The disturbing Army militia plot in Georgia
Granted, the convention in Tampa has been a massive media attention suck, but there’s still be strikingly little coverage of the terrorist group composed partially of active-duty U.S. troops in Georgia that killed two people and whose plans included assassinating the president: From the AP’s Russ Bynum: Prosecutors in rural Long County said the militia ...
Granted, the convention in Tampa has been a massive media attention suck, but there's still be strikingly little coverage of the terrorist group composed partially of active-duty U.S. troops in Georgia that killed two people and whose plans included assassinating the president:
Granted, the convention in Tampa has been a massive media attention suck, but there’s still be strikingly little coverage of the terrorist group composed partially of active-duty U.S. troops in Georgia that killed two people and whose plans included assassinating the president:
From the AP’s Russ Bynum:
Prosecutors in rural Long County said the militia group composed of active duty and former U.S. military members spent at least $87,000 buying guns and bomb components and was serious enough to kill two people – former soldier Michael Roark and his 17-year-old girlfriend, Tiffany York – by shooting them in the woods in December in order to keep its plans secret.
“This domestic terrorist organization did not simply plan and talk,” prosecutor Isabel Pauley told a Superior Court judge. “Prior to the murders in this case, the group took action. Evidence shows the group possessed the knowledge, means and motive to carry out their plans.”[…]
Prosecutors said the group called itself F.E.A.R., short for Forever Enduring Always Ready. Pauley said authorities don’t know how many members the militia had.
The prosecutor said the militia group had big plans. It plotted to take over Fort Stewart by seizing its ammunition control point and talked of bombing the Forsyth Park fountain in nearby Savannah, she said. In Washington state, she added, the group plotted to bomb a dam and poison the state’s apple crop. Ultimately, prosecutors said, the militia’s goal was to overthrow the government and assassinate the president.
The group’s ideology isn’t quite clear. Prosecutors have described F.E.A.R as an "anarchist group and militia" and members of the group apparently wore tattoos resembling the anarchy symbol. Gawker’s John Cook has dug up a photo that appears to show the group’s leader, Isaac Aguigui, attending the 2008 GOP convention as a page. The Atlantic Wire’s John Hudson has a good roundup of the coverage.
Even if the group didn’t get very far along in its plans — and the apple orchard plot certainly suggests a tenuous grip on reality — $87,000 worth of semiautomatic rifles and bombs seems like a pretty serious threat.
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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