Militia Raids by Feds in three states
Fox News reports that the FBI raided several enclaves of militia groups in three states this weekend, resulting in several arrests;
Federal warrants were sealed, but FBI spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said there had been activity in two southwest Michigan counties near the Ohio state line. She wouldn’t say whether they were tied to the raids in the other states.
FBI spokesman Scott Wilson in Cleveland said agents arrested two people Saturday after raids in two towns in Ohio. A third arrest was made in northeast Illinois on Sunday, a day after a raid took place just over the border in northwest Indiana.
A U.S. official told the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity that some of the people arrested face gun charges.
While Fox mentions only three arrests, the Detroit News says there were seven in Michigan alone;
On Sunday, a source close to the investigation in Washington, D.C. confirmed that FBI agents were conducting activities in Washtenaw and Lenawee counties over the weekend in connection to Hutaree, a Christian militia group. Detroit FBI Special Agent Sandra Berchtold told The Detroit News the federal warrants in the case are under court seal and declined further comment.
It is difficult to tell what beef the Feds had with the militia groups from the reportage, but nonetheless, the Left (most noticeably, Little Green Footballs) is using the raids to prove that there are terrorists on the Right who are a bigger threat to our security than the others. Another Left Winger, at The Reaction, says it’s about time;
For all the focus of Islamic jihadism, which indeed deserves such focus, it’s about time Americans woke up and realized that one of the truly gravest threats to their country comes from within, from far-right militia groups, usually linked either to Nazism or to Christianity (or to both).
I thought Nazism IS Christianity. That’s what I get from trolling the depths of Leftist *ahem* thought.
Of course, on Friday, when the militia groups actually helped police in Michigan, Mark Potok, Southern Poverty Law Center’s chief bomb-thrower was quick to disparage the groups helping police search for lost people;
One militia watchdog group said the township supervisor crossed a line by enlisting help from the local militia.
“When officials welcome people like this in their capacity as militias, they help mainstream these ideas and these ideas can become dangerous,” said Mark Potok with the Southern Poverty Law Center.
I guess Potok wants to outlaw “ideas”.
UPDATE: According to Fox News, the arrestees had been planning to kill cops.
Nine suspects tied to a militia in the Midwest are charged with conspiring to kill police officers, then attack a funeral in the hopes of killing more law enforcement people, federal prosecutors said Monday.
No one I know does that – and it’s pretty likely that other militia groups aided police.
ADDED: Some guy named MOTHAX at The Burn Pit wrote some familiar-sounding stuff today in relation to the SPLC.
Category: Breaking News, General Whackos, SPLC
Yah, right down the road from me too. I read that they had communicated threats to Muslims or Muslim groups….figured Chuckles would welcome them into the fold….oh wait, they’re a Christian militia….can’t have no Christians at LGF. In fact, they knew the raids were coming and tried to get the local militia to help them…the local militia then called the police but we don’t want to upset Potok’s or Chuckles preconcieved conclusions.
There’s nothing wrong with being in a militia, as long as you follow the law and you don’t go around threatening people or groups. That’s why law enforcement was working with the local militia. They know these people and live int he same communities. They are law abiding citizens and they are not involved in illegal activites. The ones they are rounding up are possibly doing something against the law and the local militias are helping law enforcement. The problem that morons like Potok and Chuckles have is that they assume that everyone is like those on the left that stick together and don’t denounce violence from leftist associated groups.
For the record, I’m not a member of any milita, however, I have nothing against those that are. It’s that pesky piece of paper that says we have the right to freedom of assembly, that Potok and those of his thought patterns don’t like when it covers others that don’t think as they do.
The federal indictment has been unsealed and published. The counts are conspiracy to manufacture weapons of mass destruction (pipe bombs) teaching others without authorization how to build WMD’s (pipe bombs) and use them against the government and possessing guns while committing an act of violence.
While the published info on the group and the fact that the other militias wouldn’t help them points to these folks maybe being a bit out there, I have to take issue with the governments use of massive force to arrest for this.
Guess they have to make themselves look popular after the health care debacle.
It would be nice if our LE folks would pay the same amount of attention to the radical Islamist training camps in Virginia. If this militia group broke the law(s), then it will be worked out in court. I have no problem with that.
It just seems a little too convenient to have these raids occur on a sunday, during a Congressional recess, and on the heels of the people’s majority rejection of an attempt to circumvent the Constitution via a government take-over of a large portion of our economy.
Seems more like Rahm and Company are sending a message to the American people: Disagree with us at your own peril.
YMMV, of course.
When dealing with someone who has stated a desire to kill law enforcement officers, “massive force” is usually employed. I don’t know the whole story as it seems to have been somewhat bumped by the subway bombing in Moscow, but I did read the indictment. It makes for interesting reading.
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/stone.pdf
I heard about this a few days ago, but like someone said it got bumped and I just forgot to read up on. Sounds like pretty solid case against them. Good. Hang’em for formetting and an insurrection(even if it was pathetic one).
SPLC what a bunch a maroons. Yeh, government can barely say jihad/Islam in the same sentence. Never mind that Mohammed, the founder of Islam, was a GODDAMN WARLORD! Religion of peace my ass.
I agree with Law enforcement using excessive force in apehending these criminals. Yes i called them criminals because that’s what they are. As soon as you threaten the lives of any law enforcement personel you are breaking the law and need to be kept from carring out those threats. what i don’t agree with is how the SPLC is portraying the militas. I live in Michigan and, while not a member of the Michigan Militia, have witnesses some of the good they have done in the community, including helping to find lost children to running weapons safety classes for young hunters.
I think this is just another attempt by the SPLC to raise money to combat these “hateful” groups and further their political agendas.
This is pretty close to home, here, but I’m sorry to say I have absolutely nothing to add to your post other than “socialists to the left, anarchists to the right.” The crazies make it hard on all of us. (its a little scary to have the crazies so close, i’m not used to that like you all are in DC)
there is a story in the morningjournal.com (or chroniclet.com) that says that the wife of one of these guys says her husband “COLLECTED” guns and had no plans to kill anyone.
I haven’t watched or read the news in days- it was Easter Cantata weekend.
I agree that these guys should swing (if it’s all as it seems) along with the Muslim extremists who are cut from the same cloth.
A
Old Trooper, you are making very good sense there. I completely agree.
For a more balnced look at this raid, go to “Sipsey Street Irregulars dot blogspot dot com” & read the past several days worth.