NCJ Number
167817
Date Published
1996
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Many people are legitimately angry at abuses of power by the Federal Government; as long as these abuses continue, the Federal Government will be a target of retaliation.
Abstract
The fact that the Federal Government has enormous power and has constantly misused that power requires citizens to talk about the unsavory role of the Federal Government in promoting terrorism. Only the government can seize property and kill people with relative impunity. Only the government can destroy businesses, level homes, impose taxes, and regulate property with minimal restraint. Only the government has a monopoly of force. So it is no surprise that government action instills suspicion and fear. The Oklahoma City bombing may have been a radical retaliation for the destruction of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco 2 years before, but Waco, too, was terrorism, only it was committed by the Federal Government. Apparently, only the government can risk children's lives with impunity. The World Trade Center bombing, too, was a predictable outgrowth of official U.S. policy. Persistent American intervention in the Middle East alone has been enough to turn the United States into an international target of terrorism. Especially dangerous is the Federal Government's campaign to make an enemy of Muslim fundamentalists. Declaring a de facto war on Islam invites retaliation, and the most likely victims will be innocent Americans. So long as Washington tolerates, encourages, and even engages in one or another variant of government terrorism, it will risk violent retaliatory attacks.