Followers

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The KKK as a terror organization

I keep seeing and hearing about how domestic terrorism in the United States is similar to the Islamic terrorism seen in other parts of the world. That tactics is what tells us an attack is a ‘terror’ attack. The examples of domestic terrorism in the United States go back more than 100 years. Examples are plentiful of some ‘lone wolf’ or just a couple of guys who get an attitude and kill as many people as they can. They are usually quickly caught, or they kill themselves. About the only regular organization that I am aware of over the past 100 years of domestic American terrorism is the KKK. The KKK has been around since the U.S. Civil War. It has had three ‘surges’ in interest, the peak being in the early 1920’s with membership estimated about 3 to 6 million. It is unknown how much violence has been initiated by the Klan, but I can think of no examples of where the U.S. military was called in to restore order or contain the violence within the past 100 years. I would expect to find some examples in the late 1860’s as the country had just emerged from the Civil War and the military would be the main source of public control for at least the first 5 to ten years afterward. The major point is that the KKK is not generally supported by our population and gets no external support at all. To compare this with Islamic nationalist organizations who engage in terror tactics is a stretch to say the least. Islamic nationalist groups are well organized with state sponsors and military training and equipment. The KKK does not field combat units. The Islamic terror groups do. The KKK is only one organization, if you can call it that. The Islamic terror groups are numerous and widespread throughout the world. Islamic terror groups have plenty of local support and many obtain external support from national governments as well. This ability to actually fight a national armed force will naturally pit it against the host government, at least on occasion. History is full of examples of Islamic nationalist groups being engaged by the host country’s military. The police were inadequate for the job, so the military was needed. Not exactly what we have been seeing in this country. Yes the United States has domestic terrorism. All countries do. To compare the ineffective, disorganized and unsupported terrorism that we have seen in this country to the organized, effective, powerful and supported terrorist organizations and ideology that the Islamic nationalists have is like attempting to compare the Native American forces at the Little Big Horn to the German 7th panzer division in 1940. And this comparison would be giving domestic American terrorism a lot more credit than they deserve.

3 comments:

  1. I'm in favor of establishing a contest for least imaginative halloween costumes.

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  2. I'm with you, I don't see the KKK having too much power these days. The KKK is just one organization, but there are lots of other white power groups, which you might better classify as the extremist "white power" movement, which would certainly love to travel and fight against middle easterners. I feel that the classification of "terrorist" or "non-terrorist" is pretty simplistic. I think there should be less focus on what name to choose, and more focus on the nuances between each.

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