Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Joseph Stack Was Technically A Terrorist, But…

Matt Steinglass refutes Kevin Drum:
"So I think that on definitional grounds, you have to grant that Stack’s suicidal plane attack on the IRS was an act of terrorism. But at the same time, we don’t put it in the same league as attacks by trained agents of Al-Qaeda or the Stern Gang, because it’s not part of an organized campaign of violent intimidation that furthers the aims of a political organization. The Oklahoma City bombing, with its clear links to the militia movement and its explicit (if crazy) ideology, was more like the terrorism we see from Al-Qaeda or the Qassam Brigades. Stack’s act was more like what the Unabomber was up to: the lone act of a disturbed man with no coherent vision of how his desired political change could come about. But, again, we’d all call the Unabomber a terrorist."

Like Stack’s, the motives of Al-Qaeda terrorists are a baffling swirl of resentments and half-formed, incoherent demands.

Quoting Stack's Manifesto: "Nothing changes unless there is a body count…I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt”.

Community organizer for light-skinned terrorists, Glenn Beck, would be proud.

He is hoping to inspire massive violence against the IRS. IRS staffers are civilians. The fact that only one person died does not change the definition.

Recall the Homeland Security report warning about Right Wing violence?

Posted via web from liberalsarecool.com