The Aryan Republican Army
In the Name of the White Race

In the early 1980'sThe Order left a trail of mayhem, robbery, murder and fear. Robbing armored trucks, bombing buildings and shooting down Alan Berg as well as one of their own, they loathed the Federal Government and used their proceeds to finance groups like the Aryan Nations and the National Alliance while attempting to start a revolution as in the "Turner Diaries." With the arrest of the most infamous, law-enforcement believed that they had ended the reign of terror. What they failed to realize was that the shadowy underground of the racist right breeds new terrorists to continue their agenda of hate. It is not surprising then that a new group or "cell" would appear. Between the years of 1992, and 1996, the Aryan Republican Army committed a string of 22 bank robberies across the Midwestern United States in order to fund terrorist acts against the government.

Following in the footsteps of The Order, members of the Aryan Republican Army were required to read the "Turner Diaries," the so-called "Bible of the Racist Right." The book and its diabolical plot has been connected to many acts of violence since first being published. Revered by members of the National Alliance, the trite writing style of the author William Pierce, has been accepted as a blueprint for insurrection against the government by most adherents to the white supremacist mind-set. All members of the ARA were either neo-Nazi or Christian Identity with ties to the Aryan Nations. It is said that they netted somewhere in the neighborhood of $250,000, although that figure might well be an underestimation, as others have estimated the figure to be closer to $500,000.

Peter Langan hates the United States government. Peter Langan is in prison and Peter Langan wants to talk. Langan, is the son of a CIA intelligence officer and he was raised throughout his early years in Viet Nam. After getting into some trouble in Georgia for the robbery of a Pizza Hut, Langan agreed to help the Secret Service find a friend of his - Richard Guthrie. But Langan and Guthrie disappeared or as Langan said, "went to ether." They holed up in a "safe house" in Pittsburgh, Kansas with a few other misfits, namely, Scott Stedeford, Michael Brescia, Kevin McCarthy, and Mark Thomas. Throughout their reign, they could be found in many different safe-houses throughout the Midwest, but their base of operations was Elohim City. Langan adopted the code name "Commander Pedro" for the operations of the Aryan Republican Army. While Andreas Strassmeir has never been identified as an ARA member, the right-wing, anti-semetic news zine, Vanguard News Network, places him squarely in the middle of group. Peter was bodacious and somewhat of an embarrassment to the "cause." Claiming to be a "preoperative transexual," Langan wears his hair and his nails extremely long. One can't help but wonder how that plays out with the White Power crowd.

The ARA was not without humor. Unlike "The Order," the Aryan Republican Army put their talents to work and completed their robberies with a certain "flair." Disguise was important as Dennis Mahon tells all new recruits. And, true to the Turner Diaries, these men mastered the art of disguise dressing as former presidents, FBI and ATF agents, Middle-Easterners, etc., band of robbers cut a swath through the heartland of America. And the disguises weren't only limited to dress - often they spoke in foreign languages. Upon their arrests, books on speaking Arabic were found in their possession. At one point, they purchased a getaway car in the name of an FBI agent who had been hot on their trail. In a robbery committed after the OKC bombing, the group left an article on Timothy McVeigh for the FBI to find. While all of this sometimes has a Jesse James,"root for the bad guy" appeal to many, we must keep in mind the purpose of the group. They were engaging in bank robberies for the sole purpose of financing an overthrow of the American government. And...they were recruiting.

Among the items found by law enforcement was a video tape made by the Aryan Republican Army in January, 1995. This tape was used as a recruitment tool and to incite violence against the federal government. It serves as a sobering reminder as to what these people were all about. Brandishing wads of cash as well as guns, machetes and grenades masked "Commander Pedro" (Langan) tells the viewing audience of a coming Aryan Revolution. The raspy voice of Peter Langan tells us "Our basic goal is to set up an Aryan Republic...Don't mistake us for cultists. We, ladies and gentlemen, are YOUR neighbors." The almost two-hour tape is a racist and anti-semitic rant with men dressed in military garb and disguises. Langan can be seen demonstrating the proper use of a grenade. And at one strange point in the film, Langan looks directly into the camera and rasps, "In solidarity with our Serbian brothers, we understand the meaning of ethnic cleansing." One masked figure in the video states the "Army's" objectives as ""Eliminate the government, from the federal government to the county seats. Exterminate Hymie. Repatriate all non-whites to their homes. Return the country to the Bible." And the stated principals are, "All racial minorities are subhuman, Jews are ``Satan's spawn,'' whites of northern European descent are ``chosen people,'' and that a U.N.-led ``New World Order'' threatens freedom in the United States.

Other members of the Aryan Republican Army included Richard Lee Guthrie, a court-martialed Navy Seal. A childhood friend of Peter Langan, Guthrie came under federal law enforcement scrutiny after making a threat toward President George Bush in 1991. Guthrie was very forthcoming with information upon his arrest. He reportedly was writing a book which would chronicle the events of the ARA. He, however, is reported to have killed himself in his cell. According to Robert Ruth, a staff writer for the Columbus Dispatch, "Guthrie was found dead in his cell with a sheet around his neck, an apparent suicide. Guthrie's body was found shortly after he pleaded guilty to 19 robberies and agreed to testify against Peter "Commander Pedro" Langan and other alleged members of the gang." He had already provided information that resulted in the arrests of McCarthy and Stedeford. Additionally, as part of the plea bargain reached with the FBI, Guthrie asserted that he could provide them with information on other "cells" and groups "whose goal was the overthrow of the government or engaging in acts of domestic terrorism." At one point, he alluded to a fellow ARA member named "Tim." His body was found 9 days after entering the plea bargain agreement and only hours after telling a reporter for the Los Angeles Times that he intended to write a "tell-all" book "That would go a lot further into what we were really doing."

