Terrorist Apprehended!

But you aren't likely to hear George W. Bush crowing about this one.

From Rawstory:

Anthrax hoaxer may be Free Republic poster

Larisa Alexandrovna and Brian Beutler
Published: Monday November 13, 2006

The man arrested on Saturday for sending more than a dozen envelopes containing "fake anthrax" to anti-war celebrities, journalists, and politicians may have ties to the conservative supersite Free Republic, RAW STORY has found.

Chad Castagana, a 39 year old Californian named as the FBI's prime suspect in the case, is due in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles today, where procecutors are expected to file criminal complaint against him for sending threatening letters through the U.S. mail. Castagana has an extensive online history, often writing about science fiction and conservative politics, and many bloggers are convinced that he is also a contributor at the conservative activist Free Republic website under the name Marc Costanzo.

[...]

Most striking is this Costanzo comment from September, weeks before the anti-Bush MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann was sent a threatening fake anthrax letter in New York: "This partisan loudmouth Olbermann is a demagogue! Someone should find out where he lives and mail him a Ted Kazcinski letter."

The Rawstory piece points out a bunch of similarities. I'm not going to say that it's true yet, but they do seem damning.

It's important to remember that up until 9/11, the majority of terrorism in the United States was motivated not by a corrupt for of Islam, but an extreme form of Conservatism. From U.S. News & World Reports:

In the 10 years since the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people, roughly 60 right-wing terrorist plots have been uncovered in the United States, according to an upcoming report by the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. The plots, all foiled by law enforcement, reportedly included violent plans by antigovernment militia groups, racist skinhead organizations, and Ku Klux Klan members to use various types of chemical bombs and other weapons.

The plots demonstrate that the Department of Homeland Security still needs to closely monitor right-wing groups, says Heidi Beirich, with the Intelligence Project. The DHS was criticized by hate-group experts in April when an internal planning document on domestic terrorist threats was leaked to the press. The DHS report listed radical leftist groups, such as the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, which have been involved in numerous arson cases, but not violent right-wing militia and skinhead groups.

Ted Kazinsky, the Waco Siege, Ruby Ridge, Gordon Kahl, the Montana Freemen and those who engage in anti-abortion violence are more representative of the typical terrorist in the United States. Islamicist terrorist, though responsible for the most devastating attack, are in the minority.

By no means am I accusing every conservative of being a terrorist. (I wouldn't accuse every Environmentalist of being an E.L.F. sympathiser, either.) I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy of the current administration. BushCo. ignores one of the major terror threats facing Americans because it would be politically damaging to highlight the extremes of his own movement.

Expect to not hear about this (or at least the connection to Free Republic) in the MSM.

Chad Castagana Marc Costanzo Anthrax Free Republic