Army of God

In the early 1980s, a shadowy group calling itself the Army of God emerged in the antiabortion movement. Often linked to threatening or violent acts, investigators believe that it does not necessarily represent an organized group but has become an umbrella label for some extremists. However, many prochoice advocates maintain that there is a conspiracy among the more violent factions of the antiabortion movement, arguing that if the Army of God did not start as an organized group, certainly the vast networking capability spurred by the World Wide Web has given it some cohesion.

The group first surfaced in 1982 after the Army of God claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of an Illinois doctor and his wife and for the firebombing of two Florida abortion clinics. Authorities eventually arrested three men in the case. Don Benny Anderson, the ringleader in the abduction and founder of the group, told investigators he was acting on orders from God and the Archangel Michael.

Although authorities originally believed the group consisted of only these three men, subsequent anti-abortion activity throughout the following decades, such as fires and explosions in several abortion clinics, have been attributed to the group. The Army of God has also sent threatening letters to prominent figures such as Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that legalized abortion.

The name Army of God became more widely known in 1997, when it was signed on a letter claiming credit [Page 49]for the bombings of an abortion clinic and gay nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia. Examination of the letters in these cases, however, led investigators to believe that the suspect had a larger agenda than abortion and was more antigovernment and militia-like. These incidents were eventually linked to the highly publicized Olympic Park bombing in 1996 and the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, clinic in 1998. The suspect named in the case, Eric Rudolph, was found to have links with followers of Christian Identity—a racist, anti-Semitic, antiabortion, and anti-gay ideology.

Some experts theorize that it is becoming more common for antiabortion proponents to be taking a militant antigovernment stance. Since the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances law, which made it illegal to obstruct access to reproductive health clinics, the number of clinic blockades and arrests decreased dramatically while violent abortion related-crimes increased.

Also in 1994, The Army of God Manual surfaced. Similar to one found a year earlier buried in the yard of a woman convicted for the attempted murder of a doctor, the manual outlines methods for causing disruption at what it called “abortuaries.” It offers suggestions on how to use the putrid-smelling butyric acid to disrupt activities and encourages violent acts like cutting off the thumbs of doctors and firebombing clinics. The manual became a focus of a federal grand jury investigation into the possibility of a conspiracy. Abortion rights activists testified that many of the methods described in the book have been used to disrupt clinics throughout the country. Many vandals tagged the letters “AOG” on abortion clinic walls. That jury found no evidence, however, of a nationwide conspiracy.

The possibility of a conspiracy became evident again in the autumn of 2001. A spate of letters to reproductive health clinics and professionals threatening anthrax exposure was credited to the Army of God. Clayton Lee Waagner, an escapee from an Illinois jail, who was arrested in December of that year, admitted to mailing more than 500 anthrax hoax letters in two waves, in late October and November. While he was never charged with those crimes, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison on firearms and robbery charges and for escaping from prison. The extent of Waagner's fear campaign while a fugitive from justice has made many people, including some authorities, suspect that he was receiving aid while on the run. Some authorities also think he may have had an associate working with him in the anthrax hoax. He did manage to keep in contact with many supporters of the antiabortion movement by posting messages on the “Army of God” Web site. Donald Spitz, who maintains the site, claims to not know if anyone aided Waagner and expressed disappointment in his capture.

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