One of These Things Is Just Like The Others

(Originally published May 9 2010)

2001 may have been the year most closely associated with the word “terrorism” (Word of the Year for 2001 was “9/11”). However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that 2010 is about to take its place.

Hundreds of  terrorist acts have been committed around the world, seemingly on a daily basis, and the United States has itself been the target (and in some cases the perpetrator) numerous times. For the most part, these acts occur on foreign soil. 9/11 was itself such a shocking event because Americans were not used to these horrendous acts being committed on home soil. That was 2001.

It is now 2010 and not since the days of the Unabomber and Timothy McVeigh have American citizens been the ones coined the “terrorists”.

The first major “terrorism” incident ensuing on American soil this year dates back to February. Had one been watching the mainstream media (CNN, NBC, FOX etc.) covering this event, the word “terrorist” or “terrorism” probably was not mentioned once. On February 18^th, Andrew Joseph Stack III, after setting his home ablaze, hopped into his Piper Dakota plane and flew it into Echelon I, a building dedicated primarily to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The ensuing explosion killed Stack and one employee, Vernon Hunter, instantly.

Despite the obvious correlations to the 9/11 attacks (piloting an aircraft into an American institution), the use of the word “terrorist” was minimal at best, if even uttered, by the mainstream media. Is it the few deaths that resulted in this? Or was it that he was a white, middle class American? The latter wins this round.

Another story emerged in late March. Nine people were arrested for taking part in an alleged plot to kill police officers in Michigan and then bomb the funeral procession using bombs a la improvised explosive devices in Iraq. The accused were part of a militia group called the Hutaree (a word created by its leader meaning Christian warrior). The attacks were to spark an uprising against the U.S. government, the militia’s enemy.

So we have an insurgent group, attacking American law enforcement with IED’s, to spark an uprising against the U.S government. Surely, this is terrorism. Try again, folks. Despite the arrests being coordinated by the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force, those arrested were labeled “warriors”, “freedom-fighters” and the like. Only until more details emerged about the “insidious plan”, as spoken by Attorney General Eric Holder, did the MSM start to catch on.

The “captured warriors” (as coined by FOX News) were all white, middle, to low class Americans. They were plotting to kill American citizens, yet calling them “terrorists” was off-limits.

Fast-forward to last week. Faisal Shahzad has been pulled from his Dubai-bound jet minutes before it was to take-off and news anchors have already hurled the term “terrorist” at him. Shahzad is charged with attempting to attack New York’s Times Square with a car bomb. On May 1^st, an observant street vendor noticed smoke pouring out of a parked Nissan Pathfinder and alerted the authorities. Inside the vehicle was a “Rube-Goldberg” contraption of fireworks, alarm clocks, gasoline and propane. Times Square was evacuated and an explosion thankfully never occurred.

Attorney General Holder called it a “terrorist act”. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, “I would say that was intended to terrorize, absolutely.”

What has changed in this scenario that has sanctioned the use of the word “terrorism”? It cannot be that there has been death or destruction. There was none in this case (there was in the IRS attack). Maybe it was that it was replicating tactics used by overseas terrorists, in the vein of the militia in Michigan. It cannot be that either, they were “warriors” not “terrorists”.

The only condition that has been adjusted is that the accused is of Middle Eastern descent. Shahzad is a Pakistani-American. Yes, Shahzad is a terrorist. But we forget that yes, he is an American citizen, like the other accused mentioned above.

If Faisal Shahzad is a terrorist, then so is Andrew Joseph Stack III and so are the nine accused in the Hutaree militia. Color of one’s skin does not exclude that word from their narrative, especially if that narrative is being recorded for their criminal record.

Photos courtesy of the Examiner.com, and Reuters