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Friday, February 11, 2005

Who Is William Krar?

NOTE: This article was originally published here on 18 August 2004. Republished for the purpose of newsfeed distribution.


If you don't know, it is OK. You likely got lots and lots of company. Even though Krar was arrested during what appeared to be preparation for major terrorist activity, his arrest attracted minimal attention from the media and caused no press release by the Department of Justice, which under John Ashcroft, as of the press time for this UPI report, had "found at least 2,295 occasions to toot its own horn that are apparently more newsworthy than the Krar arrest".

According to this report,

Krar, who is affiliated with several anti-government, white supremacist militia organizations, was apprehended after mailing a package containing false U.N. credentials, Defense Intelligence Agency IDs, phony birth certificates and a forged federal concealed weapons permit to a co-conspirator in New Jersey.

The package came with a note that read, "We would hate to have this fall into the wrong hands." It did. It was delivered to the incorrect address.

An alert citizen contacted the FBI, which led to the arrest of Krar and the discovery of a mind-numbing weapons cache: fully automatic machine guns, remote-controlled explosive devices disguised as briefcases, 60 pipe bombs, nearly 500,000 rounds of ammunition and enough pure sodium cyanide "to kill everyone inside a 30,000 square foot building," according to federal authorities.

Krar consequently pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous chemical weapon and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Sounds fair enough to me, and I am satisfied that Mr Krar will be away for awhile and will get a chance to cool his heels and maybe revise his attitude.

What I do find astounding is the near silence surrounding this case,- which is most likely why you are first reading about this gentleman here, if that is the case. One would think that, quoting the same UPI report, both the administration and the media would pay more attention to a man whose "arrest by federal law enforcement in the small town of Noonday, Texas, last April may have stopped the most devastating terror attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11".

So, what is the reason for that near silence? I don't know, but I think part of it may be that the story would not sell, that it lacks the sensationalist value, that maybe after 9/11 the non-Muslim Americans were supposed to be "good guys only" and writing about this sort of individual would be disturbing news that would in turn drive down ratings. Once again, these are just some thoughts of mine, I do not have any serious research to back it up with.

However, be that as it may, the following seem to be some of the lessons from this story. Firstly, not all terrorists are Arab or Muslim. Secondly, not all Arab or Muslim people are terrorists. Thirdly, the evil of all kinds can be found anywhere, and when it is found among us, the worst thing for us to do would be to pretend it is not there,- which is pretty much what the media is covertly trying to get us to do through their biased and incomplete (and, in most cases, outright missing) coverage of the Krar case.

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