Are they Muslim? No? Then they're just misdirected Americans, not terrorists. If their God's name started with an "A," this would be the biggest news since Sept. 11.
You're right about that. I have no idea why this didn't receive more mass media coverage. I do take issue with the concept that this somehow shows a lack of interest in domestic terrorism by the federal govt. There was a 2 year investigation, convictions, and I guarantee that they're looking at any and everyone that these assholes associated with. Sounds like a job well done by the feds.
I agree 100 percent. The feds did a fantastic job. No problem there. I'm more concerned with the media (and perhaps popular) perception that it's not really "terrorism" unless they're foreigners, i.e. Muslims. I understand that terrorism is in the eye of the beholder (one man's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, etc.), but these nutjobs should fit anyone's definition.
I think the major blame goes to the media which seems to only count Islamic terrorists as terrorists. But the Federal govt. and Bush don't remain totally blameless. The whitehouse would have hyped this much more had this been an Islamic group with ties to Al Qaeda etc. That may not based so much on prejudice as it is a whitehouse need to justify their actions in the face of heavy criticism. I don't really know. I do know that either way it's not fair and could lead to ignorance which leads to prejudice etc.
Does it matter? I can somewhat understand being fascinated by the pyrotechnics of conventional explosives. Having a large supply *and* chemical weapons is not justifiable by curiosity.
