The Bomb That Didn't Go To Trial
September 8, 2011 4:46 AM Subscribe
Updating the previous MetaFilter FPP The Bomb That Didn't Go Off: Kevin William Harpham changed his plea yesterday from "not guilty" to guilty of the two charges of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and attempting to injure people in a hate crime.
This post was deleted for the following reason: Sort of a thin update to a thin newsfilter post. Maybe flesh it out if you want it to not be "small thing happened in trial maybe not a lot of people know about"? -- jessamyn
Incidentally, threads are open to comment for 30 days.
I'm not sure what that has to do with this post, but I am amazed how little press right-wing terrorism gets in this country. Most people in the US have already forgotten about the horrific attack in Norway only a few weeks ago even as we are gearing up for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. And I am sure that if Harpham were of a different ethnic or religious background he would not have gotten a 27 year sentence.
Homunculus's links at the end of the earlier post are well worth reading.
posted by TedW at 5:09 AM on September 8, 2011
I'm not sure what that has to do with this post, but I am amazed how little press right-wing terrorism gets in this country. Most people in the US have already forgotten about the horrific attack in Norway only a few weeks ago even as we are gearing up for the tenth anniversary of 9/11. And I am sure that if Harpham were of a different ethnic or religious background he would not have gotten a 27 year sentence.
Homunculus's links at the end of the earlier post are well worth reading.
posted by TedW at 5:09 AM on September 8, 2011
I'm not sure what that has to do with this post
Sorry, I totally read that post to say "Updating yesterday's FPP". Not enough coffee this morning apparently. Wow, sorry.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:22 AM on September 8, 2011
Sorry, I totally read that post to say "Updating yesterday's FPP". Not enough coffee this morning apparently. Wow, sorry.
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 5:22 AM on September 8, 2011
Incidentally, threads are open to comment for 30 days.
I love the new comment notification - I was preparing some devastating witty broadside to take you out The 10th Regiment of Foot, then I saw your comment.
posted by the noob at 5:30 AM on September 8, 2011
I love the new comment notification - I was preparing some devastating witty broadside to take you out The 10th Regiment of Foot, then I saw your comment.
posted by the noob at 5:30 AM on September 8, 2011
Not enough coffee this morning apparently.
It took me two cans of Coke to get up to speed this morning, so I know where you're coming from.
posted by TedW at 5:54 AM on September 8, 2011
It took me two cans of Coke to get up to speed this morning, so I know where you're coming from.
posted by TedW at 5:54 AM on September 8, 2011
Since I don't actually go visit Iraq, Afghanistan, and other actual military combat zones, the biggest terrorist threat to me is and continues to be crazy white men, generally crazy white conservative men.
posted by rmd1023 at 6:43 AM on September 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 6:43 AM on September 8, 2011 [4 favorites]
This terrorist has been given a civilian trial? Where's the right wing outrage?
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:44 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:44 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
I am amazed how little press right-wing terrorism gets in this country.
If it isn't done by dark-skinned foreigners, it isn't terrorism. Duh!
posted by Forktine at 6:46 AM on September 8, 2011
If it isn't done by dark-skinned foreigners, it isn't terrorism. Duh!
posted by Forktine at 6:46 AM on September 8, 2011
I completely want this guy in prison. That being said, I am vehemently opposed to the way "weapon of mass destruction" has come to mean pretty much anything a prosecutor wants it to mean. Thanks, USA PATRIOT act!
posted by mondo dentro at 6:54 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by mondo dentro at 6:54 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
That being said, I am vehemently opposed to the way "weapon of mass destruction" has come to mean pretty much anything a prosecutor wants it to mean.
It was a bomb. It would have killed many people indiscriminately. The shrapnel was dipped in rat poison for that extra oomph. How is it not a weapon of mass destruction?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:59 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
It was a bomb. It would have killed many people indiscriminately. The shrapnel was dipped in rat poison for that extra oomph. How is it not a weapon of mass destruction?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 6:59 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Ah, the Patriot Act. Have you seen this graph?
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:12 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:12 AM on September 8, 2011 [1 favorite]
How is it not a weapon of mass destruction?
Nuclear weapons and weaponized smallpox viruses can kill millions. Those are weapons of mass destruction. What you are describing is deadly, but if that's a WMD, then so is a Claymore mine.
