The “Loner” Hypothesis Just Took A Hit

MNO predicted the following with regard to the murderer of Dr. Tiller:

They’ll catch the man, and he’ll be set up as a deranged lone operator who just took things too far. Like the man who drove his truck into the St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic last January. “He’s just one crazy man. The rest of us deplore such tactics.”

Of course, his home will be filled with Operation Rescue propaganda, he’ll be recognized as a frequent visitor to anti-choice sites, he’ll have a long history with the movement, but that will all be ignored in the rush to call him a loner.

Let’s see:

— Frequent visitor to anti-choice sites: Check.

— Home filled with Operation Rescue propaganda: Unknown as yet, but he reportedly had the phone number for the group on a Post-It that was stuck the dashboard of the car he was driving when the cops found him, so let’s just say that this is a strong possibility.

— Long history with the movement: Check.

As news of Roeder’s arrest traveled, Kansas City activist Regina Dinwiddie remembered the day a dozen years ago when Roeder hugged her in glee after trying to frighten an abortion provider by staring him down inside a Planned Parenthood clinic.

“He grabbed me and said, ‘I’ve read the Defensive Action Statement and I love what you’re doing,’ ” Dinwiddie said in a telephone interview. She was a signer of the 1990s statement, which declares that the use of force is justified.

The “Defensive Action Statement” is a creation of the radical anti-choice group “The Army of God”. It was written in the wake of an earlier murder of a doctor:

DEFENSIVE ACTION STATEMENT

We, the undersigned, declare the justice of taking all godly action necessary to defend innocent human life including the use of force. We proclaim that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child. We assert that if Michael Griffin did in fact kill David Gunn, his use of lethal force was justifiable provided it was carried out for the purpose of defending the lives of unborn children. Therefore, he ought to be acquitted of the charges against him.

That leads me to:

— “He’ll be set up as a deranged lone operator who just took things too far.” Probably, despite everything mentioned above, but it’s interesting that the “loner” seemed to have a lot of friends: “Neighbors said they’ve seen a similar car at the house in Merriam. They describe the ongoings at the house as strange. They said it’s a revolving door of men coming and staying there and describe what appear to be religious gatherings.”

Considering how much violence has been directed over the decades against family planning doctors and clinics, it’s really hard to think that this is all the work of “lone operators”. There are apparently lots and lots and lots of them, and they talk with each other.