Originally Posted by Manic_Skafe

I'm not vindicating any of the Weather Underground's actions but clear distinction can be made between those who hijack planes and claim the innocent lives of thousands and those who sent out evacuation warnings before they blew things up.

As I said before, they were misguided and destructive but history has proven that social change doesn't always come with a pretty bow and a court order.

Semantics? Maybe. Bottom line: Ayers ≠ Osama.

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

"In 1970 the group issued a 'Declaration of a State of War' against the United States government, under the name 'Weather Underground Organization' (WUO)."

"The group was investigated for a bombing that took place on February 16, 1970, in which a pipe bomb filled with shrapnel detonated on the ledge of a window at the Park Station of the San Francisco Police Department. Brian V. McDonnell, a police sergeant, was fatally wounded in the explosion, and Robert Fogarty, another police officer, was severely wounded in his face and legs and was partially blinded.."

"Since 1970 the Weatherman organization has often been classified in America as a domestic terrorist organization. "Within the political youth movement of the late sixties (outside of Latin America), the 'Weathermen' were the first group to reach the front page because of terrorist activities," wrote Klaus Mehnert in his 1977 book, "Twilight of the Young, The Radical Movements of the 1960s and Their Legacy".[48] Neil A. Hamilton, in his 1996 book on militia movements in the United States, wrote, "By and large, though, these Weathermen did not rely on arming and training militia; instead, they resorted to terrorism."[49]

Starting in 1970 newspapers covering their bombing of public buildings identified the group as "terrorist".[50] Michael Charney, a spokesman for the rival Oberlin Radical Coalition, told The New York Times that year that the Weathermen resorted to terrorism because Americans were unwilling to participate in a revolution. Thomas Powers and Lucinda Franks wrote the Pulitzer-prize-winning news series, "Diana: The Making of a Terrorist" about the life and death of member Diana Oughton (later expanded into a full-length authorized biography on the subject). The group fell under the auspicies of FBI-New York City Police Anti Terrorist Task Force, a forerunner of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces. The FBI, on its website, describes the organization as having been a "domestic terrorist group", but no longer an active concern."