[118083] in Cypherpunks
IP: Race-hate link to church slaughter
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Sun Sep 19 13:52:53 1999
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Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 13:22:55 -0400
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From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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From: "Dan S" <ds1999@crosswinds.net>
To: "IP" <ignition-point@precision-d.com>
Subject: IP: Race-hate link to church slaughter
Date: Sun, 19 Sep 1999 11:41:31 -0400
Sender: owner-ignition-point@precision-d.com
Reply-To: "Dan S" <ds1999@crosswinds.net>
>From The Sunday Times,
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/99/09/19/stifgnfar02004.html?99
9
-
September 19 1999 FAR EAST
©
The aftermath of last week's shooting
Photograph: Rodger Mallison
Race-hate link to church slaughter
Tom Rhodes New York
THE Federal Bureau of Investigation is studying claims by a white supremacy
expert that the gunman who murdered seven worshippers at a Baptist church in
Texas last week belonged to one of America's most radical domestic terrorist
groups.
Larry Ashbrook, 47, is said to have been a long-time disciple of the Phineas
Priesthood, the paramilitary arm of Christian Identity, a racist group that
has declared war on Jews and black people. The "priests" proudly boast that
they are America's IRA.
At first it seemed that Ashbrook, who had lived alone since the death of his
father in July, was simply a paranoid schizophrenic careering towards a
tragic end. He blamed bosses for his inability to keep jobs, claimed he was
under Central Intelligence Agency surveillance, railed against the
government and saved articles about another multiple killer. He once exposed
himself to three female neighbours.
Before he entered the Wedgwood Baptist church in Fort Worth on Wednesday
evening, dressed in black and brandishing .38 and 9mm handguns, there was
little to indicate that Ashbrook was anything other than a sad but ordinary
madman. He had already wrecked his home, knocking holes in walls,
overturning furniture and pouring concrete into the lavatory.
Inside the church he fired more than 25 shots from two semi-automatics at a
group of 150 who had gathered for a concert, shouting obscenities and
ridiculing the Baptist denomination. The four teenagers and three adults he
killed before turning his gun on himself were white.
Only later did it emerge, from conversations with informants inside
Christian Identity, that there may indeed have been method to his madness.
The hate group was said to be furious with local Baptist leaders for trying
to encourage Jews to join their congregation. The Baptist church in Fort
Worth was praying for Jewish conversions during the holy days of Rosh
Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
John Craig, a leading authority on radical groups in America, says he
interviewed Ashbrook three years ago during research for his acclaimed book
on extremists, Soldiers of God: White Supremacists and Their Holy War for
America. Ashbrook, a former navy recruit, told him he had taken up the
priesthood's cause.
As soon as he heard that the killer was dressed in black, Craig suspected
the priesthood was responsible. Black leather jackets are the group's
recognised battle dress.
Contacts within Christian Identity confirmed that Ashbrook was the culprit
and that he had remained an active member of the movement, Craig said.
According to Craig, Christian Identity leaders immediately issued a call to
arms after the Texas Baptist convention advertised its intention to recruit
Jews two weeks ago.
A group that denounced Jews could not tolerate the notion that they would be
accepted into the bosom of Christ, viewing the initiative as an act of
apostasy, Craig said. "My concern now is there are other members out there,
and they feed off one another's actions."
The "priests" are numbered among America's most dangerous terrorists because
of their willingness to die in the process of killing Jews, blacks or anyone
who helps them. Followers strive to emulate the biblical example of Phineas,
who killed an Israelite and his heathen wife with a javelin for violating
God's prohibition against consorting with women who were not of the chosen
people.
According to the Old Testament Book of Numbers, Phineas's zealous action
saved the people of Israel from a plague and secured perpetual priesthood
for the faithful servant and his descendants. The story is now used as a
justification for violent action by a diverse group of hardline zealots,
including white supremacists, anti-government activists and the extreme
fringe of the anti-abortion movement.
Eric Rudolph, an abortion clinic bomber who is also suspected of the 1996
Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, is the poster child of the movement. It
includes Buford Furrow, who shot children at a Jewish child-care centre in
Los Angeles last month, Paul Hill, an anti-abortion activist convicted of
killing a doctor in Florida, and Byron de la Beckwith, who assassinated
Medger Evers, the 1960s civil rights activist.
The son of a deeply religious man, Ashbrook was clearly frustrated. Although
trained in a highly respected submarine warfare team, he was eventually
discharged from the navy after struggling to keep up with his peers.
Like Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber who failed to gain entry to
the special forces, he became resentful of government and future employers.
Police said Ashbrook had kept journals since the 1980s documenting his
growing dissatisfaction with authority.
Although no evidence had been found at his home to prove any connection to
the Phineas Priesthood, police said that both the FBI and local enforcement
officers were investigating Craig's evidence.
--
Dan S
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-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
