“The War Within” Devoted To Making Nation ‘Ungovernable’ Group Patterns Its Organization After The Irish Republican Army

CELLS: Aryan Republican Army

He wears military fatigues and carries a gun on his hip. Grenades and glass jars full of money sit on the desk in front of him. A ski mask covers his face.

He switches off the Irish ballad playing in the background and turns to the video camera.

“Greetings, I’m Commander Pedro. I’m here to talk about the armed struggle underground.”

For the next 90 minutes, Commander Pedro and other members of the Aryan Republican Army explain how they intend to destroy the U.S. government.

“We already have in place cell groups all over the North American continent,” he says, pointing to dozens of tacks that stud a map behind him.

“We have more people wanting to be in cell groups than we can financially support at this time. There is actually a waiting list.”

This video, called “The Armed Struggle Underground,” offers a rare and frightening glimpse into the world of home-grown terrorism.

Authorities say Commander Pedro is actually Peter Langan, the 37-year-old son of a former CIA agent.

There is no way to verify many of the claims made on the video.

But Langan and three other men were arrested last January and charged with committing 19 bank robberies in eight states since 1994. Very little of the $250,000 stolen in the robberies was recovered.

One of the men committed suicide after his arrest; another pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities, and the other two are awaiting trial.

Like the men who detonated bombs and robbed banks in the Spokane Valley this year, the Aryan Republican Army represents the most dangerous type of anti-government cells.

Armed with automatic weapons, authorities say, these groups committed brazen, daylight robberies in an apparent attempt to finance a race war.

“Our basic goal is to set up an Aryan Republic on the North American continent,” Langan says on the tape.

The video was seized by federal agents after Langan’s arrest Jan. 18 during a shootout with the FBI in Columbus, Ohio.

Ranging from farcical to chilling, the video encourages supporters to form their own secret groups to terrorize and plunder the nation.

“We’re not one, but we’re hundreds,” a second masked man says on the tape. “And we’re all out there to basically make this land ungovernable. That’s what the revolution is all about - make the land ungovernable.”

Court records say Langan planned to mail copies of the video to white supremacy and militia groups. The FBI isn’t saying whether he did.

After Langan’s arrest, agents found one copy in an envelope addressed to Richard Butler, founder of the Aryan Nations church in North Idaho.

According to the tape, the Aryan Republican Army traces its roots to The Order, a violent splinter group of Butler’s church that bombed and robbed across the West in the mid-1980s.

Langan talks about Bob Mathews, the Metaline Falls, Wash., man who formed The Order, and urges viewers to read “The Turner Diaries,” a race-war novel that white supremacists consider a guidebook for their cause.

“Learn from Bob,” Langan says. “Learn from his mistakes. Study your enemy. Study his methods.”

Langan’s sister, who works for the IRS in Cincinnati, has said her brother turned against the government because he was angry about the burning of the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, and the siege of Randy Weaver’s cabin in North Idaho.

Court documents say two Aryan Republican Army members, Kevin McCarthy, 19, and Scott Stedford, 27, joined the group after meeting an Aryan Nations leader and being sent to Elohim City, a Christian Identity enclave in Oklahoma.

Co-founder Richard Guthrie, 38, visited the Aryan Nations compound in North Idaho, and Langan had literature from Butler’s church, authorities say.

Speakers on the tape detail how to become a “well-equipped revolutionary.”

Their supply list includes a 200-channel scanner to monitor police radios, a Heckler & Koch model 91 assault rifle, grenades, and books about explosives, the Christian Identity religion and the history of the FBI.

Christian Identity preaches that white people are the true Israelites who must maintain their racial purity, and that other races are inferior.

They claim the Aryan Republican Army stockpiled shoulder-launched, TOW missiles and had the capability to make “weapons of mass destruction” from radioactive isotopes.

“We plan on using TOW on motorcades, security force barracks, financial institutions and targets of great importance. They’re not to be used recklessly. Aggressive, isn’t it?”

They talk of exterminating Jews and kicking non-whites out of the country. “In solidarity with our Serbian brothers we understand the meaning of ethnic cleansing,” Langan says. “To us it’s not a dirty word.”

They talk of robbing banks to finance their war against the government, and encourage other revolutionaries to do the same. Mostly, they talk about acting on their beliefs.

“We have modeled this organization after the successful and as yet undefeated Irish Republican Army,” Langan says. “The Irish are a tribe of the Aryan people, the Celtic people, not part of the Jewish-inspired oppression of Ireland by the elite of the English.”

The robbers were known for tweaking the law officers who pursued them.

They wore Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan masks, planted phony pipe bombs and bought getaway cars in the names of retired FBI agents including Wayne Manis of Coeur d’Alene, who hunted down members of The Order.

Authorities say the Aryan Republican Army operated unchecked until a bank teller noticed a masked robber’s deformed hand, providing a clue that ultimately led to the gang.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 3 Color photos