by Andrew Walden AmericanThinker.com 

It isn’t the first time around for Roger Dale Stockman, arrested in the parking lot of a Dearborn, Michigan mosque last week.  Stockman, allegedly caught with illegal fireworks after making threats against Arabs at a Dearborn bar, has a long criminal and psychiatric record.  At least two of his previous federal arrests involved threats.  In 1985 he was sent to a Federal Prison psychiatric ward after placing a pipe bomb in the Reno, NV airport.

UPDATE: Stockham converted to Islam some time prior to 1981

In spite of this, Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad told the Detroit Free Press that Stockham “had a long history of being angry with the United States government.”   Haddad’s phrase—thinly disguised code for “right-wing extremist”--appears in the lede of story after story nationwide.  But if this troubled individual had any politics, it wasn’t right-wing.

Stockham was active online in the lead-up to his Dearborn arrest.  He made online threats against US military personnel he said should be “hung”.  He made several postings in support of Bradley Manning, the gay, atheist Private alleged to have leaked thousands of classified US documents.  Stockham also appeared obsessed with identifying and finding “Crazyhorse 18”—a US helicopter pilot who attacked armed men in a combat zone in what Wikileaks supporters describe as a “collateral murder video” from 2007 Iraq.  Wikileaks released the video in April, 2010 alleging it showed the illegal killing of a Reuters journalist.

In an April 2010 interview, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said the video shows “a war crime” and argued, “The pilots involved have become debased….  And at some stage their experience turned into just playing a video game.  And getting high scores by killing people….  They just want an excuse to kill.”

That kind of talk may have made an impression on Stockham.  He signed the online “We Stand With Bradley Manning” petition twice.  And on the Bradley Manning Forums, he posted the following:

Identifying "Crazyhorse 18"

by roger stockham » 10 Dec 2010 1:11 pm

I NEED HELP FINDING THIS LYING MURDERER ON THE COL. MRDR. VID. Naming this guy is essential to getting justice for the victims and Brad. He MUST be prosecuted in, I believe, the World Court. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. So far as I know, I'm the only one who's brought this up,
and it speaks very poorly for your whole gig, like maybe you're too stupid to actually get anything done for Brad. Come on folks, get your s together.
It's easy to prove I was an assault helicopter pilot leading top secret special ops into Laos in '68. And if I want this guy hung, you should too.
Thanks, Roger Stockham, luminaut@xxxx.com, fone 619/628-xxxx.

The telephone number appears to be non-functional.

Stockham’s Myspace page announces:

• About Me: “Proud of my kids. Happy with how much I've lived. Ready for it to be over, but have a policy I contend with often: So long as I am alive, I can't play dead.”
• Who I'd like to meet: “Immanuel Swedenborg.” 
• He describes himself as: “noumenon, Male, 63 years old, IMPERIAL BEACH, California.”

“Noumenon” is a Kantian philosophical term which could loosely be described as denoting the spiritual as opposed to “phenomenon”, the physical.

Swedenborg is an 18th Century Theosophical philosopher whose teachings have been described as a precursor to the “spiritual, not religious” and Unitarian traditions of the 19th century.   

Reporting on the Reno Airport bomb attack, LA Times July 18, 1985 says Assistant U.S. Atty. Brian Sullivan “noted that Stockham has been found innocent by reason of insanity for previous offenses and said he should be examined thoroughly at the U.S. Penitentiary in Springfield, Mo.”

Federal court records show Stockham was again arrested in 2002 in Burlington, VT (case #2:02-mj-00056-jjn USA v. Stockham).  His offense, ”knowingly deposit a letter to be delivered by the USPS containing a threat to injure the person of another.”  A sealed 2003 psychiatric evaluation is part of the court record.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons reports that Stockham (Prisoner #75098-012) was released from Federal custody September 20, 2005.

Reporters from the San Diego Union Tribune interviewed Stockham’s Imperial Beach, CA neighbors, explaining: “About six months ago…FBI agents talked with residents of the complex about Stockham, but they didn’t contact him.”

Stockham’s Facebook profile also identifies him as a supporter of the “Bradley Manning Support Network” and just as with his other postings, Stockham was intent on trumpeting his “creds” as a Vietnam War helicopter pilot.

On the Bradley Manning Support Network Facebook page, Stockham demands: “(Crazyhorse 18’s) name, at least; and if possible - his unit at the time of his atrocity. I have a fair talent at finding military personnel and feel confident I can find him with just a name. But people! Please wake-up to how critical this is to JUSTICE.”

Now we know what part of the US Government Stockham was angry with.

---30---

Burlington Free Press: Michigan mosque bomb suspect once faced threat charges in Vermont 

He'd led a troubled life. In 1977, armed with a handgun and a bomb, he took a California psychiatrist hostage for four hours. He spoke with a reporter at the Los Angeles Times and then gave himself up.

In 1979, he took his 9-year-old son from a foster home without permission, rented a plane and took off into the California sky. He called the Los Angeles air control tower, said he had explosives in the plane and wanted a larger aircraft to fly to Iran.

Out on bail, he set several oil tanks ablaze at the Union Oil Co. in Lompoc, Calif. Police said one fire was set off by a rifle bullet that ignited a package of gunpowder placed near the tanks.

He was later found innocent by reason of insanity. He was released in 1983 from a state hospital after a deputy prosecutor told the courts that Stockham "hasn't done anything crazy lately," according to a report in the Reno (Nev.) Gazette-Journal.

In 1985, he spoke several times with a city editor at the Gazette-Journal about the bomb he had planted at the city airport. He was later convicted of that crime and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

At the trial, his lawyer pleaded to the court that Stockham "is a very bright, articulate individual, but a very sick one nonetheless. ... He's crying out for help."

In October 2002, he called The Burlington Free Press two times in one day and in one call indicated he was going to explode bombs all over the place. He called again the next day, shortly before noon, identifying himself as Hem Ahadin, saying he was "a local Muslim terrorist on a roll."

He said he was "planting explosive devices in the neighborhood" and that there would be the "biggest desecration of a flag you've ever seen." The flag would wrap explosives, he said, and on the white stripes would be written: "The only reason for evil to exist is that good men do nothing. ... This flag now represents the greatest evil on the planet."

He ranted against the Veterans Affairs, the FBI and President Bush, whom he said he was going to kill, largely because of the things Bush had said about Iraq in a speech earlier this week.

He was a Muslim, he said, having been converted when he was in Indonesia in the 1970s in "prison," although news reports say he worked there for a private helicopter company.

He said he was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from his time in Vietnam. He said he was taking medication for manic-depression….

At 3:13 p.m. on Sept. 11, 2001, he had left a message on a Free Press editor's voice mail that said: "You must now begin the process of learning how to recognize when you are speaking to a representative of the Islamic Jihad."

Detroit News: Man arrested in Dearborn served time for threats against Bush

A decorated Army veteran accused of plotting to blow up a Metro Detroit mosque served time in federal prison for threatening to kill President George W. Bush and bomb a Vermont veterans' clinic in 2002….

Before the arrest, Stockham called a local paper twice to say he was going to explode bombs in the neighborhood. In one call, he identified himself as "Hem Ahadin," saying he was "a local Muslim terrorist on a roll."

He ranted against the VA, the FBI and Bush, largely because of the things the president had said about Iraq in a speech earlier in the week.

According to affidavit filed in U.S. District Court, Stockham threatened to carry out "jihad," or holy war, against the VA office in White River, Vt.