What is "terrorism"?

Under the "Homeland Security" regime being erected to fight the open-ended "war on terror," practically any crime--and many uncouth but nonviolent pranks--can fall under the definition of terrorism if the target is somehow connected to the federal government.

Take the case of Kenneth C. Tennant, a 45-year-old chiropractor from Des Moines, Iowa. Tennant was arrested by agents of the Federal Protective Services (FPS), a branch of the Homeland Security Department, for making "harassing phone calls" to a Veterans Affairs office.

"He had been harassing them for the past three years," explained FPS special agent Wil Calvey to the Quad Cities Times. "We were looking at the messages and while there were no direct threats, the language was abusive and derogatory and seemed to be getting worse." Tennant, the Times points out, "filed a lawsuit in 1998 disputing a denial of disability insurance benefits and Supplemental Security income." That denial was upheld after a two-year court battle, but Tennant continued to nurse a grudge against what he perceived as a deadbeat federal agency.

Accordingly, the FPS decided to take a page from the Bush administration's war on Iraq and launch a "preemptive" strike against this potential terrorist threat. "We are trying to nip these things in the bud rather than let them escalate into a greater problem," Calvey said. "When you let these things go, and people are not punished, they get worse and you have an increased chance of an incident where someone is injured or killed."

Tennant was charged with third-degree harassment under Iowa state law. This misdemeanor became a "Homeland Security" concern, Calvey explained, "because the VA office is a federal facility." This offers a clear illustration of the fact that "Homeland Security" refers to protecting the federal government from the American people, rather than using the government to protect the people from terrorists.