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CNN Live Today
Hate Group Expert Discusses Midwest Mailbox Bombings
Aired May 06, 2002 - 10:16 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we are going to go back to one of our top stories, and that is the pipe bombs being left up and down the Midwest, and get some perspective on the possible message and the motive of the attacks. And joining us to lend some perspective is Dan Levitas, an expert on hate groups -- good morning -- thanks for joining us.
DAN LEVITAS, HATE GROUP EXPERT: Good morning.
KAGAN: Not the kind of morning where we like to invite somebody like you, because it means we are talking about a terrible thing that is happening in the Midwest. What kind of person or persons would do something like this? Is there a profile on somebody like this?
LEVITAS: Well, there is no solid profile, but from what we know about the letters anyway, it is someone who has an axe to grind with the federal government, anti-government sentiment. And of course, taken in the context of what right-wing hate groups were saying after September 11, it's only reasonable to believe that possibly someone associated with a right-wing group or a racist or anti-Semitic organization might be involved, because we have heard a lot of violent anti-government sentiment coming from groups like that after the terrorist attacks last year.
KAGAN: Right. And is this kind of a wake-up call? Since September 11, we have had so much of our attention focused outside the U.S. about enemies out there. But it is a big reminder that there are plenty of people right within the U.S. that do still want to hurt Americans.
LEVITAS: Well, there are plenty of people here with that sentiment, luckily only a very small, hardened core with the real criminal intent. But again, with the anthrax scare, there was a time when the government, and still now there has been no, you know, nobody found in connection with those anthrax letters.
KAGAN: Right. Which is more scary stuff.
LEVITAS: Absolutely. And right-wing hate groups have dabbled with biological warfare and attempted to try and get some of those agents. Luckily, they haven't been successful.
KAGAN: Right. Now this was -- let's look at what we do know about this. First of all, a pipe bomb, a much more crude kind of attack than something as fancy as anthrax.
LEVITAS: Yes.
KAGAN: Picked the Midwest, picked mailboxes, picked a rural area, and covered a pretty wide area in a short amount of time. What can we read then from those clues?
LEVITAS: Well, the Midwest has long been an incubator for paramilitary right-wing organizations since the 1980s. The militia movement...
KAGAN: Yes, we think of the Midwest as a nice place that you move, so that you don't have deal with stuff like that.
LEVITAS: Well, it is a nice place.
KAGAN: Yes.
LEVITAS: And the majority of people in that part of the country are patriotic and are denouncing this activity. It's a bad strategy politically if you are trying to get recruits or support for your efforts. And I really think that probably only one person is involved, maybe two, but it really seems more like an individual. One other thing, the anti-government sentiment...
KAGAN: Why do you say it looks more like an individual?
LEVITAS: Well, the anti-government sentiment in the letters is not as sharp and elaborate as one would expect to find if an organized group was involved.
KAGAN: We are going to look at a little part of the letter. We have that ready to look at the full screen. If we can put that up and then maybe we -- so this letter reads: "If the government controls what you wan to do, they control what you can do. I'm obtaining your attention in the only way I can. More info is on the way.
One thing that is scary about that, I mean, info if he or she wants the attention, it probably means that more attacks are on the way.
LEVITAS: Well, it's possible. I mean, this has gone on for several days now. And you know, it may well continue to go on, or some government analysts are saying that they think the person sent the message and they are likely to back off. It's impossible to predict what's going to happen next.
KAGAN: That is true. Well, hopefully law enforcement will be hot on the trail of whoever did this, and it's terrorizing people up and down the Mideast. Dan Levitas, thank you so much.
LEVITAS: Thanks.
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