I defy you to find one time, before the era of paranoia and authoritarianism that was started by 9/11, when anyone every claimed that a grenade was a WMD. If such things are WMDs, then any heavy modern military weapon is, too, even more so. As just one consequence, it would then not be accurate to say that Iraq was invaded on false pretenses, which it was.
posted by mondo dentro at 7:13 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Nuclear weapons and weaponized smallpox viruses can kill millions. Those are weapons of mass destruction. What you are describing is deadly, but if that's a WMD, then so is a Claymore mine.
I defy you to find one time, before the era of paranoia and authoritarianism that was started by 9/11, when anyone every claimed that a grenade was a WMD. If such things are WMDs, then any heavy modern military weapon is, too, even more so. As just one consequence, it would then not be accurate to say that Iraq was invaded on false pretenses, which it was.
posted by mondo dentro at 7:13 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
How is it not a weapon of mass destruction?
You know when we had this big argument about whether or not Iraq had "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? They weren't talking about a conventional bomb.
posted by kiltedtaco at 7:14 AM on September 8, 2011
You know when we had this big argument about whether or not Iraq had "Weapons of Mass Destruction"? They weren't talking about a conventional bomb.
posted by kiltedtaco at 7:14 AM on September 8, 2011
How is it not a weapon of mass destruction?
If that's the definition of a "weapon of mass destruction", then the Iraq War was justified.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2011
If that's the definition of a "weapon of mass destruction", then the Iraq War was justified.
posted by Sticherbeast at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2011
It means 4 or more ounces of explosive, poison, biological toxins or disease organisms. The strange definition goes back to the anti-terrorism and effective death penalty act passed in the 1990's after the Oklahoma City bombing.
At the time of the OKC bombing, there were no federal statutes targeting terrorist mass killing. the intent of the law is to address crimes intended to kill several people at the same time.
McVeigh was charged with killing federal employees and explosives charges, but it was thought necessary to address new legislation to the use of devices specifically intended to kill large numbers of people. At the time, most of the murders at OKC could not be charged under federal law and devolved to state jurisdiction.
The choice of phrase "Weapons of Mass Destruction" is particularly inept, but the law was enacted several years before BushII waged a preemptive war using false charges about WMD as his main propaganda ploy. But this was essentially the same congress elected under Newt Gingrich's Contract on America, so there was a lot of right-wing tough on crime posturing inserted into the bill. It was also when "tough on crime" rhetoric was partly code for "war on the underclass."
It did represent a major shift in federal law enforcement confronting right-wing domestic terrorism, considering that until 1998, the FBI pretty much denied that it even existed.
For instance, when the FBI raided the CSAL compound in 1985 and found a 30-gallon drum of cyanide, there was no statute to charge that incident.
posted by warbaby at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
At the time of the OKC bombing, there were no federal statutes targeting terrorist mass killing. the intent of the law is to address crimes intended to kill several people at the same time.
McVeigh was charged with killing federal employees and explosives charges, but it was thought necessary to address new legislation to the use of devices specifically intended to kill large numbers of people. At the time, most of the murders at OKC could not be charged under federal law and devolved to state jurisdiction.
The choice of phrase "Weapons of Mass Destruction" is particularly inept, but the law was enacted several years before BushII waged a preemptive war using false charges about WMD as his main propaganda ploy. But this was essentially the same congress elected under Newt Gingrich's Contract on America, so there was a lot of right-wing tough on crime posturing inserted into the bill. It was also when "tough on crime" rhetoric was partly code for "war on the underclass."
It did represent a major shift in federal law enforcement confronting right-wing domestic terrorism, considering that until 1998, the FBI pretty much denied that it even existed.
For instance, when the FBI raided the CSAL compound in 1985 and found a 30-gallon drum of cyanide, there was no statute to charge that incident.
posted by warbaby at 7:17 AM on September 8, 2011 [2 favorites]
Since I don't actually go visit Iraq, Afghanistan, and other actual military combat zones, the biggest terrorist threat to me is and continues to be crazy white men, generally crazy white conservative men.
Methinks you're forgetting the Times Square and underwear bomb plots. And Major Hassan.
posted by identitymap at 7:18 AM on September 8, 2011
Methinks you're forgetting the Times Square and underwear bomb plots. And Major Hassan.
posted by identitymap at 7:18 AM on September 8, 2011
CheeseDigestsAll: Exactly. And how many of the 15 "terrorism" applications were for vegan anti-corporatists, environmental activists, or some other species of DFH?
posted by mondo dentro at 7:19 AM on September 8, 2011
posted by mondo dentro at 7:19 AM on September 8, 2011
« Older You've got your fashion in my art! | Keep Your Enemies Closer Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 4:57 AM on September 8, 2011