Hatewatch Tweets
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Bulletin: Four Soldiers in ‘Militia’ Said to Plot Government Overthrow
Update: The AP is reporting that members of the militia “wore distinctive tattoos that resemble an anarchy symbol,” according to a prosecutor.
Prosecutors today said that four active-duty soldiers in Georgia formed what was described as an “anarchist militia” and took steps aimed at overthrowing the U.S. government, The Associated Press reported.
One of the four, Pfc. Michael Burnett, told a judge in Ludowici, Ga., today that former soldier Michael Roark and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Tiffany York, were murdered in December because he knew of the militia’s plans and was a “loose end,” the AP said. Burnett pleaded guilty today to manslaughter and gang charges.
The group spent $87,000 on guns and bomb-making materials, according to prosecutor Isabel Pauley. The AP also quoted Pauley saying the men intended to take over Fort Stewart, bomb unnamed sites in Savannah, Ga., and Washington state, and assassinate the president.
on August 27th, 2012 at 12:39 pm
There’s no right-extremist problem in this country.
No, sir!
on August 27th, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Didn’t that “American Front” use a symbol which resembles an anarchy sign?
on August 27th, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Shades of Michael Tubbs and company..wonder if these boys know anything about that..
on August 27th, 2012 at 1:43 pm
Hmmm… If they are indeed Anarchists, their politics could range from the extreme right all the way to the extreme left. Or if they Nihilists, they are not on the spectrum at all.
on August 27th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Ruslan, you’re right. I had forgotten about that.
That makes a lot more sense then the Anarchism angle.
on August 27th, 2012 at 3:02 pm
I uncovered a photo from Reuters that appears to picture the “ringleader” serving as a page at the 2008 RNC, if this helps to determine whether this “anarchist” group leans left or right. http://www.daylife.com/photo/00GB1AZdt20sC
on August 27th, 2012 at 3:57 pm
If they are anarchists they don’t properly belong to any political wing, but seek only individual supremacy and to destroy social institutions which they see as the causes of humanity’s shortcomings (or the effects of the same, also deserving of destruction).
But I doubt they’ve read much Noam Chomsky.
on August 27th, 2012 at 4:47 pm
James, nice sleuth work.
Of course the bomb-making and terror activities should have tipped me off immediately to right wing activity.
Actually I suspected all along but didn’t want to speak my mind because then everybody on the right gets all worked up and red in the face and waving their guns about being associated with extremists.
But I think that there is enough of a connection now to safely affirm they’re right wing extremists, like virtually every other home grown terror group.
(Shall we begin the countdown till some angry Republican refers to Weather Underground uh, four decades ago?)
on August 27th, 2012 at 5:52 pm
James, a deerstalker cap to you right now, and a coupon for Sherlock’s Pub.
on August 27th, 2012 at 5:55 pm
Ruslan, I acknowledge your sleuthing also, but perhaps you’re getting tired of hearing you’re superb.
on August 27th, 2012 at 6:16 pm
@aadila – Thanks for the recognition. I sent the photo to a number of agencies, but only Gawker has picked it up. Hopefully more will follow.
on August 27th, 2012 at 7:14 pm
Wow.
This is scary stuff…and very depressing. Four right-wing idiots trying to make a revolution, and fortunately for society, but unfortunately for their victims, they got no further than killing two of their own in gruesome execution-style.
And the ringleader was a page at the 2008 Republican National Convention…I can’t wait to see how the GOP faces this one.
This is a great concern to me, as a military veteran, that members of our armed forces, who took oaths to uphold and protect the Constitution, were actively plotting to overthrow the government. Where was their first sergeant? Where was their platoon leader? Where was their commanding officer? Where was their recruiter?
How many like-minded men and women are there wearing our uniform?
At least this gang got caught. I can’t wait to hear their grandiose plan on how they were going to take over the country and what they proposed to do with it.