In the remote desert region of a young nation, a self-proclaimed holy man has carved out a tribal homeland. Residents of this border area live according to religious law, the women draped in long garments that sweep the ground. These faithful are taught that they owe no allegiance to any nation and are bound only by the laws of God. They shun outsiders as "apostates" and maintain fanatical devotion and obedience to their faith.
The holy man's name is Warren Steed Jeffs and the nation is the United States.
"Entering Waziristan feels like travelling back in time...The fortress-like houses that occaisionally dot the landscape add to that image...In most cases, they are built around the entire landholding of the occupant that can be anything between 5 to 20 acres."
Aamer Ahmed Khan
BBC News
Monday, April 24, 2006
When Warren Steed Jeffs took control of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) after the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs, in 2002, he inherited a kingdom on earth. Between eight and ten thousand church members live in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. 95% of the land in the Twin Cities area was owned by the United Effort Plan Trust, the financial arm of the FLDS church. Families lived as tenants in homes assigned to them by FLDS leaders. They worked in businesses built by labor 'donated' to the FLDS church. Jeffs himself lived in a walled compound in Hildale- until he became a fugitive.
The assets of this empire included a 55,000 square foot factory, valued at $6 million, that produced precision parts for airlines and defense contractors, a $220,000 Cessna 210 airplane and private airport and numerous private schools. All were property of the FLDS church.
Lack of private ownership placed residents of the Twin Cities at the mercy of the FLDS church. The Mayor, the Marshall and the President of the local school board were all high-ranking members of Jeff's fundementalist sect. Questioning church leadership could mean the loss of your home and livelihood.
And in 2000, questioning FLDS leadership led to the collapse of the Colorado City public school system.
"...these schools become ghost schools. In the education headquarters, entries vis a vis teachers and other employees are made and regular salaries are taken by the malik in the name of those ghost teachers and employees. The malik gives a good amount each month to the education officials in order to keep the process going. The buildings supposed to be hospitals and schools are thus turned into the malik's 'mehman knana' (guest house).
Winning the War on Terror in Waziristan
Shahid Ilyas
In 1980 a dispute over leadership split the FLDS church. A minority of church members rejected the leadership of Rulon Jeffs and the community split into two factions- the majority "first ward" who followed Jeffs, and the smaller "second ward" who rejected his leadership.
The Colorado City Unified School District was dominated by "first warders" still loyal to Jeffs. They objected to the teaching of evolution, dinosaurs, the NASA moon landings- and to the presence of "second ward" children.
Rejecting official church leadership made second ward children "heathens" and "apostates." In 2000, Rulon Jeffs decreed that true FLDS followers must cut off all contact with unbelievers. His son, Warren Steed Jeffs, delivered the message in a sermon:
"If you are choosing to socialize with apostates, to join with them in any way, you are choosing to get on the devil's ground...Our Prophet will lose confidence in any person who continues to harbor apostates..."
First ward followers promptly abandoned the public schools. First ward teachers resigned. First ward children were withdrawn.
By the start of the 2001 school year, the district's enrollment fell from 950 students to 300.
The state of Arizona has a kind of "stop-loss" policy for public schools. Commonly known as the "rapid decline" program, it was designed to help struggling rural schools whne military redeployment or severe economic downturn caused a sharp drop in enrollment. The program continues to fund such schools at previous enrollment levels, allowing the district to gradually ease into a smaller budget.
The first-ward-dominated school board seized on this program, funnelling the extra money to Jeff's followers. First ward teachers may have resigned, but the support staff roster was packed with loyal first ward janitors, secretaries and bus drivers- in fact, the student-to-staff ratio was 3 to1.
Student-to-staff ratios outside the district averaged 26 to 1.
First ward bus drivers were soon earning $30,000 per year while remaining second ward teachers started at $20,000. 60% of all incoming money was spent outside the classroom. Loyal Jeffs followers drove district-owned Ford Excursions and Chevy Suburbans. District administrators travelled and dined in restaurants using school funds.
Because most of the land in the Twin Cities area belonged to the United Effort Plan, it had never been traded on the open market. This made land values very difficult to assess for tax purposes. This in turn allowed District Administrators to claim an impoverished tax base for their school system.
Even more state money rolled in.
Over time, using a complex series of lease transactions, the FLDS church siphoned off these public monies to fund a system of private schools teaching FLDS doctrine.
Most formal schooling ended after 8th grade.
Girls were removed from school by age 16 for marriage to men two-and-three-times their age.
The teaching of science was suppressed.
Taxpayer money was used to create private religious academies.
The FLDS faithful did not regard this as dishonest. It was called "bleeding the beast" and thought righteous. The 'beast'- the surrounding, alien nation of unbelievers- owed tribute to the faithful. Similar schemes also bilked local food stamp and welfare programs.
Think of it as FLDS jizya.
In a sense, the FLDS lifestyle made "bleeding the beast" inevitable. The enormous families produced by polygamy- in some cases over 20 children- are impossible for one man to support. Shaking down the surrounding heathens is the simplest solution for the virtuous.
"People are deeply religious and conservative and they consider birth control as infidelity...People marry at the age of 20 for men and the age of 16 for women on average."
Winning the War on Terror in Waziristan
Shahid Ilyas
With so much public money should come much oversight.
But keeping an eye on Hildale and Colorado City has never been easy.
State and Federal law stumbled to a stop at the edge of the Twin Cities. Officials investigating misuse of state funds or charges of child sex abuse have been met my intimidation, an untrustworthy police force and witnesses ordered to remain silent or face excommunication.
