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DOJ: Scott Roeder Is Not a Terrorist

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Since we’ve been talking about domestic right wing terrorism of late, I wanted to elaborate on a point I made here. Today, the Department of Justice released a list of all the terrorist-related individuals it found guilty in civilian courts since 9/11. And Scott Roeder, who was found guilty of killing George Tiller on January 29, 2010, is not on that list.

There are two reasons why it might be churlish for me to make that observation. First, the list was released in response to a specific request from the Senate Judiciary Committee in the context of debates over civilian versus military trials for Gitmo detainees, which suggests SJC was interested in a certain kind of terrorist (though, at least in Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich’s response, it seems that the request was not specific to international terrorists). Also, in response to that request, DOJ simply provided a list started during the Bush Administration, and the list was explicitly limited to international terrorists.

The National Security Division’s International Terrorism and Terrorism-Related Statistics Chart tracks convictions resulting from international terrorism investigations conducted since September 11, 2001, including investigations of terrorist acts planned or committed outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States over which Federal criminal jurisdiction exists and those within the United States involving international terrorists and terrorist groups.

In other words, to develop a list of all terrorists–rather than just the terrorists the National Security Division considers terrorists–it would have to cull out the names of Americans who also engaged in terrorism.

So what would it take, then, for DOJ to consider a guy who stalked a doctor for years, who collaborated with a number of other people engaged in intimidation and violence, and ultimately gunned a man down while he was worshiping at church, a terrorist?

If we find evidence that, in addition to harboring pedophiles, Pope Benedict and the American Catholic Bishops have been intimidating women and their doctors, would Scott Roeder be considered a terrorist (recognizing, of course, there is no allegation that the Catholic Church endorses violence of the type Roeder used)? Or would it take a brown man, involved in the plot, for DOJ to consider this terrorism?

Does the Former Holy Inquisitor Refuse to Eat with Torturers?

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I have no idea whether Sara’s speculation is correct–that Pope Benedict just declined the invite to the State dinner Bush and Laura are throwing for him because he doesn’t want to break bread with a torturer.

Guess who’s not coming to dinner? Pope Benedict XVI.

President Bush and his wife, Laura, will host a White House dinner in honor of the pontiff Wednesday evening. U.S. Catholic leaders from around the nation will attend. The menu will offer Bavarian-style food in recognition of the pope’s German heritage. It’s even the pope’s 81st birthday. But he won’t be there.

But I sure hope that the media, in the midst of its mad crush to cover the story that the President has admitted he sanctioned torture, will find out.

Consider the optics of such a dinner, after all. Pope Benedict was, until a few years ago, in charge of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. That’s the office formerly known as "the Inquisition." And the Inquisition, of course, is famous for a number of things, just about all of them unpleasant. Lately, though, the Inquisition has gotten a lot of bad press for inventing water-boarding. There’s a direct tie between the reprehensible actions of the Catholic Church during one of the ugliest moments and what George Bush just admitted–almost flippantly–to have personally approved.

Now, it’s possible that, even if Benedict is blowing off dinner as a protest, that it doesn’t relate to Bush’s admission that he green-lighted water-boarding. The Catholic Church has been critical of a number of things Bush has done–most notably, starting an illegal war in Iraq.

But I can sure imagine that Pope Benedict–who himself gets a lot of bad press for his past as the arbiter of Catholic doctrine–would not want to be associated with a President just after he admits to approving of methods recalling the Inquisition.

Update: Here’s Sara at more length:

Well, it was an interesting week. The German Chancellor, The British Prime Minister and the Secretary General of the UN, among others, found that they had schedule conflicts, and would not be able to attend the opening of the Olympics in Beijing this summer. Bush apparently still intends to attend, and all the presidential candidates are hot to offer him advice regarding formally standing up for Human Rights.

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