Page 128 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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102———The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord

responses by governments at all levels. Regardless the extreme right. As revenge for his death, the CSA
of the response, the elements of diplomacy, intelli- declared war on what it called the Zionist occupation
gence, law enforcement, military operations, and government, or ZOG.
training will continue to be employed in a variety of As part of its declaration of war, members planned
manners to attack individuals and groups engaged to assassinate government officials, including a judge,
in terrorism. an FBI agent, and federal prosecutor Asa Hutchison.
A car wreck on the way to a target’s house, however,
See also OSAMA BIN LADEN; CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY;
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION; GRENZSCHUTZGRUPPE 9; was taken as a sign from God that the plan was not
MUNICH OLYMPICS MASSACRE; SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS; ready. CSA’s crimes included setting fires to an
Arkansas church with a largely homosexual congrega-
RAMZI AHMED YOUSEF
tion and a Jewish center, and bombing a natural gas
Further Reading pipeline. The day after the 1983 pipeline bombing,
however, a CSA member, Richard Wayne Snell, killed
Baer, Robert. See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground the owner of a pawnshop, mistakenly believing he was
Soldier in the CIA’s War on Terrorism. New York: Jewish. In 1984, Snell killed a black Arkansas state
Crown, 2002. trooper, Louis Bryant, and was captured by authorities.
Bergen, Peter L. Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of The CSA church, located on a 224-acre compound
Osama bin Laden. New York: Free Press, 2001.
Bolz, Frank, Jr., Kenneth J. Dudonis, and David P. Schulz. in rural Arkansas, eventually became a survivalist
The Counter-Terrorism Handbook: Tactics, Procedures paramilitary training camp for other white supremacist
and Techniques. New York: Elsevier, 1990. groups such as the Aryan Nations and the Order. It was
Vise, David A. The Bureau and the Mole: The Unmasking there that authorities believed David Tate, a member of
of Robert Philip Hanssen, the Most Dangerous Double the Order, was heading after gunning down a Missouri
Agent in FBI History. New York: Atlantic Monthly state trooper, Jimmie Linegar. On April 19, 1985, more
Press, 2002. than 200 FBI agents and other police surrounded the
Whitcomb, Christopher. COLD ZERO: Inside the FBI compound. The resulting standoff, the first of its kind
Hostage Rescue Team. New York: Little, Brown, 2001. in which federal authorities were up against such a
well-equipped militia group, lasted four days and was
resolved peacefully.
THE COVENANT, THE SWORD, Tate was eventually located and arrested in Forsyth,
AND THE ARM OF THE LORD Missouri. He had never made it to the compound but
four other members of the Order—two wanted on fed-
eral racketeering charges and two arrested on federal
The Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord firearms violations—were there and surrendered at the
(CSA) was started in Arkansas as a small fundamental- same time as Ellison. Subsequent searches of the com-
ist Christian group called Zarephath-Horeb, meaning pound yielded hundreds of weapons and explosives,
“refuge and divine inspiration,” by James Ellison in including the remnants of a minefield, caches of gold
1971. Ellison eventually adopted Christian Identity, a and neo-Nazi literature, and a 30-gallon barrel of
race-based theology that claims whites are the only true cyanide. Ellison and his second-in-command, Kerry
descendants of God, Jews are descended from Satan, Noble, were sentenced in 1985 to prison on racketeer-
and all other races are descended from animals. The ing and illegal weapons charges.
group adopted an antigovernment stance and changed Snell was executed on April 19, 1995—12 hours
its name to symbolize its paramilitary function. after a bomb exploded in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal
Although members sold weapons and hate litera- Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.
ture and engaged in some criminal activity, the group Members of the CSA have admitted that they had had
crossed the line into terrorism in 1983 after Gordon a plan—which was later abandoned—to blow up that
Kahl, a North Dakota farmer and member of the Posse building. They and others have suggested that Snell
Comitatus, refused to pay his taxes. After shooting may have been involved in the planning of the blast
and killing two federal marshals, Kahl was killed in a from his prison cell, but no conspiracy has been
shootout with the authorities, making him a martyr for brought to light.