A Look Back At The First War On Terror

Whenever someone laments the war on terrorism and states that it never-ending, I always suggest that they read history.

Our current worldwide conflict with terrorists is in fact our second war on terror. 

Then, like now, many people believed the conflict was never-ending.

The FBI offers a report that looks back at our first war on terror:

One of these issues was anarchism—an often violent offshoot of Marxism, with its revolutionary call to overthrow capitalism and bring power to the common man. Anarchists took it a step further—they wanted to do away with government entirely. The prevailing anarchistic creed that government was oppressive and repressive, that it should be overthrown by random attacks on the ruling class (including everyone from police to priests to politicians), was preached by often articulate spokesmen and women around the world. There were plenty who latched onto the message, and by the end of the nineteenth century, several world leaders were among those who had been assassinated.

The anarchists, in a sense, were the first modern-day terrorists—banding together in small, isolated groups around the world; motivated by ideology; bent on bringing down the governments they hated. But they would, ironically, hasten into being the first force of federal agents that would later become the FBI.

It happened at the hands of a 28-year-old Ohioan named Leon Czolgosz, who after losing his factory job and turning to the writings of anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, took a train to Buffalo, bought a revolver, and put a bullet in the stomach of a visiting President McKinley.

Eight days later, on September 14, 1901, McKinley was dead, and his vice president Teddy Roosevelt took the oval office. 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.fbi.gov/history/brief-history 

Note: Then, like now, many people believed the conflict was never-ending, but it did end. There are some anarchists active today and they often come out and participate in public demonstrations, but they are no longer a major threat. I suspect that our current war on terror will also end in time.

Three More Men Plead Guilty In Plot To Bomb Ohio Bridge

 

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

CLEVELAND—Three men pleaded guilty today to three counts each for their roles in a conspiracy to use explosives to destroy a bridge near Cleveland, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio; and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the Cleveland Division of the FBI.

At a hearing before U.S. District Court Judge David Dowd, defendants Douglas L. Wright, 26, of Indianapolis; Brandon L. Baxter, 20, of Lakewood, Ohio; and Connor C. Stevens, 20, of Berea, Ohio, all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, and attempted use of an explosive device to destroy property used in interstate commerce.

Anthony M. Hayne, 35, of Cleveland pleaded guilty in July to the same charges.

“Today’s guilty pleas demonstrate that when individuals decide to commit acts of terrorism that endanger the safety of our community, they will be held to account,” U.S. Attorney Dettelbach said. “The defendants today made a voluntary choice to plead guilty, the same way they made voluntary choices to try to detonate what they thought were explosive devices they had planted at the foot of a bridge.”

“We are pleased these defendants have admitted to their intent to utilize violence, which threatened innocent citizens, to further their ideological views,” FBI Special Agent in Charge Anthony said. “The safety of our citizens is and continues to be the FBI’s primary focus as demonstrated by this investigation. The Joint Terrorism Task Force will continue to be vigilant in our efforts to detect and disrupt any terrorism threat, domestic or international.”

Hayne, Wright, Baxter, Stevens, and Joshua S. Stafford were arrested on April 30, 2012.

According to court documents, Wright, Baxter, Hayne, Stevens, and Stafford are self-proclaimed anarchists who formed into a small group and considered a series of evolving plots over several months.

The initial plot involved the use of smoke grenades to distract law enforcement in order for the co-conspirators to topple financial institution signs atop high rise buildings in downtown Cleveland, according to the complaint.

The plot later developed to the utilization of explosive materials. The defendants conspired to obtain C-4 explosives contained in two improvised explosive devices to be placed and remotely detonated, according to the complaint.

The defendants discussed various bridges and physical targets in and around the Cleveland metropolitan area over the course of several months. The final plan resulted in the Route 82 Brecksville-Northfield High Level Bridge being the designated target. This bridge crosses from Brecksville, Ohio, to Sagamore Hills, Ohio, over the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, according to the complaint.

The public was never in danger from the explosive devices, which were controlled by an undercover FBI employee. The defendants were closely monitored by law enforcement. The explosives that the defendants allegedly purchased and attempted to use were inoperable and posed no threat to the public.

Stafford’s case is pending while he undergoes an examination and competency hearing.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Duncan T. Brown, Justin E. Herdman, and Thomas E. Getz, following an investigation by the FBI and the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Agencies represented on the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force include: Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office; Federal Air Marshal Service; Cleveland Police Department; Cleveland Heights Police Department; U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service; Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Intelligence; Westlake, Ohio,Police Department; U.S. Diplomatic Security Service; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; Customs and Border Protection; RTA Police; Ohio State Highway Patrol; Transportation Security Administration; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; Shaker Heights, Ohio Police Department; North Olmstead, Ohio Police Department; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service. Assistance in this case was also provided by the U.S. National Park Service Park Rangers, Sagamore Hills Police Department, Brecksville Police Department, and the Summit County, Ohio Sheriff’s Office.