A man planning a military-style assault on an American Islamic enclave in New York State is free on bail, even though he admitted to threatening to burn down a mosque and private homes, and to kill anyone who got in his way.  Rights groups are stunned, noting that the man hasn’t even been charged with terrorism offenses.

“If a Muslim had planned to carry out such a religiously-motivated deadly attack, he would certainly have been labeled a terrorist and charged accordingly,” said National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper of the US Council on Islamic American Relations (CAIR).  “We ask the Obama administration to rescind the plea agreement, which – as it stands – could see this individual free in the community.”

63-year old Christian minister Robert Doggart last year ran for the US Congress from the southern state of Tennessee, and failed.  Since then, federal prosecutors say he’s used social media to recruit members of a militia group for an attack on Islamberg, a self-named, tiny, and remote mountain community northwest of New York City. 

According to FBI surveillance, Doggart spokes of his religious motivation as he plotted to “utterly destroy” the town, instructing his accomplices to carry assault rifles to carry out the attack.  “Those guys have to be killed,” Doggart said in a wiretapped conversation.  “Their buildings need to be burnt down.  If we can get in there and do that not losing a man, even the better.”

Despite the carnage he plotted, Doggart was allowed to plead guilty to a lesser charge of interstate communication of threats and faces between zero and five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.  He was released to home confinement after posting a $30,000 bond.

“You cannot imagine the level of disruption Mr. Doggart’s threat has caused the families of Islamberg,” said Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, general counsel for the group “he Muslims of America (TMOA), which uploaded a photo online showing the communities’ children.

“Our community consists of veterans, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc,” said Muhammad Matthew Gardner, Islamberg’s spokesman.  “We are true American patriots, unlike Doggart, who is not representative of Christianity, but more like the American Taliban.”