Characteristics of the Weathermen - Essay Example

There was a bombing campaign aimed against government officials that targeted government buildings where warnings of evacuation were given to all officials with a warning that the attacks would be a form of protest against the government (Kirkpatrick, 2009).

The rage demonstrations of 6th October 1969 gave way to the bombing of the statue in Chicago that commemorated police casualties of the 1886 Haymarket riot. On 6th October 1970 saw the statue was rebuilt, however, it was blown up again by weathermen. It was rebuilt again and destroyed a third time by the same group. On February 16, 1970, the group planted a nail bomb on the window ledge at the Park police station, in San Francisco. One police officer was killed and a second officer was partially blinded. There were arson attacks in New York City that were also blamed on the group with the explosion of Molotov cocktails filled with gasoline at the home of the Justice John Murtagh of the New York Supreme court being of the significant cases. Though no one was harmed in the explosion, it sent a very clear message since the judge was presiding over the case against members of the Black Panther party. The bombing of the New York Police headquarters in 1970 also falls into their mandate (Kirkpatrick, 2009).

Their strategic goal was to have the government cave into their demands and stop bombing the Vietnamese. They wanted the government to provide democracy to all citizens in the world, and having to bomb one of the states would negate this principle (Kirkpatrick, 2009).

They were only successful in instilling fear amongst the citizens because the government went on its campaign. They were arrested and by 1976, their numbers were decreasing and the divisions amongst them did not allow them to achieve much. The blacks and Hispanics were against their marginalization in the group and wanted to have a bigger voice in the way things were carried out in the faction (Kirkpatrick, 2009). Pape notes, “The cohesiveness of most groups is built mainly on having a common vision. If that dies out, the unity expected deteriorates” (2003, 345). This seems to have faded, hence the disintegration of the weathermen.

All groups require heightened security surveillance because of their threat to the country and its installations. Weatherman was not very much guarded and surveyed, as it should have been. The government needs to understand that such groups breed homes for terror attacks because they become sympathizers. Wilkinson states, “The media should not glorify them [terrorists] because it gives them more impetus to commit crimes” (53). The public should be warned but not scared about such groups through media outlets. The media should handle any occurrence professionally and cooperate with security forces in achieving its goals. The important thing, nonetheless, is to create a platform that will lead to their arrests rather than allow them to regroup (Kirkpatrick, 2009).