US Media Remains Silent
It appears that Weapons of Mass Destruction ™ are only of interest to the Bush administration if they are in the hands of Arabs, Muslims or "rogue" states. Likewise the big news corporations in the US were ignoring this particular story of genuine weapons capable of mass destruction found in the hands of a white supremacist group in the Bush home state of Texas. This story was originally published on the Newswire on December 8th. Since then, the only big US newpaper to cover the story has been the New York Times.
Three people linked to white supremacist and anti-government groups are in custody. At least one weapon of mass destruction - a sodium cyanide bomb capable of delivering a deadly gas cloud - has been seized in the Texas area.
Last week William Krar, from Tyler in East Texas pleaded guilty to, among other crimes, possession of a chemical weapon - an actual bona fide WMD found within the USA's own borders - yet the US media largely remains silent on the issue.
[note: all information is sourced, except for my opinions]
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CBS 11 (Texan TV news station):
"Three people linked to white supremacist and anti-government groups are in custody. At least one weapon of mass destruction - a sodium cyanide bomb capable of delivering a deadly gas cloud - has been seized in the Tyler area."
"Investigators have seized at least 100 other bombs, bomb components, machine guns, 500,000 rounds of ammunition and chemical agents. But the government also found some chilling personal documents indicating that unknown co-conspirators may still be free to carry out what appeared to be an advanced plot. "
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That's right, while the boys and girls out in Iraq are fighting in the "frontline of terror", and Tommy Franks is busy telling us about plans for the suspension of the Constitution (read Military Rule) in the scenario of an actual WMD attack on US soil [see the final quotes] - a bone fide WMD pops up, and its owner is a white US citizen with a very different agenda to Al-Qaeda.
Note that it was a complete accident that this plot was found out about, a mailing error. The security forces were not investigating Supremacist and/or militia groups connected to this guy - they obviously think a greater threat comes from eh, Iraq or North Korea than their own homegrown rightwing nut-jobs.
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CBS 11:
"Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, counter-terrorism agencies have been consumed by national efforts to ferret out U.S.-based foreign terrorist cells whose members hail from the Middle East. Federal investigators were not looking for white supremacist groups when they stumbled across Krar by accident."
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What's really surpising is that this man was actually known to the police previously but they had obviously felt that he was not 'a potential threat', in the same way say, Saddam's non-existant WMDs were - or even in the same way that anti-war or anti-FTAA protestors still are (or so it seems, why else would there be such surveillence and police violence directed at these people?).
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CBS 11:
"In 1995, the ATF investigated Krar and another man on weapons charges. The other suspect told authorities at the time that he and Krar had been planning to bomb government facilities... on the day of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, Krar raised suspicion at a New Hampshire storage unit he was renting. An employee called the FBI that day and reported that Krar was “wicked anti-American"
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You can read the full CBS 11story here http://tinyurl.com/xxfc (with video link, which wont work on dial-up) & from Democracy Now here http://tinyurl.com/y6n8 (with audio & video)
Now, this story has not been largely covered in the US media. Why I wonder?
I'm not a conspiracy nut but perhaps its to keep alive the cosy consensus that all terrorists are non-white, allah lovin', freedom hatin', mad screamin mullah's bent on destroying liberty everywhere it raises it All-American head. Or perhaps I'm wrong, and finding an actual weapon of mass destruction, with what appear to be plans to use it on American soil is simply not a news-worthy story? I'm no news editor, you tell me...
I've found some more stuff out - no thanks to the major US press. Hell, even Pravda is covering it, but where is the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times or any of the major networks??? Don't believe me, check Google news here http://tinyurl.com/ybht
The coverage seems limited to papers in the Texas area. But get this:
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Tyler Morning Telegraph:
"You understand, you will probably go to prison for around 10 years," U.S. Magistrate Judge Judith Guthrie told Krar, as he nodded in acknowledgement. "
Link http://tinyurl.com/ybh1
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10 YEARS?!?! What the hell??? Ten years, my god. If this was a Muslim he'd have been tried and found guilty by the press before the trial even took place, and would now be sitting on death row (or possibly even marched straight out of the court and executed - this is Texas afterall). But Mr. White Guy will only get 10 years? Sickening. His accomplice, Judith Bruey by the way, only faces 'up to five years'.
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The Fort Worth Star-Telegram/AP:
"Investigators also found numerous illegal firearms, literature detailing the use of sodium cyanide to make a chemical weapon and literature depicting white supremacist and militant beliefs."
Link http://tinyurl.com/y28h
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Again, I hate to keep harping on (well I don't really) but if you substitute "white supremacist literature" for "Osama bin Laden tapes and statements", this would have sent the national media into a frenzy - even if no bombs had been found. I can see it now - The New York Times: "Bin Laden Terror Plot Uncovered by Heroic FBI in Texas" and NY Post: "Dirty Rag-head Plans Dirty-Bomb." There would be rolling coverage on CNN and Fox and Bush would be hailing it as a "major victory in the war on terror. This incident must remind all freedom loving Americans to remain vigilant, and be on the look out for suspicious minority activity (and by the way, I think we'll curtail a few more civil liberties while were at it)".
Other Links:
WorldNet Daily News http://tinyurl.com/ybh8
Tyler Moring Telegraph (initial arrest report from April this year) http://tinyurl.com/ybhd
Pravda http://tinyurl.com/ybhi
So, worst case scenario, what would have happened if this guy (and however many others may or may not be involved) had succeeded in setting off this, and/or other such bombs, inflicting massive death and injury. Who do you think would immediately get the blame for it? I'm pretty damn sure that unless they [the supremacists] took direct responsibility for it, it would of course be instantly blamed on 'al-Qaeda' and who knows what the effects would be on the Arab and Muslim population of the US. It was bad enough after 9/11, in a case like this I fear it would be infintely worse. And of course, it could take months before any headway is made into finding out who perpetrated the crime (possibly under Military rule if Gen Tommy Franks is right [see the final quotes of the article]), and of course we would find out (or would we?) that it wasn't Muslims afterall, but our very own god fearin', freedom lovin' Al-KKKeda.
This, I think, is a very scary prospect.
What Tommy Franks said:
"If terrorists used a WMD, Franks said “the Western world, the free world, loses what it cherishes most, and that is freedom and liberty we’ve seen for a couple of hundred years in this grand experiment that we call democracy ... It means the potential of a weapon of mass destruction and a terrorist, massive, casualty-producing event somewhere in the Western world – it may be in the US – that causes our population to question our own constitution and to begin to militarise our country in order to avoid a repeat of another mass, casualty-producing event. "
While many years ago, Patrick Henry said:
"Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death!"
