Robert Doggart

“Our small group will soon be faced with the fight of our lives. We will offer those lives as collateral to prove our commitment to our God.” 

These are not the words of ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi or one of the 9/11 hijackers. They are the words of a Christian American terrorist, who admitted planning attacks on a mosque, school and cafeteria in the upstate New York town of Hancock, known as Islamberg.

Robert Doggart, an ordained minister from Tennessee, who has run for Congress, admitted planning to firebomb two buildings and had told an undercover FBI informant that he is ready to engage in a gunfight. However, his story has not made national headlines. The mainstream media overlooked the story and the FBI did not hold a press conference to pat its agents on the back for foiling the plot.

The bizarre disregard of Doggart’s plot by the media is the latest episode in a systematic, pre-scripted scenario where Muslims are aggressors not victims. If Doggart had been a Muslim planning to bomb a church or synagogue, his face would have been on the front pages of all the leading newspapers in the country. 

The Tennessee extremist was arrested in April, yet his name is still not mentioned in the New York Times, let alone Fox News. 

Doggart admitted to his conspiracy in federal court on April 29. The story was still not considered newsworthy by mainstream news outlets. Instead, only alternative online magazines reported on the matter.

The media’s disregard of the Doggart story shows their lack of interest in the wellbeing of Muslim Americans.

The foiled terrorist conspiracy could have led to the loss of innocent Muslim and non-Muslim lives. Doggart was wiretapped communicating with militia members in Texas and North Carolina. He had claimed that there are training camps for Muslim militants in Islamberg— a ludicrous notion perpetuated by right wing websites and commentators. 

It is ironic that Fox News, which promotes lies about Muslim militant cells in America, did not utter a word about the lunatic who was inspired by its lies.

Doggart is a terrorist who poses a threat to society. Nevertheless, he was released on bond into house confinement against all common sense. He will only face up to five years in jail due to a shameful plea agreement that granted him a light sentence. He faces hate crime, not terrorism charges.

The prosecution and the court’s leniency about Doggart’s terrorist conspiracy will not create an efficient deterrent to future crimes. One of the main social benefits of locking up criminals is not punishment for the sake of punishment but creating an example for potential wrongdoers that their crimes will land them in trouble. 

Doggart is a self-proclaimed Christian, but we would not blame his actions on his religion or European origins. We know that Christianity preaches love and peace and wrongdoings committed by individuals who claim to be Christians acting in the name of God do not represent the 2.2 billion Christians in the world. Just as the two extremists who tried to attack the exhibit featuring cartoons of the Prophet Mohamad in Texas do not represent either Muslims or Islam.

For that matter, the biker gangs who engaged in a gunfight that claimed nine lives at a bar in Waco, Texas do not represent all White men or all bikers in the country.

People of all religions should be held to the same standards. Unfortunately, it seems that in America only the actions of minority individuals are seen as reflections of their entire community.