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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Right-wing backlash against Obama? | Right-wing backlash against Obama? |
| (about 18 hours later) | |
| Following the fatal shooting of a guard at the Holocaust Museum in the US capital, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington asks whether Barack Obama's election as president is provoking right-wing fringe groups to commit violent acts. | Following the fatal shooting of a guard at the Holocaust Museum in the US capital, the BBC's Kevin Connolly in Washington asks whether Barack Obama's election as president is provoking right-wing fringe groups to commit violent acts. |
| Von Brunn may be more obsessed with Anne Frank than Barack Obama | Von Brunn may be more obsessed with Anne Frank than Barack Obama |
| An elderly fanatic shoots dead a black security guard at the museum in Washington DC where America commemorates the Jews killed in Europe by the Nazis. | |
| A week earlier, thousands of miles away in Wichita, Kansas, another lone gunman enters a crowded church and shoots dead Dr George Tiller, who ran a busy abortion clinic. | A week earlier, thousands of miles away in Wichita, Kansas, another lone gunman enters a crowded church and shoots dead Dr George Tiller, who ran a busy abortion clinic. |
| Within hours of the latest attack, blogs and social networking sites are buzzing with talk that the two incidents taken together confirm the rise of right-wing extremism in America. | Within hours of the latest attack, blogs and social networking sites are buzzing with talk that the two incidents taken together confirm the rise of right-wing extremism in America. |
| On the left there is a strong belief that the attacks confirm a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the year which warned that the current political and economic circumstances in the US were creating a hothouse atmosphere within which right-wing extremism would flourish. | On the left there is a strong belief that the attacks confirm a report prepared by the Department of Homeland Security earlier in the year which warned that the current political and economic circumstances in the US were creating a hothouse atmosphere within which right-wing extremism would flourish. |
| Those political circumstances, of course, include the election of America's first black President, Barack Obama - an event greeted with rage and horror on the extreme right. | Those political circumstances, of course, include the election of America's first black President, Barack Obama - an event greeted with rage and horror on the extreme right. |
| 'Rising tide' | 'Rising tide' |
| When it was published, the Homeland Security report attracted scathing criticism from conservative politicians. | When it was published, the Homeland Security report attracted scathing criticism from conservative politicians. |
| Dr Tiller could have died in 1993 as easily as in 2009 | Dr Tiller could have died in 1993 as easily as in 2009 |
| The Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, found herself on the defensive over an assertion in the report that returning military veterans were particularly attractive to far-right groups because of their experience with explosives and firearms. | The Secretary for Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, found herself on the defensive over an assertion in the report that returning military veterans were particularly attractive to far-right groups because of their experience with explosives and firearms. |
| So does that report look remarkably prescient in the light of the events of the last few weeks? | So does that report look remarkably prescient in the light of the events of the last few weeks? |
| The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil-rights organisation in Montgomery, Alabama which tracks what it regards as far-right groups, is in no doubt. | The Southern Poverty Law Centre, a civil-rights organisation in Montgomery, Alabama which tracks what it regards as far-right groups, is in no doubt. |
| A spokesman told the BBC: "There is a rising tide of right-wing domestic terrorism motivated by extreme anti-government sentiments. Although there's not a link they share a hatred of the US government and its policies." | A spokesman told the BBC: "There is a rising tide of right-wing domestic terrorism motivated by extreme anti-government sentiments. Although there's not a link they share a hatred of the US government and its policies." |
| But there is always a great danger in taking the facts - or the apparent facts - in a handful of cases and trying to weave them into a narrative about life in this vast, complex and diverse country. | But there is always a great danger in taking the facts - or the apparent facts - in a handful of cases and trying to weave them into a narrative about life in this vast, complex and diverse country. |
| It is true of course that the targets for the shooters in the two cases - the Holocaust Museum and a doctor who carried out abortions - were traditional targets of hatred for different elements of the extreme right. | It is true of course that the targets for the shooters in the two cases - the Holocaust Museum and a doctor who carried out abortions - were traditional targets of hatred for different elements of the extreme right. |
| Act of revenge | Act of revenge |
| But let us not forget that the victims of violence here in the last two weeks also include a young soldier called Andy Long, who was shot dead outside an army recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. | But let us not forget that the victims of violence here in the last two weeks also include a young soldier called Andy Long, who was shot dead outside an army recruiting office in Little Rock, Arkansas. |
| The US has a long history of violent racism | The US has a long history of violent racism |
| The alleged shooter in that case is a young man called Abdulhakim Muhammad, an American convert to Islam who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tennessee. | The alleged shooter in that case is a young man called Abdulhakim Muhammad, an American convert to Islam who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tennessee. |
