorist attack in American history, though its toll was dwarfed by the roughly 3,000 killed on Sept 11.

“If there’s one lesson we seem to have forgotten 20 years after Oklahoma City, it’s that extremist violence comes in all shapes and sizes,” said Dr. Horgan, the University of Massachusetts scholar. “And very often, it comes from someplace you’re least suspecting.”

Interesting.

Obviously if you include 911 it changes the numbers rather drastically, and its reasonable for people to want to make sure nothing like 911 happens again, but the difference in the amount of attention given to Islamic terrorism compared to Right-wing/white supremacist/other terrorists is quite disturbing in light of this. I'm not saying we should start having more drone strikes, spying, torture, and wars against other types of terrorists, of course. But maybe take the threat more seriously as a country? And keep the fear of Muslim terrorists (which too often translates into a general hostility toward Muslims) in perspective?

Though I would criticize this article for treating jihadist and homegrown as separate categories. Its quite possible to have a homegrown jihadist.

[Grumman]

Just like last time somebody brought this shit up, you can tell they are lying by the fact that they excluded the Beltway sniper attacks.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, the article says 26 jihadi-related deaths to 48 other deaths. Unless they're leaving out other stuff, or the sniper attacks caused at least 22 deaths, it wouldn't change the conclusion that non-jidhaid related deaths are more common, even if it would change the overall number.

Although that seems like a rather blatant and obvious lie. Is their some reason why the Beltway snipers are not officially counted as jihadis that I'm not aware of?

[Metahive]

Because the connection between the Beltway Snipers and islamism could never be firmly established to the exclusion of everything else, John Allen Muhammad rambled about Jihad while in prison, but there has been the alternate theory that he just wanted to cover up the attempt to murder his girlfriend. That theory was however actively supressed by the presiding judge of the trial which I find rather fishy.

[Grumman]

Because the connection between the Beltway Snipers and islamism could never be firmly established to the exclusion of everything else, John Allen Muhammad rambled about Jihad while in prison, but there has been the alternate theory that he just wanted to cover up the attempt to murder his girlfriend. That theory was however actively supressed by the presiding judge of the trial which I find rather fishy.

The theory fails because before you can establish that Muhammed was trying to cover up an attempt to murder his ex-wife, you must first establish that he was attempting to murder his ex-wife.

[Metahive]

Now that I think of it, no matter what motivated John Allen Muhammad, it would still be domestic terrorism since he was a US citizen. Religiously extremistic action would also mean he'd be right-wing anyway. So if he was a Jihadi, he'd still be a domestic right-wing terrorist.

[Flagg]

Now that I think of it, no matter what motivated John Allen Muhammad, it would still be domestic terrorism since he was a US citizen. Religiously extremistic action would also mean he'd be right-wing anyway. So if he was a Jihadi, he'd still be a domestic right-wing terrorist.

Shhhh! Right Wing Christians are Fundamentalists, Right Wing Muslims are Radicals!

[Titan Uranus]

Of course, all of these things are dwarfed by the number of Americans killed by lightning strikes. Quick, we must reorganize our entire society to prevent lighting strike deaths! No more open skies, there must be covered pathways wherever humans might travel. Think of the children! If it save just one life it's worth it, right?

[Jub]

Quick, somebody get their local representative on the line we need to form the LSA (Lightning Safety Authority) and ensure that they ensure nobody is carrying metal objects when they go outside. Yes, even on clear days where there is very little chance of a storm; lightning can strike without warning!

[Vendetta]

Never mind lightning. 22 people per year in the USA are killed by cows.

[Metahive]

Of course, all of these things are dwarfed by the number of Americans killed by lightning strikes. Quick, we must reorganize our entire society to prevent lighting strike deaths! No more open skies, there must be covered pathways wherever humans might travel. Think of the children! If it save just one life it's worth it, right?

See, I make that argument every time the mainstream media see fit to incite another terror panic. Just going outside and exposing yourself to the traffic is much more dangerous than any mountain-dwelling jihadist plotting mayhem in a hole in Afghanistan or Yemen, yet people act as if there's a little terrorist hiding beneath their beds ready to slit their throats should their CONSTANT VIGILANCE ever falter...

[His Divine Shadow]

Never mind lightning. 22 people per year in the USA are killed by cows.

Self-defence, really,

[Titan Uranus]

Never mind lightning. 22 people per year in the USA are killed by cows.

Well yeah, they're big, dangerous animals, just because they're usually docile doesn't mean that they cannot easily become deadly. Frankly I'm surprised it's that low.