On May 10, 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a report stating that Timothy McVeigh actually was part of the Aryan Republican Army and had participated in the bank robberies to accumulate funds for his act of terrorism. This came six years after they were provided with information by a federal informant who had placed McVeigh squarely with members of the Army. The FBI had also been informed by witnesses who saw McVeigh with some of the members in the area of Lake Geary Park when the bomb was being built. Additionally, Jennifer McVeigh, Timothy's sister, had testified that she had "laundered" money for Tim that came from a bank robbery. As we further study the ARA, we can't help but further the question, "Why were these people never questioned or arrested?"

Michael Brescia is one of the members who leaps to the forefront in any discussion concerning ties to Timothy McVeigh. A one time Eagle Scout and son of a battallion chief of the Philadelphia Fire Department, Michael was thought to be the "All American Boy" ~ until he became a skinhead. As an accounting student at LaSalle University, Brescia's work was fine but his extracurricular activities were not. According to an article published by the Inquirer, "Neighbors, acquaintances and former classmates say Brescia flirted with ultra-right ideas for years and cultivated an image as a dangerous loner. In his 1990 high school yearbook, he chose this slogan to appear beside his name: ``Spill the blood, dude.'' Further, it was stated that while at LaSalle, Brescia hung out with skinheads, distributed hate literature and engaged in bizarre rhetoric. And it was here that he met Scott Stedeford and Kevin McCarthy, two other members of the Aryan Republican Army. Stedeman played in a shinhead rock band and was from Ardmore, Oklahoma. McCarthy was another skinhead who later would turn states evidence on the ARA. Stedeman and McCarthy introduced Bescia to Mark Thomas. Thomas, an aging neo-Nazi and KKK leader from Pennsylvania had long been on the list of racist gurus in this country.

At the urging of Thomas, Brescia moved to Elohim City where he resided for two years. He became engaged to the step-granddaughter of Robert Millar, the "spiritual leader" of the compound. For a time, Brescia was a roommate of Andreas Strassmeir. It was Brescia who was identified as being with McVeigh and Strassmeir in Herington, Kansas shortly before the bombing. It was Brescia who was identified as being at Lady Godiva's with McVeigh and Strassmeir eleven days before the bombing. It was Brescia who Carol Howe, federal informant, said went with Strassmeir to "case" the OKC Federal Building on three occasions. And it was Brescia who numerous witnesses have identified as John Doe #2. Brescia's mother and father have denied any involvement by the son with the extremist right. Yet, while Michael was building a house at the Elohim City compound, his parents came to visit him. They have never commented on the armed, racist, Bible defiling inhabitants of that village.

The editor of the John Doe Times, Mike Vanderboegh, outraged that Brescia had not faced interrogation, at the least, or arrest which would have been preferable, printed posters and had them placed around Brescia's neighborhood. Among the charges of Bresica's probable complicity in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building, Vanderboegh asserted, "Also, Mr. Brescia and Mr. Strassmeir have been mentioned in press accounts in connection with the abduction and triple murder of a family in Arkansas that also seems to be related to the OKC bombing." Of course, he was referring to the brutal murder of the Mueller family.

While the cell which comprised the "Aryan Republican Army" had "fund-raising" as its number one priority, there were and are additional "cells" with a bevy of agendas all of which are meant to further the cause of the racist right and the various groups which fall under that umbrella. These "cells" seem particularly attractive to dysfunctional miscreants and societal deviants and Chevie and Cheyenne Kehoe were certainly deviants. Working the gun-show circuit, Tim McVeigh made all kinds of connections. One of them happened to be the Kehoe family. This was also a vital connection for the Aryan Republican Army as the Kehoe's dealt in guns - and everyone who is a bank robber needs a gun. The Kehoe "cell" was dubbed "Aryan People's Republic," and had the primary focus of setting up a white's only country in the Pacific Northwest. Kehoe tied up with a man named Danny Lee out of Yukon, Oklahoma and together they murdered the Mueller family in Arkansas. William Mueller was a gun dealer in Tilly, Arkansas, who was in possession of a large amount of cash, weapons and amunition. The family is said to have been regular visitors at Elohim City. It is also speculated that the family had personal information concerning the Oklahoma City bombing and that Kehoe and Lee were sent to silence them. The victims were Mueller, his wife Nancy and their 8 year-old daughter Sarah.

The common threads running through the groups and individuals being reported upon are far too numerous and concrete to be ignored. The ideology alone makes bed-fellows of most of them. Couple that ideology with the Turner Diaries providing a blueprint for insurrection, and a detailed account of the importance of disguise and small cell tactics; Throw in those who have a penchant for violence and revolution and give them all Elohim City - a base of operations. As the pieces to the puzzle continue to fall into their rightful place, we look to those who were in charge of the investigation and we find a morass of incompetence, a host of cover-ups and a great big question mark that will not go away. There is no Statute of Limitations on murder. The only justice is a full accounting and a new investigation. The only justice is truth. Call or write your Congressman today. Do the right thing - demand justice.

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