| His apparent motive was a belief in jihadist violence against America as an act of revenge for what he saw as suffering inflicted on Muslims by the US. | His apparent motive was a belief in jihadist violence against America as an act of revenge for what he saw as suffering inflicted on Muslims by the US. |
| That shooting too is about hatred in its own way but it does not sit comfortably as part of a trend about the rise of the right. | That shooting too is about hatred in its own way but it does not sit comfortably as part of a trend about the rise of the right. |
| And there are other factors to consider too - not least the fact that 30,000 people a year die of gunshot wounds here in all sorts of circumstances. | And there are other factors to consider too - not least the fact that 30,000 people a year die of gunshot wounds here in all sorts of circumstances. |
| James von Brunn, the man alleged to have murdered the guard at the Holocaust Museum, is a veteran of anti-Semitic and white supremacist causes. | James von Brunn, the man alleged to have murdered the guard at the Holocaust Museum, is a veteran of anti-Semitic and white supremacist causes. |
| He may, bizarrely, turn out to be more obsessed with Anne Frank than Barack Obama. | He may, bizarrely, turn out to be more obsessed with Anne Frank than Barack Obama. |
| Like many Holocaust deniers, Mr von Brunn apparently disputed the truth of the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who remained in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland and who died in a concentration camp shortly after they were captured by the Germans. | Like many Holocaust deniers, Mr von Brunn apparently disputed the truth of the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish teenager who remained in hiding with her family in Nazi-occupied Holland and who died in a concentration camp shortly after they were captured by the Germans. |
| The Holocaust Museum was about to stage a play in which Anne appears as a character. Might that have been the catalyst for this attack? | The Holocaust Museum was about to stage a play in which Anne appears as a character. Might that have been the catalyst for this attack? |
| Mr von Brunn also carried a bizarre attack in the early 1980s when he tried to kidnap members of America's central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, in a protest at high interest rates. | Mr von Brunn also carried a bizarre attack in the early 1980s when he tried to kidnap members of America's central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, in a protest at high interest rates. |
| When he was jailed, he blamed the "black/Jewish jury and the Jew judge". His hateful obsessions in other words flourished long before the world had heard of Barack Obama. | When he was jailed, he blamed the "black/Jewish jury and the Jew judge". His hateful obsessions in other words flourished long before the world had heard of Barack Obama. |
| Potent cocktail | Potent cocktail |
| The election of the new president does not really work as an explanation in the Tiller case either. | The election of the new president does not really work as an explanation in the Tiller case either. |
| The doctor could easily have died in 1993 - 15 years before Mr Obama came to power - when he was shot and seriously injured by an anti-abortion campaigner. | The doctor could easily have died in 1993 - 15 years before Mr Obama came to power - when he was shot and seriously injured by an anti-abortion campaigner. |
| This is a country where the existence of extreme ideas on the fringes of mainstream life and the wide availability of firearms create a potent cocktail | This is a country where the existence of extreme ideas on the fringes of mainstream life and the wide availability of firearms create a potent cocktail |
| Scott Roeder, the man alleged to have murdered Dr Tiller, did apparently share many views of the far-right fringe of American society. | Scott Roeder, the man alleged to have murdered Dr Tiller, did apparently share many views of the far-right fringe of American society. |
| But in a custody battle he was also described as a diagnosed schizophrenic who refused to take medicine to control the condition. Mental health issues often play a role here too. | But in a custody battle he was also described as a diagnosed schizophrenic who refused to take medicine to control the condition. Mental health issues often play a role here too. |
| The point of all this? Well, these murders did take place in Barack Obama's America where there does exist a right-wing fringe which is incensed at the idea that the US has chosen a black president. | The point of all this? Well, these murders did take place in Barack Obama's America where there does exist a right-wing fringe which is incensed at the idea that the US has chosen a black president. |
| But that does not explain the murder of Pte Andrew Long. | But that does not explain the murder of Pte Andrew Long. |
| If there is a real unifying theme in all these sad deaths it is perhaps that this is a country where the existence of extreme ideas on the fringes of mainstream life and the wide availability of firearms create a potent cocktail. | If there is a real unifying theme in all these sad deaths it is perhaps that this is a country where the existence of extreme ideas on the fringes of mainstream life and the wide availability of firearms create a potent cocktail. |
| In those circumstances there will always be dangerous individuals, sometimes deluded, sometimes fanatical, sometimes calculatingly cold-blooded, who will be ready to kill. | In those circumstances there will always be dangerous individuals, sometimes deluded, sometimes fanatical, sometimes calculatingly cold-blooded, who will be ready to kill. |
| The election of Barack Obama may have intensified those circumstances, but it did not create them. | The election of Barack Obama may have intensified those circumstances, but it did not create them. |