XPost: alt.global-warming, can.politics, alt.rush-limbaugh   
   From: GeraldDavis@ymail.com   
      
   Stephen wrote   
      
   >  Thinks he is a scientist   
      
   So you agree that the authorities need to kill more far rightists to   
   ensure the safety and security of the country.   
      
   U.S. sees 300 violent attacks inspired by far right every year   
      
    Despite the nation’s intense national focus on Islamic terrorism since   
   9/11, homegrown, right wing extremists have also killed dozens of   
   Americans. The groups include white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups and   
   anti-federalists militias. Since 2001, the number of violent attacks on   
   U.S. soil inspired by far-right ideology has spiked to an average of more   
   than 300 a year, according to a study by the Combating Terrorism Center at   
   West Point.   
      
   A 2015 survey of U.S. law enforcement groups found they consider anti-   
   government violent extremists to be a more severe threat than radicalized   
   Muslims. And while jihadist terrorists have killed 95 people in the U.S.   
   since 9/11, far-right extremists have killed 68 during the same time,   
   including the car attack in Charlottesville. That’s according to data   
   collected by our next guest, Peter Bergen, the director of the national   
   security studies program for New America and a terrorism analyst for CNN.   
      
   Peter, I know you focus a lot of jihadists, you know, Islamic terror   
   happening in the United States and happening overseas. But you have also   
   been studying and looking closely at kind of home grown terror, domestic   
   terror threats. When you saw what happened yesterday, what went through   
   your mind?   
      
   Peter Bergen, Director Of The National Security Studies Program, New   
   America:   
      
   Well, clearly, it was an act of domestic terrorism and seems to be an act   
   of extreme right wing terrorism. And it’s one of multiple incidents that   
   we’ve seen in this country, unfortunately. And in fact also, we’re seeing   
   an interesting spike in black nationalist terrorism, there have been eight   
   deaths since 2016 caused by black nationalists and we also, you may   
   recall, of course, the attack on the Republican baseball game by a sort of   
   an extreme anti-Trump person.   
      
   So, we’re seeing, you know, political violence comes in all shapes and   
   forms. And I think when we hear word terrorism, a lot of Americans kind of   
   think jihadi terrorism because of the 9/11 attacks but the fact is, is   
   that we have continue to see extreme right wing terrorism, and we have   
   seen a slight uptick in kind of leftist terrorism in the last couple of   
   years.   
      
   Sreenivasan:   
      
   What are the different causes?   
      
   Bergen:   
      
   Well, I mean, I mean they scan the political spectrum because you have,   
   you know, black nationalist terrorism which has been spiking. You have a   
   certain amount of anti-Trump terrorism which has sort of had an uptick.   
   You have this extreme right neo-Nazi antigovernment terrorism which has   
   been pretty constant, after all, it was the most lethal attack on American   
   soil before 9/11 was the Oklahoma City bombing which killed 168 people   
   carried out by two right wing — extreme right wing militants.   
      
   So, yes, this has been around for a while, this kind of strain of   
   terrorism that we saw in Charlottesville is not new. They don’t tends to   
   kill a large numbers like Islamist terrorist attacks which tend to have a   
   much higher death toll, but it is kind of a constant that’s out there.   
      
   Sreenivasan:   
      
   When you saw the method of destruction yesterday, the car attack,   
   something we’ve basically been seeing repeatedly overseas in the past   
   year.   
      
   Bergen:   
      
   Yes. I mean, this is usually the purview of jihadi terrorist tacks. We’ve   
   seen two in London in recent months that killed 13 people. We saw the   
   attack in Nice killed 84 people. We saw the attack in Berlin that killed   
   12 people, all of those were jihadi terror attacks.   
      
   Now, we are seeing this tactic being adopted by people with other   
   ideologies. For instance, in Charlottesville, we saw this, and we also saw   
   an attack like this in London outside a mosque relatively recently in   
   which one person was killed. So, unfortunately, using vehicles as a deadly   
   weapon is a tactic that is kind of been adopted by violent terrorists of   
   all ideological stripes.   
      
   Sreenivasan:   
      
   How much does the labeling of it matter, calling it terrorism, calling   
   domestic terrorism from the media on to the politicians?   
      
   Bergen:   
      
   I think it’s important to call things what they are. And, you know, one of   
   the reasons that these domestic terrorist incidents don’t get called   
   terrorism often is because there isn’t a link to an international   
   terrorist organization. So, as a formal matter if you are charging   
   terrorism as a crime, if there is some link to ISIS or al Qaeda, it’s very   
   easy to charge terrorism.   
      
   Because of the First Amendment issues in this country, it’s not illegal in   
   this country to be a neo-Nazi. It is illegal to be a neo-Nazi who carries   
   out a violent attack. But when a neo Nazi carries out a violent attack,   
   it’s usually simply treated as murder or sometimes as a hate crime, but   
   not usually as terrorism from a legal point of view because there isn’t an   
   association with an international terrorist organization such as ISIS,   
   such as al Qaeda.   
      
   Sreenivasan:   
      
   Peter Bergen of New America and analyst for CNN, thanks so much for   
   joining us.   
      
   Bergen:   
      
   Thank you.   
      
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