By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Washington

Analysts who study American extremism are pointing to a 1996 arrest
report that, they say, links the leading suspect in the murder of Kansas
abortion doctor George Tiller to some of the most zealous antigovernment
groups in the United States.

Law enforcement officials currently have in custody Scott Philip Roeder
of Merriam, Kan., age 51. Thirteen years ago, someone named Scott
Roeder, 38, was arrested in Topeka, Kan., and charged with criminal use
of explosives after police found fuse cord and a pound of gunpowder in
his car trunk.

He also had a homemade license plate on his car proclaiming he was
immune from Kansas law – a type of tag that's been associated with the
Freemen organization, which rejects the authority of the US government.
Freemen in Montana were involved in an 81-day standoff with US marshals
in 1996 after they tried to set up their own system of government.

The 1996 Roeder case was eventually dropped due to problems with the
initial search of the car. At the same time, his name appeared on an FBI
watch list of possible Freemen members.

Police investigating the Tiller shooting have not said they are
investigating any links between Mr. Roeder and right-wing extremism. But
Mark Pitcavage, director of investigative research for the
Anti-Defamation League, says these two Roeders are almost certainly the
same person.

A report in the Kansas City Star, moreover, quotes Morris Wilson, former
commander of the Kansas Unorganized Citizens Militia as saying he knew
Roeder, calling him "a fanatic about abortion."

"It's not unusual at all that someone who is anti-abortion might be
involved with one of these other kinds of extremist movements,"
Pitcavage says.

Tiller, a doctor who carried out late-term abortions, was shot and
killed Sunday at his church in Wichita, Kan. Witnesses said the gunman
fired at Tiller, threatened to shoot others who attempted to intervene,
and then escaped in a blue Ford Taurus.

Three hours after the shooting, a suspect was detained in the Kansas
City suburb of Merriam, Kan. A spokesman for the Johnson County
sherriff's office identified the suspect as Scott Roeder.

To this point all evidence in the Tiller murder case points to a gunman
who was acting alone, according to Kansas police.

The shooting comes at a time when federal law enforcement agencies have
been worried about a resurgence in right-wing extremist violence.

There has been an upsurge in anger levels on extremist web sites and in
group internal communications, he says.

"Two broad things underlie this: the economic crisis, and the election
of Barack Obama, which has made the extreme right very angry," says
Pitcavage.

Recently the extreme fringe of the anti-abortion movement has become
more and more frustrated, adds Brian Levin, director of the Center for
Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San
Bernardino.

They are facing a situation in which for the first time a majority of US
residents consider themselves "pro-choice," according to polls. At the
same time, the extremists believe that their leadership has become tame.

Whoever shot Dr. Tiller, "it is someone who not only disagrees with
abortion, but more fundamentally disagrees with the democratic process
and the whole direction and ethos of the country," says Mr. Levin of
California State University.

By carrying out the attack in church, the gunman was likely trying to
send a message, he adds.

"These individuals believe that they are in a war for existence, and
that they answer to a higher authority," he says.

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We could round the suckers up and send 'em to GITMO...no need for
evidence...they're nothing but terrorists. :)