PFC Mark Domingo takes fingerprints in Afghanistan. ABC News/US Army photo.
A US combat veteran has been arrested for a terror plot that involved bombing a white nationalist rally. ABC News. Mark Steven Domingo, a former Army infantryman who served in Afghanistan, was arrested for attempting to obtain a bomb. Domingo had pledged allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He planned to strike a white nationalist rally at Long Beach California, though even if he had gotten his bomb, the attack would have failed because no white nationalist actually showed up to the rally. Domingo had other targets in mind and had an AK type rifle, but was arrested without incident. He said he wanted to attack police, churches and Jews in response to attacks against Muslims, including the Christchurch shooting.
My Comment:
Something tells me that PFC Domingo is kind of an idiot. As a combat veteran, all he needed to do was pick up his rifle and choose a target. That would have likely killed at least a few people and though he might not have been as successful as the Christchurch attacker, he would have certainly caused some major damage before he was stopped.
Thankfully, Domingo was a moron. He tried to get a bomb, which may have been more devastating but carried with it a huge risk that the guy you are getting your bomb from is an informant or police officer. That's exactly what happened here and because Domingo wanted to go for maximum casualties his attack failed entirely. Only fools try to make their own bomb, but only the demented try to get one from a probable FBI informant.
Even worse for him, Domingo's target was a total bust. Nobody showed up to the supposed white nationalist rally. (I say supposed because the media has a nasty habit of labeling anyone right of center as white nationalist these days and I haven't been able to see who sponsored this failed rally and look at their politics) The only people Domingo would have blown up would have been counter protesters, who were also small in number. There as a good chance that Domingo's bomb, even if it had been real, wouldn't have killed anyone who he wanted to target. I do have to say that it would be darkly humorous if this guy had wanted to bomb white nationalists and ended up blowing up a bunch of antifa instead, though thankfully nobody got hurt regardless.
This should have been obvious to anyone who actually pays attention to white nationalism. The ideology is extremely rare and unpopular even among the far right. There are few genuine white nationalists and even fewer who are willing to go out in public and tell everyone about it. If Domingo's goal was to kill 50 white nationalists in one bombing he'd be waiting a long time for a real target.
That being said, I think Domingo would have shown up at that rally, saw that it was a bust, and moved on to one of his secondary targets. That means a church, police station or synagogue could have been bombed instead and those targets would have a much better chance of actually causing mass casualties. This threat was still real even if the attacker was a moron.
I do wonder how Domingo became an ISIS supporter. He served in a combat unit in Afghanistan probably fighting against similar people to ISIS. You would think that having radical Islamists trying to kill you all the time would be enough to make sure that you never join them, but apparently not.
It's also unclear if Domingo was a convert to Islam or not. To me he looks like he is Hispanic or Native American and he has a Hispanic last name. Hispanic converts to Islam are rare but not unheard of. If he was a convert though, his radicalism makes sense. Converts to any religion or belief system tend to be more passionate than people born into it.
The media is playing up the supposed connection to the Christchurch attack. I generally think that connection is overblown. Domingo had been radicalized before that attack and would have likely attacked anyways. The Christchurch attack may have influenced the targets, but I am thinking Domingo already thought that terrorism was justified.
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