What is Domestic Terrorism?

For John, BLUF:  Across the fruited plain Government Officials tend to confuse us about what is domestic terrorism and what isn't.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

I appreciate the caution law enforcement officials show with regard to ethnic minorities and issues of violent acts.  This great nation doesn't need to have ignorant backlash stirred up by careless officials making careless comments.  This sometimes leads to strange actions by government officials at various levels.  The case of Major Nidal Hasan, the accused Fort Hood shooter, is interesting.  By all reports he saw himself acting in the defense of Islam and Islam's God and Islam's soldiers.  Yet it is not being treated as an act of terrorism.  No Purple Hearts for those soldiers shot by the Major.

At the end of November, out in Arizona, someone detonated an explosive device outside the Social Security Administration building in Casa Grande.  (No one was hurt and minimal physical damage.)  When the arrest was made, of Mr Abdullatif Aldosary, his name and nation of origin was not made public.  The possibility of terrorism was explicitly obscured.  From an article yesterday we know this is not being treated by officials as an act of terrorism:

Although the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force investigated the bombing of a federal building, there has been no indication from the feds that this was an act of terrorism.

Incidently, yesterday Mr Aldosary pleaded innocent to the charges against him.

The flip side of this is that Mr Aldosary has had problems getting his Green Card due to "terrorist activities":

Aldosary was not actually a "known terrorist," but his application had been denied because, according to legislation passed by Congress, Aldosary had "engaged in terrorism activity."

Aldosary's "terrorism activity" was [Aldosary] his involvement in a 1991 uprising against the regime of Saddam Hussein, which was egged on by the U.S. government under President George H.W. Bush.

The Department of Homeland Security just recently created an exemption under that immigration law for Iraqis who participated in those uprisings over a one-month period, and a government source told New Times last week that Aldosary met this exemption, and his green-card case was re-opened.

In some ways we overhype these issues, for example calling large homemade explosives "Weapons of Mass Destruction", as though they were nuclear devices.  Our Government overstates the dangers of returning Service Members being domestic terrorists while downplaying possible external influences.  The Citizens need to read past the headlines to stay informed.  The tools of Kremlinology may be needed.

Regards  —  Cliff