A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS
by Meg White

Though one of them is on tape saying he told federal officials his friend planned on assassinating Sen. Barack Obama with a high-powered rifle during the presidential nominee's acceptance speech in Denver this evening, the three men arrested Sunday will not be charged [1] with threatening an assassination.

The plot began to unfurl [2] Sunday morning after a routine traffic stop of Tharin Gartrell, who was found to have weapons, drugs, and other illegal materials in the rented vehicle he was driving. Gartrell then led authorities to hotel rooms where two others implicated in the plot, Shawn Robert Adolf and Nathan Johnson, were also arrested.

After what they call an "intensive [3]" investigation lasting only a couple of days, the FBI and Secret Service say there is no real threat to Obama, and that no related charges will be brought in the case. U.S. Attorney Troy Eid seemed to say [4] that because the men were on drugs, they shouldn't be taken as a serious threat:

"From a legal standpoint, the law recognizes a difference between a true threat and the racist rantings of drug abusers."

So just because these people were drug users means they couldn't possibly have carried out a killing? Seems to me, meth users kill a lot of people. Eid admitted [5] that judgment is impaired in meth users.

"A bunch of meth heads get together, we don't know why they do what they do," Eid said. "People do lots of stupid things on meth."

According to a report [6] by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, figures on meth use and violence are closely correlated:

"Every community with a methamphetamine abuse problem has experienced violence in some form, most commonly appearing as domestic disputes. For example, police in Contra Costa County, California, report that methamphetamine is involved in almost 90 percent of the domestic dispute cases investigated by that agency. The extreme agitation and paranoia associated with use of the stimulant often lead to situations where violence is more likely to occur. Chronic use of methamphetamine can cause delusions and auditory hallucinations that precipitate violent behavior or response."

In an era where a drunk bar patron raving against the continued existence of a president or candidate could be picked up and questioned by the Secret Service without the bat of an eyelash, anyone should be seriously concerned by a driver in Denver hauling the following [7]:

"...two high-powered rifles, including one with telescopic sights, along with radios, wigs, a bullet-proof vest, a high-magnification spotting scope, three identifications not belonging to Mr. Gartrell, and 44 grams of the stimulant methamphetamine. One rifle had a threaded barrel so that it could be fitted with a silencer."

Sounds like a classic assassination kit. The fact that it was only uncovered after a chance traffic stop is troubling.

One of the men arrested even said that the evidence in the hands of federal investigators undoubtedly pointed to an assassination plot. In a local news interview from jail, Nathan Johnson said [8] that when he was faced with the facts, he had to admit it sure looked like his associates planned on assassinating Obama during the acceptance speech.

"With everything laid out on the table, I could see how it was possible that they could go through with it," Johnson said. When asked how he came to the conclusion that his friends were in Denver specifically to assassinate Obama, Johnson said, "I'm basing it off of the information that the feds gave me." 

"When the feds came in and laid everything out that had taken place," Johnson said, "I could see from their vantage point how, okay, yeah: There was the possibility that they were here to do it, and I said 'yes' to those comments."

Yet no charges will be filed. In similar circumstances, some offenders face jail time.

Just earlier this month, the Secret Service arrested a young Miami man and charged him [9] with verbally threatening Obama's life. Raymond Hunter Geisel faces up to five years in prison for talking about, without any evidence of planning, an assassination attempt on Obama. In fact, some who know him have said [10] he poses no threat, while others postulated that he meant he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden instead. 

The men arrested Sunday are also said to have ties [11] with the white supremacist group Aryan Nations and a splinter group called The Order, as well as [12] to a Neo-Nazi biker group called Sons of Silence. The three men were reportedly upset that a black man like Obama might become president.

Aryan Nations did not return a call for comment. But their Web site notes [13] the affiliation of a commando group trained in violence:

"...several members of the Aryan Nations and Robert J. Matthews went on to form 'The Order' -- a group that conducted practical acts of economic sabotage, assassination and other forms of covert direct action against the tyrannical and anti-Aryan Zionist system."

The Order has produced murderers [14] in the past.  Jason Hamilton [15], who went on a shooting spree before committing suicide last year was allegedly a member of The Order and, by extension, Aryan Nations.

Writers around the world are noticing [16] the lack of concern and coverage of this story in U.S. media outlets. Some allege [17]the U.S. is afraid of exposing the existence of, or paying undue attention to racists in the country. Others are using the lack of coverage to "prove [18]" outlandish conspiracy theories.

The Associated Press reports [19] that the Secret Service sees the case as the exact opposite:

"In an AP interview last week, the head of the Secret Service's Protective division said the white supremacist threat to Obama has been exaggerated.

'I think that it's something that, at times, the media tried to make more of,' Nick Trotta said. ‘We've always watched them, as we watch all the other groups.'"

There are a couple of reasons for the Secret Service to downplay this event. The fear of publicity bringing out copycat killers is a serious one. Also, the Obama campaign has been doing everything in its power to control the story coming out of Denver this week. With an event as political as a convention, that is an understandable desire, but the three men arrested in Denver this week deserve more scrutiny than they received in this age of heightened security risks.

A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Technorati Tags: Analysis [25] obama [26] assassination [27] denver [28] convention [29] security [30] threat [31] media [32] neo-nazi [33] white supremacist [34] aryan nations [35] the order [36]