Days of Tribulation

The FBI raids throughout the Midwest appear to be linked to a Christian-based militia group whose website is www.hutaree.com , which claims they are training to fight alongside Christ in the battle with the anti-Christ. They target American Muslim groups and believe the time of tribulations from the Book of Revelations has arrived. In their mission statement, they say they are "preparing for the end-time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive." Their camo covered website also advertises that they consider themselves to be citizens of the Colonial Christian Republic.

According to preliminary reports, over 47 people have been arrested. The raids in Ohio were in Sandusky, Toledo, and Huron; in Indiana in Hammond ; and in Michigan in Adrian. One person arrested in Ohio was permitted a phone call and said he was " being held for trying to overthrow the government". Another said,"they completely ransacked my house." Others said it was "like a small army had descended on them."

Most militia websites were distancing themselves from the action and downplaying the importance of this group. Others noted that militia websites were down most of the day as these raids continued. However, the former chief of the Alabama Militia and now teabagger provocateur Mike Vanderboegh, said the government "just handed us Fort Sumter and kicked off the next American civil war." Mr. Mike is the one encouraging acts of vandalism against all the Democrats who voted for healthcare. I can't wait until he convenes his "Bring Your Arms to Washington" rally at neighboring Fort Hunt Park on the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.

One e-mail exchange today involved one of the participants in Michigan. "He was packing up his LBE and weaspons into an armored truck and asked his wife to bring the congregation together to say a prayer for the militia. They were going to war on Sunday."

One tends to forget the rash of violent right-wing actions since the election of Barack Obama--the burning down of a black church in Massachusetts, the killing of police officers in Pittsburgh by a man who believed Obama was going to take away his guns, the assassination plots against Obama by militia men, and the killing of the guard at the Holocaust Museum. That's just to name a few.

So far, there has not been but the briefest public statements by the FBI and local police departments have refused comments to the local press. A statement from Michigan law enforcement authorities claim the raids were not terrorism-related.