Word: militiaization
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Norman Olson cut a sorry figure as he announced the disbanding of his Northern Michigan Regional Militia group last week. The man who met with Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols in 1994 (but later condemned the bombing) and who predicted in 1995 that the Constitution would be suspended within two years ended up suspending himself. Nobody was turning up any-more for his war games in the woods. "The interest just dwindled," says Olson. "It was time for the members to go on and do something else--spend more time with their families or their hobbies...
...shootout at Ruby Ridge and the 1993 siege at Waco, suspicion of federal agencies and gun-control initiatives reached paranoid levels. Within days of the bombing, conspiracy theorists claimed that the Federal Government had caused the explosions so that it could justify new antiterrorist legislation. The number of active militia groups quadrupled in the year after Oklahoma City. A TIME cover story on the militia movement just after the bombing estimated that upwards of 12 million Americans "respond to the patriot rhetoric about a sinister, out-of-control federal bureaucracy." The final reckoning was nigh...
...never came. As McVeigh prepares for his execution on May 16, the militia movement that identified with his anti-government rage is dying off too. The last presidential election robbed the movement of two of its favorite villains: Bill Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno. Now middle-aged men who used to tramp through forests in fatigues and war paint are back in front of their TVs sipping beer and watching the game. Nationwide, the number of active militia groups has plummeted, from a high of 858 in 1996 to 194 last year, according to figures from the Southern Poverty...
...dialogue" between Israel and Syria may be revealed in the contents of a fishing boat intercepted near Haifa en route from Lebanon to Gaza on Monday. Israeli authorities said the vessel contained rocket-propelled grenades and Katyusha rockets, the artillery-of-choice of Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Lebanese militia which has periodically acted as a Syrian proxy has formed Palestinian cells in Gaza, which have been behind the mortar attacks on Israeli settlements in that territory. If the rockets intercepted by the Israelis were indeed sent by Hezbollah - which may provoke a sharp Israeli response directed at Syrian targets...
...quietly. Tens of thousands of his supporters have flocked to the capital, Jakarta, in a bid to stop moves to oust their leader, and the most ominous among them may be the massive militia that bears the ominous title "Brave Movement to Die Defending Gus Dur." Some of Wahid's rivals, of course, are supported by militias of their own - most notably the ambitious parliamentary speaker Amien Rais, who originally backed Wahid to keep out Megawati, but now demands his resignation - raising tensions on the streets of Jakarta to boiling point...