The return of America's militia

It’s tempting to dismiss the anti-government ‘patriot’ groups re-emerging in the US as little more than clubs for men who refuse to outgrow their boyhood Armageddon fantasies.

But that would be a mistake. Members of the more extreme variety can be found dressed in camouflage fatigues, crawling through the countryside in states such as Texas and Michigan, and conducting military exercises in preparation for a coming war with the government.

‘Patriot’ groups are made up of fundamentalist right-wing men and women who believe in a range of anti-government conspiracy theories.

The general gist of these is that President Barack Obama is a “socialist tyrant” who wants to destroy American liberty, and the federal government is a puppet of the “New World Order” – a shadowy international network of wealthy elites.

These beliefs are not new. In 1995 Timothy McVeigh detonated an explosive-filled truck in front of a federal building in Oklahoma, killing 168 people.

McVeigh was the leader of an armed ‘patriot’ militia group which hoped to inspire a revolt against the federal government by bombing the building.

Unfortunately for McVeigh though, by carefully moving his case through the court system, prosecutors ensured he wouldn’t be seen as a martyr, and consequently weakened the extremist movement.

But after a period of little support, ‘patriot’ groups are back.

Last year, a US Department of Homeland Security report warned of the rising threat of right-wing domestic terrorism, citing factors like the election of a black president and an economic downturn which has caused 10% unemployment.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a prominent US civil rights group, says the rise of ‘patriot’ groups – now numbering more than 500 – is partly because their core beliefs are being accepted by media commentators such as Fox News presenter Glenn Beck.

Beck frequently repeats ‘patriot’ rhetoric: talking about the possible arrival of a “New World Order” and suggesting Obama is deliberately weakening the economy so that he can become a dictator.

Beck’s audience often graduate to radical websites such as ResistNet.com, where bloggers claim Obama wants to make Interpol – the international police organisation – his own personal security service, and urge “fellow patriots” to “grab their guns.”

The ridiculous turns into the scary when that paranoia enters the real world.

In March, members of a Christian militia group calling themselves the Hutaree (“Christian warriors” in their own made-up language) were charged with plotting to kill a police officer and then bomb his funeral procession, in the hope of creating an anti-government uprising.

The group was led by David Stone, otherwise known as “Captain Hutaree”, with other members assigned ranks ranging from “radoks” to “gunners.”

Following the arrests, Stone’s neighbour told the New York Times it wasn’t unusual to belong to a militia group in Michigan, and although the group practiced shooting on Stone’s property, “that’s not a big deal, people do that all the time out here.”

While well aware of the threat posed by such groups, the US government will need to respond carefully.

Open confrontations like police shoot-outs with extremist groups in the early 1990s resulted in deaths and merely fuelled the ‘patriot’ movement.

This time round it might be better to deny them the open warfare that they’re hoping to create.

By Nick Jones