The FBI undercover tapes of four North Georgia militiamen arrested Tuesday offer an extraordinary glimpse of the terrorism the group is accused of planning. Details of how they allegedly intended to commit mass murder with deadly ricin, carry out assassinations of officials, and bomb government buildings abound in government affidavits that directly quote the men talking to undercover informants.
But there's one thing the affidavits don't tell you: What did these four elderly Georgians allegedly hope to accomplish? About as close you get to an answer is this cryptic quote from the alleged ringleader, 73-year-old Frederick W. Thomas: "When it comes to saving the Constitution, that means some people gotta die."
Although the group is not mentioned in the court papers, the organization the men belonged to is certainly the Georgia Militia, which on its Web page identifies one of the accused terrorists, Dan Roberts, 67, as a contact. And the Georgia Militia is one of the hardest line such groups around, going far beyond most militias' hatred of the federal government to traffic in open racism and anti-Semitism.
On its website, the Georgia Militia links to the usual array of conspiratorial materials from other antigovernment "Patriot" groups -- but it also links to the Council of Conservative Citizens, a group that angrily opposes interracial marriage and has described black people as a "retrograde species of humanity." Another link goes to American Patrol, a racist anti-immigrant hate group.
Also found on the Georgia Militia's website is an essay, "Protocols of Zion & Freemasonry's Final Revelation," that extensively cites the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a viciously anti-Semitic forgery that is nevertheless treated there as a revelatory text. Author Henry Makow discusses "the primitive Talmudic injunction to rule the world and usurp all its wealth, as outlined in the Protocols." Elsewhere on the site, the Georgia Militia describes Israel as a "cancerous zionist [sic] entity" and refers to "our zionist occupied government that is controlled by powerful zionist lobbyists." Zionist Occupied Government, or ZOG, is a phrase employed by most American neo-Nazi groups to describe the current federal government.
Then there are the alleged plotters themselves.
Thomas, the alleged ringleader, posted a Dec. 12, 2008, essay to a conservative website, Redstate.com, after Barack Obama was elected president but before he took office. Thomas speculated that if the Supreme Court found that Obama was not a U.S. citizen and therefore not eligible to serve, "[y]ou can bank on race riots the likes of which would make the L.A. and Watts riots look like a playground scuffle. Half the country would go up in flames." A little later in the same essay, he added, "Personal property is destroyed by rioters to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every time a racial violent act garners national attention."
Later, on June 29, 2009, Thomas speculated about who the government hated the most. "It's not minority citizens this administration and the previous one fear. ... It's you the productive, the people that pay all the taxes, that earn the wealth."
For his part, Emory Dan Roberts has a past as a neo-Confederate activist. In 2003, Roberts helped organize a protest in Toccoa, Ga., against attempts to change the Georgia state flag, which then included a small Confederate battle flag in its design. Speaking at his rally were members of the Council of Conservative Citizens and the racist League of the South. In 2004, Roberts organized another pro-Confederate flag rally outside a middle school in Stephens County, Ga. One of his fellow protesters was arrested after a rock was thrown at a school bus.
The FBI's tapes of Roberts, Thomas and the other two alleged plotters -- Samuel J. Crump Jr., 68, and Ray H. Adams, 65 -- do not spell out what the men hoped to accomplish. But the fact that they belonged to a group that repeatedly expressed racial fears and animus suggests that at least part of their motivation was anger at the way America is changing into a more racially diverse country. The Census Bureau has predicted that white people will lose their majority in the U.S. by 2050, and this has helped propel the growth of hate and other antigovernment groups recently.
In fact, the Patriot groups began to grow explosively in 2008, when there were 149 such groups, in part because the emergence of Obama reminded many of the changing demographics of our country. That, plus the collapse of the economy at around the same time, helped drive an expansion in these groups, to the point where the Southern Poverty Law Center counted 824 in 2010.
I admire your passion for your cause but it's time for you to face reality: there is no Founders Republic and your "government" will likely never be "reseated." After nearly 150 years, the majority of people in the Southern States, aka CSA, aka Founders Republic just want to be left in peace. Why chase windmills? These four men obviously have issues and it's very sad that they chose to resort to violence to get their point across.
Why does the Left accept the terms the Right hands to them?