"In North Waziristan...Taliban factions opened offices in Miramshah, began levying taxes, and created new crimes punishable by fines. In this manner, the Taliban erodes the influence of the political administration as tribesmen turn to the Taliban to settle disputes."
Carin Zissis
Council on Foreign Relations
"According to the constitution of Pakistan, the laws passed by the parliament are not applicable to the tribal areas. The courts have no jurisdiction in tribal areas. There is no police force."
Shahid Ilyas
Since 2003, fully half of the Colorado City police force- a total of six peace officers- have been stripped of their badges by the state of Arizona.
They were decertified for hiding information regarding the whereabouts of fugitive Warren Jeffs, for having underage polygamous wives- in other words, for breaking the law.
"It appears to me the [Colorado City Police Chief] Sam Roundy is not in control but that Jeffs' in control," then Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff told the Deseret Morning News in October 2003.
Chief Roundy stepped down in September, 2005 after admitting that he never notified child-welfare authorities of at least 20 cases of child sexual abuse he investigated.
Roundy has 3 wives and 21 children.
In October 2005, Fred Barlow Jeffs, then Marshall of Hildale and Colorado City, wrote a letter to Warren Jeffs. (Jeffs was a fugitive listed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List at the time):
"I rejoice in the peace that comes over me when I follow the directives you have sent to me...I have felt a unity between the peace officers. They have all stated to me their desire to follow the directives that are placed before us...I want to fill the position that you would have me fill and do the job the way that you would like it done."
Not laws. Directives. From a fugitive. Not a constitution or legislature.
According to Mohave County, Arizona investigator Gary Engels, by 2007 FLDS doctrine had long since replaced federal and state law. In a CNN interview, Engles said:
" It's my experience...that these police officers are not real police officers. They're enforcers for the FLDS church. They're enforcers for Warren."
Engels was charged with persuing the fugitive Jeffs on charges similar to those brought in the state of Utah. His investigation in the FLDS community was met with stonewalling and attempts at intimidation. Church members refused to speak with him. Groups of threatening young men followed him in vehicles with tinted windows.
Officials in the Twin Cities have a long record of resisting state and federal law. There are stories of subpeonas not being served; of suspects being tipped off and then fleeing into the desert. Women attempting to escape forced polygamy know already that the police will simply enforce the 'directives' of the FLDS church. Non-FLDS residents complain that their civil rights are routinely violated.
In an NPR interview, Engels stated:
"These people don't have the right to voice their opinion. They don't have the right to criticize."
And, in a CNN interview:
"I would just love to see the whole community brought back into the United States, where everybody has equal rights."
"For the area's tribesmen, being citizens of Pakistan is secondary to their Pashtun identity, and they regard foreigners, including Pakistani forces, with suspicion."
Carin Zissis
Council on Foreign Relations
As Pakistan struggles to achieve stability and the rule of law, we here in the United States would do well to examine ourselves rather than feel smug. The plain fact is that a fundamentalist, fanatical religious sect nearly succeeded in establishing an independant homeland on sovereign U.S. soil, funded by U.S. taxpayers and enforcing religious law.
Civil rights enshrined in the Constitution were ignored. Freedom of religion was non-existant. This disturbing example must be made an temporary aberration lest it become a precedent. Unless it is "brought back into the United States," the Twin Cities area could one day serve as the model for some other, better-funded, fanatical group.
On the day that Warren Jeffs' conviction was announced, local authorities posted snipers on the rooftops around the courthouse, just in case. They weren't needed.
May they never be.
References
Winning the War on Terror in Waziristan-Shahid Ilyas
The Waziristan Quagmire
Constitution of Pakistan- Part XII-Tribal Areas
Pakistan's Tribal Areas-Carin Zissis
Federally Administered Tribal Areas
Analysis: Pakistan's Defiant Tribesmen-Rahimullah Yusufzal-BBC
The Taleban Stronghold of Waziristan-Aamer Ahmed Khan-BBC
Single-Minded Lawman Pursues Polygamists-CNN
Polygamy-Police Issue Stuns Hildale-Nancy Perkins and Jennifer Dobner
Former Polygamous Police Chief Says He Never Notified Authorities-KPHO TV
Cops in Polygamous Town Stripped of Badges-CNN
Arizona Revokes Badges of 2 FLDS Town Marshals-Ben Winslow-Deseret Morning News
Arizona Boots Polygamist Town Cops-Nate Carlisle-Salt Lake Tribune
Motel Offered Privacy for Sect's Secretive Weddings-Brian Haynes and Glenn Puit
Letter from Hildale and Colorado City Marshal Fred Barlow to Warren Jeffs
Hildale Schools Are Unusually Quiet After Exodus of Church's Children-Julie Cart
Schools: Local Control, But Little Local Money- Tom Zoellner-Salt Lake Tribune
Polygamists' Move Imperils School Funds-Mark Shaffer-Arizona Republic
A Shadow of a School-Hilary Groutage Smith-Salt Lake Tribune
For One Mormon Teacher, Worlds Did Collide-Susan Greene-Denver Post
Polygamists' Schools May Lose Funding-Joseph A. Reaves-Arizona Republic
Religious Discrimination Lives On-Elizabeth Stohlton-BYU NewsNet
Polygamy in Arizona: the Wages of Sin- John Dougherty-Newtimes.com
Judge Expands Power of FLDS Trust Fiduciary-Pamela Manson and Brooke Adams
Crown Jewel of FLDS Community to be Auctioned-John Hollenhorst-KSL-TV
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