The latest shooting spree at the US Navy Yard Complex in Washington DC is one of the many terror attacks witnessed on the soil of the world superpower during the last two decades, where non-Muslim Native Americans have either been found involved or have been suspected of their involvement.
In a few cases, even the veterans of the US Armed Forces had featured prominently.
A peek through the American history reveals it is littered with incidents of anarchism, Islamic fundamentalism, Jewish extremism, white supremacy, left-wing terrorism, right-wing terrorism, black militancy, Christian extremism, Palestinian militancy, anti-government and fascist extremism etc.
This home-grown terrorism within the United States has even led to the assassinations of four of its Presidents during the last two centuries or so, besides resulting in unsuccessful life attempts on many occupants of the White House.
The following list shows some major terror attacks within the United States during the last two decades, where non-Muslim native American perpetrators were either named or found guilty:
According to The Washington Post and the New York Time, on December 10, 1994, an American Advertising executive, Thomas Mosser, was killed after opening a mail package from a compatriot mathematician, social critic and a multiple murderer Theodore John Kaczynski, also known as the “Unabomber.”
Thomas Mosser was the second fatality of the mail bomb campaign of the “Unabomber,” who had killed three people between 1978 and 1995 and had injured 23 others.
The killer had launched this campaign against humans involved with modern technology.
Kaczynski was accepted into Harvard University at the age of 16, where he earned an undergraduate degree. He subsequently earned a PhD in mathematics from the University of Michigan. He became an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley in 1967 at age 25, but resigned two years later.
According to the Washington Post, the CNN, Fox News and the Guardian, on April 19, 1995, a domestic terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City had claimed 168 lives and injured 680 people.
Some 19 children had also perished in this terror hit, which had remained the most destructive act of terrorism in the United States until the occurrence of the world-shaping September 11 attacks of 2001, just six years later.
“The Oklahoma City bombing” had destroyed or damaged 324 buildings within a 16-block radius, destroyed or burned 86 cars, and had shattered glass in 258 nearby structures.
The damage thus caused was evaluated at $652 million.
Some 665 rescue workers had assisted in rescue and recovery operation.
The bomb had consisted of about 5,000 pounds of Ammonium Nitrate and Nitro Methane.
This terror offensive was orchestrated by an American domestic terrorist Timothy James McVeigh and a real estate salesman, Terry Nicholas.
McVeigh was a Gulf War veteran. He was convicted of 11 offenses and sentenced to death. His execution took place on June 11, 2001 in Indian State.
Before his execution, McVeigh had tried to calm his mother by saying: “Think of it this way. When I was in the Army, you didn’t see me for years. Think of me that way now, like I’m away in the Army again, on an assignment for the military.”
Terry Nicholas was sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole. The jury had deadlocked on the death penalty for him.
According to AP and the Seattle Times, on April 24, 1995, a timber industry lobbyist, Gilbert Murray, became the third and final fatal victim of the Unabomber’s mail bomb campaign (mentioned above).
On December 31, 1999, an arson fire had caused one million dollars in damage and had destroyed the fourth floor of Michigan State University’s Agriculture Hall.
In 2008, four people that the government claimed were “Earth Liberation Front” members were indicted for that incident.
The “Earth Liberation Front” is now an international movement with activities in 17 countries since 1992. This group is known to use economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment.
According to US Archives, on May 21, 2001, the Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of Washington was set ablaze by the “Earth Liberation Front.”
The replacement building had cost $7 million ($9,076,000 today). The “Earth Liberation Front” members had pleaded guilty of this crime.
On March 3, 2008, four multimillion-dollar properties were torched in Woodinville, Washington.
The “Earth Liberation Front” was again suspected.
On August 2, 2008, the home of David Feldheim, a University of California molecular biologist, was firebombed. A car belonging to another researcher from that university was destroyed by a firebomb in what was presumed to be related. The FBI had probed these two incidents as domestic terrorism related to extremist animal rights groups.
Reuters says that on May 31, 2009, an anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder had killed Dr. George Tiller in Kansas State. Dr. Tiller performed abortions had long been a target of anti-abortion extremists. His clinic was firebombed in 1986 and he was shot and wounded five times in 1993. The killer Roeder was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2010.
The New York Times says that on May 25, 2009, a 17-year old boy, Kyle Shaw, had set off an explosive device at a Starbucks outlet in Manhattan, New York, shattering windows and destroyed a bench at the coffee shop.
There were no injuries. The teenager was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison in November 2010.
According to The Boston Globe and the Christian Science Monitor, on March 4, 2010, a computer programmer and engineering student from California, John Patrick Bedell, had shot and wounded two Pentagon police officers at a security checkpoint in the Pentagon station of the Washington Metro mass-transit system in Virginia.
The officers returned fire, striking the US government critic in the head. He died a few hours later. He suffered from bipolar disorder and had been institutionalized several times.
The student’s blog and Facebook page later revealed that he believed the United States government was controlled by an elite group of people.
According to Fox News and the Washington Post, on September 1, 2010, the 43-year-old James Lee, armed with two pistols and an explosive device, had taken three people hostage in the headquarters of Discovery Communications in Maryland, United States.
After nearly four hours, Lee was shot dead by police and all the hostages were freed without injury. Lee had earlier posted a manifesto railing against population growth and immigration. The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism at the University of Maryland has since labeled this as a terrorist attack.
According to The Huffington Post and CNN, on August 5, 2012, six people were killed at a Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting episode.
A United States Army veteran, Wade Michael Page, had killed himself after being shot by police.
The killer had been active in white supremacist groups for years.
Apart from the shooter, all of the dead were members of the Sikh faith. The incident drew responses from President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The First Lady Michelle Obama had visited the temple on August 23, 2012.
According to Huffington Post and the Associated Press, on April 16, 2013, two letters, sent to Republican Senator Roger Wicker and president Barack Obama, were tested positive for Ricin, which is a highly toxic substance produced in the seeds of the castor oil plant.
On April 27, 2013, a Mississippi man named Everett Dutschke was arrested for sending the poison-laced letters.
Another suspect Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested in this case on April 17, but the charges against him were dropped six days later.
Categories: Americas, United States