Why didn't we see Southern terrorist holds US capital hostage for two days ? Why am I calling him a terrorist ? Well, he claimed to have a bomb, a bomb of the same sort as McVeigh used. The targets he threatened to blow up were a highway, a museum, and a national monument. His grievances were political. Sounds like a terrorist to me. As a matter of fact, he should have been called a suicide bomber since he said he was willing to die for his cause.
You might argue that he was nuts rather than a terrorist, but the two aren't mutually exclusive. As long as his particular brand of craziness is political, he's a terrorist. Or you might claim that he wasn't a terrorist b/c he didn't actually kill anyone. But terrorists use threats all the time to achieve their objective. He made a credible threat to attack civilian targets, and did so to achieve political (and personal) gain.
Will he be detained without trial like Jose Padilla ? After all, he did more than Padilla did (Padilla just talked shit). Will we be investigating farmers and veterans groups for ties to this guy ? Will the farmers who expressed sympathy for what Watson did be brought in for extensive questioning ?
"People here respect what [Dwight Watson] has done," said Jim Bradley, owner of a farm supply store in Watson's Nash County hometown of Whitakers. "People here understand that the land is in your blood like the blood is in your veins." [The Sun News]
Will we ask why his church, family, and elected representatives didn't condemn him unequivocally, and keep doing so repeatedly until everyone had heard ? Will we ask whether the Sheriff who asked for farmers to be treated with more respect after this indicident is simply rewarding terrorism ?
No, we wont. You know why ? Because he was white, a farmer, and waving the American flag. Imagine if this guy had been named Omar, spoke with a different accent, was swarthy, and was pissed off about a different US government policy. Do you think they would have let him go 2 days ? I'll bet the snipers would have taken him out right away. And would this have been a minor story, or a major crisis ?
| Vorks | War on Terror | Washington DC
For some reason, the Dukes of Hazzard theme song is now going through my head. "Making their way, the only way they know how /
That's just a little bit more than the law will allow." Ah, those boys.
That is funny Mike. But I'm a bit pissed off to be living in an America where this guy becomes a joke, but other people who are equally wacky and equal threats end up shrinking my civil liberties and just my ability to participate as a free and equal member of this society.
Comment #2 :: link :: March 25, 2003 9:00 AMYah, I'm with you on that one. This guy's a terrorist as currently defined. (Remember the whole are-the-snipers-terrorists question?) The Dukes of Hazzard reference isn't just a joke though. It's evidence of the double standard. Can you imagine a TV comedy in which a couple of brothers in the ghetto are constantly breaking the law and putting one over on the clueless cops?
Comment #3 :: link :: March 26, 2003 9:00 AM :: homepageI did a search in google news for stories on this guy, either by name or by description of event, and none of the stories (print or TV website) in the first few screens referred to him as a terrorist. As for the tractor, I think the parks department were told that he was bringing it as part of a protest, again another instance of a double standard.
Comment #4 :: link :: March 27, 2003 9:00 AMI'm not certain where you are located, but in southern Virginia this guy DID make the news as a TERRORSIT for two days. We wondered how he made it from North Carolina up to DC on a tractor without drawing attention. I personally did feel threatened by him, and know many others that did also; regardless of his skin color or occupation.
Comment #5 :: link :: March 27, 2003 9:00 AMI like your idea Mike. A dukes of hazard set in Detroit (to get product placements from auto-makers), involving African American brothers and their wacky hijinks on what is technically the wrong side of the law. Heck, they could recycle the scripts as an experiment !
Comment #6 :: link :: March 31, 2003 9:00 AMOnly if we can still have Roscoe P. Coltrane.
Comment #7 :: link :: April 2, 2003 9:00 AM :: homepage
