There are three key facts right now, and a bunch of recent history, that support the hypothesis that this was an act by a right-wing militia group:
a) Two to four snipers with high-powered rifles.
b) Concealed locations in one or more parking garages above the protest.
c) One of the captured suspects said “the end is coming.”
www.theguardian.com/...
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1) History: Hutarees:
In 2010 a right-wing extremist group calling itself the Hutarees was busted by FBI for planning an attack consisting of the following elements:
First they would ambush and shoot a police officer.
Next, they would ambush the officer’s funeral, and shoot additional officers and their family members.
This would lead to an armed standoff against police, where the Hutarees would also use IEDs (concealed bombs).
Lastly, the Hutarees hoped and expected that the outcome of the armed standoff would encourage other militias to rise up and overthrow the government by force.
Hutaree ideology included the belief that "we see the end of the age coming quickly, and with it some very rough times ahead, as foretold by God's word.”
en.wikipedia.org/…
2) History: Bundy standoff 2014:
In 2014, members of the Bundy family and an associated group of right-wing militia members conducted an armed standoff against federal agents who were seeking to take legal action against Cliven Bundy for grazing his cattle on federal land for years without paying the necessary permit fees. Participating groups included Oath Keepers, the White Mountain Militia, and the Praetorian Guard.
Most of us have seen the news photos showing militia members, armed with sniper rifles, crouched behind concrete barriers on a highway overpass that overlooked the scene. There were enough militia members on the scene, in concealed positions to fire at the federal agents and various civilians below, that the FBI and US Marshals were forced to retreat in order to avoid a potential major gun battle and slaughter.
en.wikipedia.org/…
This year, following the Bundy Gang occupation & standoff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, FBI was able to arrest Cliven Bundy as he attempted to get on a plane to visit his son Ammon who was in jail pending charges for Malheur. A number of other arrests quickly followed. At this point a decent number of people involved in the 2014 standoff are in custody facing trial.
Further, in the Malheur standoff this year, a number of the occupiers repeatedly went on social media and posted videos, calling for other militia groups to come to Malheur and take a stand in support of overthrowing the federal government. That is a consistent objective of these groups, using a variety of rhetoric including “patriot,” “constitutionalist,” and similar euphemisms.
3) Hypothesis: right-wing militia terrorist act.
The Dallas mass shooting is consistent with right-wing militia tactics (sniper rifles from above the target area, as seen in Bundy standoff) and objectives.
Militia members routinely train for guerrilla warfare: “4th-Generation warfare” or “4GW.” Interestingly, see also the connection between 4GW, William Lind (one of the originators of the 4GW theory of warfare), and Donald Trump, as found by DK member Troutfishing and published in detail in a story here: www.dailykos.com/…
The Dallas suspect’s mention of “end times” is common with extremist religious right ideology. It’s also common among “lone nuts,” but lone nuts with no ideology do not organize in a group of two to four shooters.
Therefore:
A right wing militia group having ideology similar to that of the Hutarees, intended to shoot police, causing police to start shooting protesters, and thereby causing race riots leading to a general race war, and/or an uprising against government by other right wing racist groups.
At this point we only have a few relevant facts, and a couple of previous cases as points of reference. However, anyone who is familiar with the ideologies and tactics of militia groups, neo-Nazi groups, white supremacist groups, and the extreme religious right, will recognize the elements in common between those and the presently-known facts of the Dallas shootings.
4) What next:
It will be “interesting” to see what Trump has to say about this. I say that not to make light of a horror, but in all due seriousness. Trump’s rhetoric since the start of his campaign has emboldened racists, and he has resisted all efforts to get him to tone it down or stop.
It is possible that other hate groups will use similar tactics in the near future. Organizers of BLM and related protests should be aware of the risk, and have people watching the perimeters of protests, including using binoculars to watch areas above the protests to a distance of a mile.
This terrorist act has exactly nothing to do with BLM or other groups seeking justice in the name of individuals who have been shot by police. These terrorists took cynical and brutal advantage of a peaceful BLM protest in order to commit mass murder.
This should not be used as any sort of excuse by anyone to disparage BLM or to claim that “all progress has been lost,” or any such nonsense. That’s what the terrorists want. Do not give in to terrorists.
If anything, what’s needed now is a greater degree of outreach between protest organizers and police, and a greater focus on peaceful action for justice, and a redoubling of get-out-the-vote (GOTV) efforts.
The way we fight racist terrorism of all kinds and win, is to turn out voters in huge numbers, win the landslide of a lifetime for the White House, take back the Senate, take back the House, send Trump and his racist buddies scurrying to hide under their rocks, and see to it that right-wing terrorists are convicted and do serious time in prison.
Stop the violence. Keep the peace. Get out the vote.