Experts Fear Suicide Crash Could Inspire More Attacks

(Feb. 19) -- To most Americans, Joe Stack's decision to crash a plane into an IRS office in Austin, Texas, Thursday morning was a mix of desperation and lunacy. But another portion of the nation greeted Stack's murderous act as a romantic and patriotic gesture -- a reaction that concerns experts.

"The very fact of what he did might energize somebody else on the borderline and might tip them in favor of going ahead and doing something similar," said Mark Pitcavage, who tracks anti-government groups as director of investigative research for the Anti-Defamation League. "The fact that there is sympathy for him and support for him suggests that that is not out of the realm of possibility."

Federal investigators are "continuing to investigate all aspects of Joseph Stack's life and the events leading up to the incident," a federal law enforcement official in Washington said, adding that "there is nothing discovered so far to indicate a larger conspiracy or international influence." Investigators in Texas told reporters they quickly ruled out any direct connections between Stack and terrorist groups or causes.

Pitcavage noted that the suicide crash was the latest in a series of attacks by extremist "lone wolves," from white supremacist Keith Luke, who allegedly killed two black men in Brockton, Mass., in January 2009, to alleged Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

"All of these cases were identical in that they were not members of groups or cells but individuals who, through a combination of political belief and personal stresses, decided to embark on acts of extreme violence," Pitcavage said. "It's very hard to detect those [acts] in advance and very hard to prevent. It's very much on the periphery of the movements."

Overall, the Southern Poverty Law Center has counted 75 domestic terror acts since Timothy McVeigh blew up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 15 years ago this April, and last August, the organization reported a resurgence of the "Patriot" movement that helped spawn McVeigh's attack. Mark Potok, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Report, said a new study due to be released in March will show a marked increase in anti-government activity since Barack Obama took over the White House in January 2009.

The Austin attack "comes in the context of an absolute explosion in the number of anti-government and Patriot groups and militia groups," Potok said, adding that he could not provide a more specific breakdown until the March report is completed. But already "the numbers are astounding."

"The white supremacists also agitated about Barack Obama, but we didn't see their numbers grow, just their anger," added Pitcavage, whose ADL has observed the same trend line as the SPLC. "The anti-government groups have linked Obama with all these major conspiracy theories about concentration camps and martial law -- the same sorts that were swirling around before the Oklahoma City bombing. That he's going to be the instrument of the New World Order" under which, most versions of the theory have it, the U.S. government would be subsumed by an international cabal.

On Facebook, several "Joe Stack" fan sites reportedly were shut down soon after their creation. But "The Philosophy of Joe Stack" group remained live and had more than 800 fans early Friday afternoon. The group made a point of noting that its page "is not to glorify his actions, but simply to say that after reading his note, we can agree with and sympathize with Joe Stacks' thoughts." Still, many of the commenters said they applauded Stack's actions, and framed his attack within the context of the populace rising up against an oppressive government.

"I get a lot of flak from people I know for thinking this guy did a patriotic thing," wrote a poster by the name of Shawn Zachary. "A lot of you guys probably do as well. I truly believe that what Joe Stack did is no different than what was going on in this same land over 200 years ago."

Another poster, using the name Sloov Sloover, saw in the act a potential preamble to revolution.

"Joe Stack's one mistake was that he thought, because the American public is depicted as zombies in the corporate media, that this is really true," Sloover posted. "Sure, we're uneducated, but I believe an organized revolution, involving adequate funding and led by enlightened geniuses, could get the support of at least 2/3 of the people."

It's less the possibility of a mass uprising that worries the experts, though, than the prospect of individual Stack copycats.