Oath Keepers: Hutaree ‘Set Up’

Photo courtesy of <a href="http://hutaree.com/">hutaree.com</a>

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


These guys make the Oath Keepers look like model citizens. The FBI raided a Michigan-based Christian militia group this weekend for allegedly plotting a campaign of violence against police officers, and to use WMD against Americans. The Feds claim the Hutaree “conspired to oppose by force the authority of the U.S. government.”

According to the indictment, “Hutaree members view local, state, and federal law enforcement as the ‘brotherhood,’ their enemy, and have been preparing to engage them in armed conflict.” So in order to oppose the government, the Hutaree targeted one of the Oath Keepers’ core consituencies: police officers.

You’d think this would turn Oath Keepers against this anti-cop militia. But according to initial responses on the group’s website, the anti-government ethos is strong enough to dispel “rumors” propagated by the mainstream media. Members were quick to call the raids a “set up” and potentially the start of a government crackdown on militias (which are constitutionally legal). Eric Hansen, for one, notes that the FBI raided a funeral where Hutaree members were “paying respects for a member who died recently.”

That sounds heartless. Until you look at the Hutaree’s detailed strategy to kill police officers. According to federal prosecutors, the Hutaree planned to murder a cop and detonate explosives at his funeral to increase the police body count. The indictment also states that the group planned to threaten police families, and place fake 911 calls luring cops into danger.

Later in the discussion thread, Hansen bets $10 that “the investigators will ‘discover’ child porn on at least one computer. That way it will turn public support away from those who have been arrested.” This was a reference to “patriot” hero Charles Dyer, a former Oath Keeper arrested earlier this year on illegal gun and child rape charges. Like the Hutaree, militia groups were quick to call foul and demand his release.

Structurally, Hutaree is incredibily similar to the Oath Keepers. They plan to oppose what they consider a rogue government, and are active on social media sites like YouTube and MySpace. But Hutaree’s core goals, murdering police officers based to religious dogma and fear of the Antichrist, are potentailly much more dangerous. Let’s be thankful that they don’t have the kind of institutional support in Congress and the mainstream media enjoyed by the Oath Keepers.

Here’s a video from Hutaree’s YouTube page:

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate