Homegrown terror and the return of McCarthyism

A day before Rep. King’s “radical Islam” hearings, a white supremacist is arrested for the attempted MLK Day bombing in Spokane, Washington.

From the Spokesman-Review — “Suspect in MLK bomb tied to racist movement“:

Kevin Harpham in a 1990 Kettle Falls yearbook photo. (Courtesy Photo/The Spokesman-Review)

An ex-soldier with ties to the white supremacist movement has been taken into custody in connection with the planting of a backpack bomb along the planned route of the Martin Luther King Jr. march in downtown Spokane, authorities have confirmed.

Kevin William Harpham, 36, of Colville, could face life imprisonment on charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered explosive device, according to documents on file in U.S. District Court. An initial court appearance is scheduled for this afternoon.

Harpham was arrested this morning during a raid at his home at 1088 Cannon Way near Addy, Wash., by dozens of federal agents who had been assembling in Spokane during the past few days.

More details from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

Harpham was a member of the neo-Nazi National Alliance in late 2004. It was not known when Harpham joined or if he was still a member. The National Alliance was one of the most prominent hate groups in America for decades, but has fallen on hard times since the 2002 death of its founder, William Pierce. Pierce is the author of The Turner Diaries, a race war novel often referred to as the Bible of the radical right.

Our research indicates that Harpham was apparently in the military in 1996-97, when records suggest he was part of the 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment at Fort Lewis, Wash. The SPLC reported in 2006 that Fort Lewis was one of several military installations with a concentration of secret extremist members.

Zaid Jilani at ThinkProgress also has a related piece up that is a must-read — “As King Targets Muslims, There Have Been Almost Twice As Many Plots Since 9/11 From Non-Muslim Terrorist“:

Yet as a January 2011 terrorism statistics report — compiled using publicly available data from the FBI and other crime agencies — from the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) shows, terrorism by Muslim Americans has only accounted for a minority of terror plots since 9/11. Since the attacks on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, Muslims have been involved in 45 domestic terrorist plots. Meanwhile, non-Muslims have been involved in 80 terrorist plots.

In fact, right-wing extremist and white supremacist attacks plots alone outnumber plots by Muslims, with both groups being involved in 63 terror plots, 18 more plots than Muslim Americans have been involved in. Here is a breakdown of attacks by group, along with a few examples of plots by some of these groups:

Anti-Government/Anti-Tax Extremists: There have been 36 plots by right-wing extremists since 9/11. These attacks include Joseph Stack’s suicide attack on a Texas IRS building and Joshua Cartwright, who became enraged after the election of Barack Obama and “believed that the US Government was conspiring against him.”

KKK/NeoNazi/White Supremacist: There have been 27 plots by white supremacists since 9/11. These attacks include a 2004 letter bombing of the Arizona Office of Diversity and Dialogue that injured three employees.

Unknown/Miscellaneous: There were five attacks that federal crime officials did not categorize.

Christian Extremists/Anti-Abortion: There were three attacks by anti-abortion extremists and Christian extremists. The killing of abortion provider George Tiller is the most prominent of these attacks.

Black Supremacist Cults: There were two plots by black supremacist cults.

Jewish Extremists: There were two plots by Jewish extremists. The most prominent of these was a plot by Robert Goldstein to attack a local Islamic center with home made C4 and other explosives.

Extreme Anti-Immigrant: There were two plots by anti-immigrant extremists. One of these was the attack by Shawn Forde, who murdered a Queens deli clerk and was motivated by racist and anti-immigrant feelings.

Anti-Jewish: There was one plot by an anti-Semitic extremist. Norman Leboon made anti-Semitic threats against Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA).

Anarchist: There was a single plot by an anarchist. Joseph D. Konopka “wreaked havoc in 13 counties by setting fires, disrupting radio and television broadcasts, disabling an air traffic control system, selling counterfeit software, and damaging the computer system of an Internet service provider.”

So why (and that’s a rhetorical why) on earth are our public officials wasting time on the following…

Preview of tomorrow’s “hearings” from the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein:

After weeks of speculation and controversy, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) released Monday night the names of witnesses for his first House hearing on domestic radicalization among American Muslims.

The six witnesses who will speak Thursday before the Homeland Security Committee come from a range of backgrounds. They include:

— a father and an uncle of young American Muslims whose faith turned radical and violent. One young man was killed in Africa; the other went on a shooting spree on a military base and is in prison.

— an Arizona internist and Muslim who believes Islamic leaders in this country need to speak out more aggressively for reforms of the Koran and be less defensive.

— Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, who was called by the minority Democrats on the committee and has spoken often in recent weeks about his cooperative relationship with Muslim Americans.

— Two congressmen coming from very different perspectives. Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison, Congress’s first elected Muslim, will likely bring reams of data about Muslim cooperation and will criticize the idea of a hearing focused on one faith group. Virginia Republican Frank Wolf currently oversees the budget of the FBI and the Justice Department through his work on a House subcommittee.

Extremism, fundamentalism, violence, and domestic terrorism are real problems. Having hearings that scapegoat minorities in this country doesn’t solve those problems. It only puts more fuel on the fire.

Stacyx (aka SecretaryClintonBlog) put up a great rant last week about Rep. King reviving “The Ghost of McCarthy”:

The irony of Peter King calling these hearings is rich indeed given he is a long time supporter of the Irish Republican Army– a group most of the world considers a terrorist group until they agreed to demilitarize. I guess whether one is a terrorist depends on a) the color of their skin, b) their religion and c) whether one personally identifies with the group doing the terrorizing. I think we can all see the problem with that- one person’s terrorist is another person’s freedom fighter- just ask Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni, whose parents were Irgun terrorists but whom she describes as “freedom fighters.”

[…]

It’s interesting that the only form of violent extremism Rep. King is concerned with is Muslim in nature- I guess bombing abortion clinics, murdering women’s health providers and violence directed at the federal government doesn’t count? Interesting, that.

Of course, none of this helps Obama and Secretary Clinton reach out to the Muslim world at a critical time. The Arab world is changing- in a very positive way- and what does the GOP do? Focus on the negative and provide a great propaganda opportunity for people like Al Qaeda and Hamas. It could hurt our already damaged reputation in the Muslim world. And then of course, there is the simple fact that such intolerance and overgeneralizing about an entire group of people is just un-American.

I think we can weed out potentially violent extremists in our midst without putting an entire religion on trial.

I agree — and I think putting an entire religion on trial is, among other things, another distraction away from the economy and jobs and a tool of division to keep people from demanding people be put before profit.