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First the Arabs, then the Pro-lifers...
Lew Rockwell has already spelled out why conservatives should oppose this war, but here's something else to consider: how long will it be before conservatives themselves are considered terrorists? It's already happening. The media and government are beginning to suggest that terrorism is a right-wing phenomenon. Pro-lifers are particularly subject to vilification, as usual, but the right in general is suspect. Recent remarks on the subject of domestic terrorism by a special agent of the FBI illustrate what's happening. Several news sources have reported that the CIA and FBI suspect that the anthrax attacks of recent weeks are of a domestic origin. This may mean Al Qaeda cells or sympathizers active right here in the United States, or it may mean a home-grown terrorist group (or individual) is attempting to "piggyback" on the September 11th attacks. The Buffalo News quotes FBI special agent John P. Culhane Jr.: Displaying a photo of white-supremacist skinheads with a swastika, Culhane said the ultra-right wing in this country could not be ruled out as perpetrators of mailing the anthrax, which has killed three people so far. "Skinheads and others are anxious to foment unrest, and they have an opportunity here to lay it off on someone else," Culhane said. "This is the kind of right-wing activity we have to pay attention to." Culhane also displayed pictures of executed Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh, a former Pendleton resident, and James C. Kopp, the accused killer of Dr. Barnett A. Slepian, an Amherst physician who performed abortions. "James Kopp is as much a terrorist as Osama bin Laden. Whether it's killing a doctor in Amherst or 6,000 people, they are killing to accomplish their mission," Culhane said. Associating a lone maniac who killed one doctor with the mastermind of a terrorist network that killed perhaps 6,000 people might seem like an exaggeration to some people, but apparently not to the FBI. The Buffalo News article makes no mention of any possible leftist terrorists, another Ted Kacyznski or perhaps an Earth First cell. The right is singled out as a source of terror. You don't need a map to see where this is leading. It's happened before. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was designed as an extraordinary measure to fight gangsters. It expanded federal police powers in the name of a seemingly unobjectionable cause, the fight against bloodthirsty mobsters. But in the hands of Leftist lawyers, RICO became a weapon for the political persecution of pro-lifers. Innocence is no defense, by the way. The pro-abortion side has shown repeatedly that it is willing to lie to win public sympathy: Those who are quick to believe false charges about pro-life violence would do well to heed the words of Joan Appleton, R.N., who testified in April, 1999 before the Criminal Justice Committee in Boston. Her testimony revealed that when she was an abortion clinic manager and nurse, she routinely fabricated reports of pro-life violence. She lied to the media; she lied under oath in the Bray injunction case in Virginia; and she lied to the U.S. Senate, falsely alleging violence by pro-lifers to help pass the F.A.C.E. law. She emphasized to the Criminal Justice Committee that such dishonesty was common among her peers; and indeed, many examples of pro-choice dishonesty could be cited. Take just one well known case: Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, who confessed, "I lied through my teeth," about the frequency of partial-birth abortion. As for James Kopp, poster child for right-wing terrorism in the US, there are some interesting irregularities in the case against him. He says he's being framed. But we know the FBI would never do anything like falsifying evidence, would they? Pro-lifers are a favorite target of leftists in the media and government, but of course they're only the tip of the ice-berg. Gun-owners, anti-tax activists and anyone critical of the government is suspect. We're all fair game, and all the expanded powers conservatives are eager for the State to deploy against "suspicious-looking swarthy males" today are going to be used against conservatives tomorrow.
October 30, 2001 Daniel McCarthy [send him mail] is a graduate student in classics at Washington University in St. Louis. Copyright © 2001 LewRockwell.com The
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