It All Depends On Your Definition Of "Terrorist"

UPDATE: BREAKING! Jihadist on the loose with bombs in the U.S.!

Even in death, the Rev. Jerry Falwell rouses the most volatile of emotions.

A small group of protesters gathered near the funeral services to criticize the man who mobilized Christian evangelicals and made them a major force in American politics -- often by playing on social prejudices.

And Campbell County authorities arrested a Liberty University student for having several homemade bombs in his car.

The student, 19-year-old Mark D. Uhl of Amissville, Va., reportedly told authorities that he was making the bombs to stop protesters from disrupting the funeral service. The devices were made of a combination of gasoline and detergent, a law enforcement official told ABC News' Pierre Thomas.

"There were indications that there were others involved in the manufacturing of these devices /and we are still investigating these individuals with the assistance of ATF [Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms], Virginia State Police and FBI. . . .

Three other suspects are being sought, one of whom is a soldier from Fort Benning, Ga., and another is a high school student. No information was available on the third suspect.

Authorities were alerted to the potential bomb plot after relative of Uhl called to say that he had homemade bombs in his possession. Officials searched Uhl's car where they found five incendiary devices in the trunk.

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With just a slight modification (if only the bomb plotters were Muslim rather than almost certainly Christian), this story would generate days and days of rabid coverage on Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and among the right-wing warrior-bloggers, as well as at least one major address from Dick Cheney about how this shows how much we need to keep people in Guantanamo and torture them. But without the modification, no meaning will be inferred and there will be virtual silence in those corners.

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UPDATE II: This is the MySpace page for the alleged Liberty University bomber, Mark David Uhl. He lists his religion as "Christian," claims to be Caucasian and straight, says that among the types of music he enjoys is "worship" music, and vows that he "will join the ARMY as an officer after college" (emphasis in original). He also indicates that he is now in the Army ROTC, and advises that his name, "Mark," means "Mighty Warrior."

His favorite book is the Bible. He claims to be a "Solider of Christ." The first MySpace friend he lists is "Jesus". Under "ten movies which define who I am," he listed as number 8: Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ (number 9 is Beauty & the Beast and number 10 is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer; The Lion King (number 5) and Alice in Wonderland (number 6) also define him).

It is difficult to imagine the endless uproar to which we would be subjected if, instead, his favorite book were the Koran, he identified as Muslim, listed Mohammed as his Best MySpace friend, and belonged to the "Jihadist" MySpace group rather than "Soldier of Christ." That -- rather than trying to infer anything from his Christianity -- is the point here.

--Glenn Greenwald

Source--and full article: Salon, May 22, 2007