[salm]

Relevant:

[Borgholio]

Why is that Barbarian trying to whirlwind with his bare fists?

[salm]

Cows don´t have opposable thumbs, therefore it is obvious that the halberds they´re wielding are only imaginary.
The barbarian would feel like a pussy if he brought a sword to a fist fight.

[General Zod]

Never mind lightning. 22 people per year in the USA are killed by cows.

Self-defence, really,

Photographic evidence:

[Channel72]

If you guys are done with your anti-bovine propaganda...

I posted this earlier in the church shooting thread:

https://www.ctc.usma.edu/v2/wp-content/ ... elines.pdf

Basically, it's a Westpoint study detailing the rising trend in White Supremacist/right wing violence and terrorist attacks. The graph on page 87 is particularly disturbing, which shows that violent behavior from white supremacists has increased substantially over the past decade.

So why don't we hear more about this from the media? Well, the problem is that a lot of it amounts to scattered hate crimes, vandalism, beatings, or murders, which tends to register as background noise, unlike the more sensational events like mass shootings or large-scale attacks like the Oklahoma City bombing. However, according to this study at least, overall, violent incidents involving far-right extremists are getting more and more common.

Of particular significance:

With the exception of 1995’s OKBOMB casualties, it can be seen that the last decade has
been more lethal than the 1990s, a trend that corresponds with the increase in the
number of attacks during the 2000s. A more nuanced interpretation allows us to
identify four distinct phases. The first, between 1990 and 1998, is characterized by a
relatively low number of fatalities and injuries, subject again to the exception of 1995.
Between 1999 and 2002 we can see a significant rise in the casualty rates attributable to
far-right violence as the number of injured rose to over 100, and except for 2002, over
150. The number of fatalities was usually a few dozen. Between 2003 and 2006 there is a
decline in casualties, as in those years the number of victims declines below 100 injured
and 20 fatalities. Finally, between 2007 and 2011 there is again a rise in the number of
victims, to the highest levels documented so far.

Although providing some idea regarding the highs and lows of far-right violence in
terms of the number of victims it has generated, the above numbers still cannot enable
an accurate assessment of its productivity in this regard. This term refers to the ability
to maximize the number of victims for each violent operation. Thus, in order to assess
productivity we need to calculate the average number of victims per attack while
controlling for attacks which initially were not intended to result in human casualties or
were not capable of doing so, i.e., attacks against property, or attacks that were not
completed.

Also, as I mentioned in the other thread, every time foreign terrorists (basically just Al Qaeda) pulls off a spectacular attack like 9/11, domestic terrorism and far-right extremism experiences a brief but sharp decline.

Hence, in periods during which many streams of terrorism have shown improvement
in their operational capabilities and, as a result, an increase in their tendency to engage
in mass casualty attacks, the violent American far right shows stagnation, at least in
terms of its ability to enhance the harm it generates.

In fact, the 2004 Al Qaeda Madrid Bombing literally ended the Basque terrorist movement in Spain. In the US, 9/11 sadly did not end right-wing extremism - but it sort of shut them up for a while. Probably because they were reeling in shock like the rest of the country, and even their warped minds felt some kind of fleeting solidarity with the rest of the nation. Either that, or they just felt their message would be too muffled in the wake of something as insane as 9/11. (Which is kind of funny - it's like, hey redneck idiots, nobody cares about your cause right now... we're too busy noticing the World Trade Center collapse. Oh, and apparently a bunch of brown people are better at terrorism than you.)

Page 102 of the PDF shows a pie chart which outlines the different types of violent far right behavior. Most of these register as hate crimes, rather than terrorism. (42% of the "attacks" are cross-burnings.) Only about 3% were large-scale plots designed to cause massive casualties. Most (or all, I guess) of these were foiled, which is why we haven't really heard much about this - the media wasn't really interested I guess because Jihad is way cooler now.

But overall, what this shows is that the American far right is alive and well - even if they're not really very organized and mostly just a bunch of stupid thugs who beat up gays and blacks, rather than people that actually know how to pull off something like Tim McVeigh. But the overall trend of increasing hate crimes and violence involving the far right is extremely disturbing - even if it's to be expected given that we have a black Democrat in office. It's also somewhat disturbing how this trend really isn't reported on in the media, precisely because there's nothing really sensational to report - just a growing trend. But I really wouldn't be surprised if another white Christian hillbilly decides to blow something up in the next couple of years, especially if (i.e. when) a Democrat wins in 2016.