Report: U.S. extremist groups grew in 2009

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MONTGOMERY, Ala., March 2 (UPI) -- The number of extremist, anti-government groups in the United States grew in 2009, the Southern Poverty Law Center said in a report issued Tuesday.

The report -- "Rage on the Right," published in the organization's quarterly Intelligence Report -- concluded groups "steeped in wild, anti-government conspiracy theories" have exploited populist anger and have "infiltrated the mainstream."

Intelligence Report Editor Mark Potok of the SPLC said in a post on the group's Web site the organization documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups last year -- from 149 in 2008 to 512 in 2009. He said the number of militias, which the SPLC describes as "the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement," grew from 42 in 2008 to 127 last year.

"This extraordinary growth is a cause for grave concern," Potok said. "The people associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead."

Patriot groups are motivated by anger over America's changing racial and ethnic makeup, skyrocketing public debt, the economic downturn and a fear that the Obama administration is pursuing "socialist" or "fascist" policies, the report said.

Hate groups mentioned in the report include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, Klansmen and black separatists, the SPLC said.