Not one of the men mentioned in your article is a registered Confederate citizen, therefore they are NOT Confederates. Racists perhaps, but NOT Confederate's. You should do your homework before writing your articles. The League of the South does not identify themselves as Confederate's they choose instead to identify with words such as "Southerner", or "South", but they do not support the restoration of the Founders Confederated Republic through our dejure Confederate government. They use our symbols, but they are not truly a Confederate organization. This also applies to the Conservative council of citizens. Next time, DO YOUR HOMEWORK.
RULE, 14TH AMENDMENT & ADMIRALTY LAW, LEGAL FICTION STATUS IS CONFERRED UPON U.S. CITIZENS TO OWN AND CONTROL THEM IN THE MANNER OF CHATTEL PROPERTY.They are fraudulently, deceitfully, immorally, unknowingly beguiled into handing title [Birth Certificate held by U.S. Dept of Health & Human Services] to their body & property, over to foreign interests [ Federal Reserve & Creditors in Democracy's bankruptcy & National debt]. Modern day slavery is possible because Democracy brings foreign law onto American soil. I would at this point direct you to the Baltic States of the former Soviet union, in which Russia not long ago occupied those State. I suppose that you would have made this same statement to them...."Get a clue. YOU LOST!" But it appears that they did NOT lose in the end ! That Empire fell apart as well. CSAgov.org
It appears that you have made an error in your report, The council of conservative citizens nor League of the South are Confederate organizations. Emory Dan Roberts is not a registered confederate citizen.
You seem to confuse Confederates with Racists. Is this intentional, or are you truly not aware ?
"The League of the South is a Southern nationalist organization, headquartered in Killen, Alabama, which states that its ultimate goal is "a free and independent Southern republic."[1] The group defines the Southern United States as the states that made up the former Confederacy."
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/League_of_the_South
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/league-of-the-south
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-files/groups/league-of-the-south
I am a registered confederate citizen. We do NOT wish to secede, as this has already been accomplished. Our Confederate government was never surrendered by our president: Lee was but a general, generals cannot surrender government, he simply surrendered the northern army of Virginia. No peace treaty was ever signed by our government, therefore legally it still exist, simply being forced into political exile by the American National democracy government. We are not an organization in the terms that you use; we are a government, and a Confederacy of States, is just as the founders Confederacy of States. We wish to re-seat our government and amend our Constitution, just as has your government. We are not a "hate group", we do NOT discriminate, or hate anyone. We simply wish to restore the Founders Confederated Republic, rejecting the occupying National democracy Empire. Confederate is not defined as hate. Not one of the men in Mr. Potok's article is a Confederate citizen, they are confused U.S. citizens. CSAgov.org.
I learned in history class that the Confederacy was destoyed in the Civil War, yet you indicate there is still a registry of members? If all States are now part of the Union, what exactly are confederated into this new body? Without States how can it claim citizens?
I am also curious about your race comments. While it is clearly erroneous to simply equate the Confederacy with racism, you must admit there's quite a link. Does the new Confederacy stand for something completely different to the old Confederacy (ie. legal slavery of Africans)?
Are or were there actually any non-white Confederate citizens?
I look forward to learning more!
Today what you know as "America", is not the Confederated Republic of States that the Founders established in 1781, then made into a "More Perfect Union", with the ratification of the 1787 constitution. The America that you know, is a National democracy, with a National government. The States under the current National democracy system, have no voice in the National government, which is structured with a National legislature. Under the Founders Confederated Republic the States must participate within the central bureaucracy, they must each have a dept within the central government, if they do not, then it is a National government. You must view or Confederate States in the same way that you view the Baltic states in the former Soviet Union in which Russia occupied. One of the benefits for Confederates is that once the occupation is ended, the National Democracy governments dept goes with it. We are A Confederacy of States existing under the occupation of a foreign government. As soon as our dejure Confederate government is re-seated, the prepared revisions to our constitution will be ratified, removing all mention of slavery, and bringing us more in line with the governmental system that the Founders established in 1781. Anyone who was born within the Confederate States, or currently resides within can become a Confederate citizen, race is not an issue.
Thank you for the important work you do to keep track and out these would-be terrorists.
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Blame it on the "liberal" media. They are apparently more interested in the "Occupy Wall Street" groups. How long before those protesters are called "terrorists"?
Re this situation, from the MSM perspective, this story is 'over.' There is 'closure' - a word that we hear whenever a criminal is caught or sentenced, and which I've come to take to mean 'we're tired of reporting on this story so all you affected just shut up and move on."
That attitude is bad for the victims of a serious crime, but when it's a case like this, where the intended crime is against the country, it's particularly bad for our civil discourse.