By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The FBI on Wednesday announced the arrest of an ex-soldier with ties to White Supremacists in connection with a bomb that was placed along the parade route at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Unity March in Spokane, Wa., on Jan. 17.
Kevin William Harpham, age 36, of Colville, Wa. was arrested and charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered explosive device. The Spokesman Review reported that Harpham served from 1996 to 1999 as a fire support specialist with the Army’s 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment.
The Spokesman Review reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center confirmed that Harpham in 2004 was a member of the White Supremacist group, the National Alliance.
“What to me this arrest suggests is that the Martin Luther King Day attack is what it always looked like: A terror-mass murder attempt directed at black people and their sympathizers,” Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project told the paper.
But Erich Gliebe, chairman of the National Alliance, based in Hillsboro, W.Va., told the paper that Harpham is not a member of the group.
“We have a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal activity and anyone committing those acts – even hinting or joking — would not be welcome in our organization,” Gliebe said.
