Word: militiaization
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...their antigovernment convictions that led at least McVeigh, and quite possibly Terry Nichols, to search for comrades among the young and growing Michigan Militia, a right-wing antigovernment brigade founded in April 1994 that now claims to have brigades in 66 of the state's 83 counties. Terry told Izydorek he was a member of that group, as well as another national confederation who call themselves "patriots." John Simpson, a militia member and skilled-trades worker at General Motors, denies the Nichols' involvement with the Michigan Militia, which claims some 12,000 members. "[Terry] came to one of our meetings...
Whether the Michigan Militia's activities are quite this innocent is arguable. While dressing in camouflage gear and holding training retreats and rallies may be their main pursuits, it is clear that the members, along with those in similar groups throughout the country, nurture a profound paranoia about the Federal Government even as they express their deepest patriotism. Bureaucrats, militia members believe, are responsible for gun-control laws, like the 1994 Brady law and assault-weapons ban. The militias especially blame the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms for the movement's twin tragedies: the deaths...
Although the Michigan Militia, along with members of other groups, has moved quickly to repudiate any connection with McVeigh or the bombing, the significance of the date on which it took place--April 19--was not lost on those familiar with the patriot movement. Says Ron Cole, a former leader of the Branch Davidian sect who describes himself as a patriot: "It's a date that has a significance like no other day of the year." On April 19, 1775, the Battle of Lexington--the opening salvos in America's Revolutionary War--began. On April 19, 1993, the siege...
...American was cinched when he learned the birth date that was cited on the fake driver's license used to rent the bomber's truck: April 19. Barnes recognized the date as one that is near talismanic to the survivalist fringe he had observed while reporting on the Michigan Militia, a group we wrote about in our Dec. 19 issue last year. In fact, the subjects of the FBI's investigation turned out to have links to that very group. Barnes, who spent time with the Irish Republican Army bomb crafters in 1986, notes that for all the death...
Perhaps the most belligerent militia is the Militia of Montana, with headquarters in the Cabinet Mountains near Noxon. "This is probably where the war is going to begin, right here in Montana," a member who refused to be identified told the bbc last year. "We've got a lot more bullets than they...