Terrorist Organization

            The radical protest organization, The Cleaners started as the brainchild of a group of disaffected veterans and critics of the War in Iraq, as well as fierce opponents of the voting system in the United States.  Though it began as a protest movement and not a terrorist organization, members of the group soon began waging attacks on the campaigns of presidential and congressional candidates during the 2006 elections.  Though the attacks were largely through cyber terrorism, with only a few incidences involving physical violence, the group began to gain a reputation for lawlessness and fervent idealism.  Only after the assassination of a pro-war neo-conservative congressman in Nevada did the group achieve national infamy.  While the leadership structure of the group is in deep hiding, most likely believed to be located in Baja California after a massive federal crackdown damaged the group’s infrastructure based out of Los Angeles.  Many of the group’s higher leadership was captured, but the attacks from the group continued to expand during 2007, including the bombing of a senator’s house and an attack on the motorcade of President Bush.

            Before becoming a federally wanted terror organization, The Cleaners had a significant web presence with over two million visitors to its website.  Though the site was shut down soon after the group’s first assassination attempt of a politician, federal authorities note that there are many different websites that continue to advertise the group and its beliefs.  On these websites, information is often provided how to disrupt voting stations and harass politicians.  Many other sites believed to be associated with The Cleaners offer visitors ways to donate money and purchase anti-establishment paraphernalia such as shirts and hats.  Some of the methods of “terrorism” found on these websites sound like little more than fraternity pranks, while there are also sites that provide information on how to design improvised explosive devices.

Two teenagers in Wisconsin were killed, along with a volunteer for John McCain’s presidential campaign, when their explosive device detonated outside the senator’s hotel.  The boys each left a video explain their solidarity with The Cleaners, and urged other young Americans to join the fight against “crooked politicians and corporate oppression.”  In the past year, countless attacks were perpetrated against political rallies, candidates’ visits, and various other political events.  While federal authorities do not believe that The Cleaners’s power structure has orchestrated the majority of attacks, it is believed that their philosophy has become a popular form of protest and adopted by a wider range of mostly liberal protesters that desire quicker change.

            Despite the best efforts of the government, The Cleaners is able to recruit members almost with interruption.  As the main base of the group remains on the move, the group has been forced to remain fragmented throughout the country.  Many cells exist in the cities, and groups often meet under the guise of other political action groups and nonprofit meetups.  The members recruited into the group, not including those that merely perform the groups’ violent agenda with affiliation on by claim, are usually from a stable and successful background.  A close examination of The Cleaners also shows that while it lacks many of the traditional traits of a military organization, it resembles a covert special force of highly educated and dedicated soldiers openly willing to give their lives for the cause.  The popular misconception of terrorists is that they are fanatical, violent sociopaths, even evil, but this attitude is ignorant in itself.

Former CIA operative with intimate knowledge of terrorist like The Cleaners, Dr. Marc Sageman compiled a government report on hundreds of terrorists and found that three quarters of his sample group came from the upper or middle class, 90 percent came from caring, intact families, 63 percent had gone to college, three-quarters were professionals like engineers, architects, and civil engineers (Telvick, 2005).  The perceptions of an evil, animalistic enemy is far from the truth, and the terrorists in The Cleaners are often the best and brightest of their society.  Despite the shocking use of violence, many supporters consider these men to be fighting for what they see as the survival of their ideals and their lands by striking at the heart of those they view as oppressing them; by this definition, many consider them nothing but freedom fighters and the term “terrorist” seems inappropriate.  The leadership of The Cleaners has plans to launch their biggest attack yet on Election Day.

            The group will begin the attack early in the day by attacking the internet, in attempts to disrupt the polling results.  In addition to the cyber attack, they will also have hundreds of their own poll workers that will make every effort possible to disrupt the process.  Their intentions are to have the political situation similar to 2000, when the presidential race remained undecided.  They hope to expand the turmoil to involve virtually every race on the tickets in as many voting districts as they can.  However, this is only phase one in their multi phase attack.  Once the confusion from Election Day reaches its peak, the sleeper agents of the group will make their moves against their targets.  For this stage, only the most experienced fifty military members of the group will be used, and a massive coordinated attack will be undertaken to assassinate as many neo-conservative politicians as possible.  Even if the attack is fractionally successful, many politicians should be killed or wounded on election night.  Though the group believes the attacks will shock the public, they are hoping that their precision attacks on nothing but political figures will retain the sympathy and support of the public.  They plan to appeal to the American public and urge them to elect better politicians or they will continue to carry out their attacks.

            The Cleaners are more dangerous than a traditional terrorist organization because of its mainstream appeal to younger Americans.  Because the group only targets political figures, it remains very different than traditional terrorist organizations that often attack indiscriminately.  However, their attacks have grown increasingly violent and widespread, and the group’s control over its members is waning.  While the organization teeters on the brink of anarchy, the government still has yet to bring them to justice and openly acknowledge that they have a daunting task ahead of them.

REFERENCES

Telvick, M. (2005, January 25). Al Qaeda Today: The New Face of Global Jihad. Frontline.

Retrieved April 24, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

shows/front/etc/today.html>.