Domestic Islamic Terrorism in Los Angeles

Terrorism is generally divide into two categories, domestic and international depending upon whether or not the culprits are citizens of this country or not. The distinction is fairly clear when comparing the suspects in the World Trade Center and Pentagon incidents with the Oklahoma City Murrah Federal Building. That is, of course, if you agree that Timothy McVeigh acted without the assistance of foreign help, as most seem to think. Now the picture is starting to get a little foggy with the arrest of two Los Angeles residents last month. I blogged on the incident, Black Islamic Terrorism and Crime Linked in LA. I opined that it was likely that the suspects were black, Islamic, and gang members. An article in today’s LA Times confirms my opinion.

A new era in domestic terrorism in now clearly demonstrated to be present in the Los Angeles area. There is no reason to assume that LA is unique as compared to the other major urban centers in the country. Thus, there is another whole new area that needs to be examined in the assessment of the likelihood of terrorism for the U.S.

One other little tidbit: a Pakistani was also arrested.