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| US govt faces veteran anger at extremism report |
| 2009-04-16 |
| The US Homeland Security Department, under fire for saying US forces returning from the Iraq and Afghan wars were potential right-wing extremist recruits, said Wednesday it honors US veterans. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano sought to douse anger among conservatives and veterans groups like the American Legion over a report from her department warning of a rising threat of right-wing extremism. "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs," Napolitano said in a statement amid charges that the department had done just that. American Legion chief David Rehbein on Tuesday blasted the report as "incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased" and took special aim at its warning that returning veterans having difficulties reintegrating society could be recruited by right-wing groups for possible terrorist attacks. In a letter to Napolitano, Rehbein underlined the document's mention of Oklahoma City bombing author Timothy McVeigh's US Army background and called it "as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam." "The American Legion is well aware and horrified at the pain inflicted during the Oklahoma City bombing, but Timothy McVeigh was only one of more than 42 million veterans who have worn this nation's uniform during wartime," said Rehbein, who group comprises some 2.6 million members. Napolitano said she accepted Rehbein's request for a meeting and stressed: "I will tell him face-to-face that we honor veterans at DHS and employ thousands across the department, up to and including the deputy secretary." The report said that fears of possible new restrictions on firearms, as well as troubled veterans returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, "could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks." Rehbein said the accusation, levelled in an April 7 document designed for local law enforcement officials, was "without any statistical evidence." |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #22 Is Chairman O really going to lift the gag order on banks that received TARP money...??? Something really murky going on here....oh...wait a minute....Janet is getting ready for civil unrest... |
| Posted by: crazyhorse 2009-04-16 23:26 |
| #21 *correction* not blame the party of Bush should read now blame the party of Bush. |
| Posted by: Menhadden Sloper5400 2009-04-16 21:30 |
| #20 Such reports were used by Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Chavez, etc., etc.. Right now those in power are prepping the General Public that immediate blame for ANY domestic incident must fall on groups not in lock step with them. An extension of "blame Bush", not blame the party of Bush. It is the same kind of propaganda used by anti-American governments to demonize Americans from a distance. Only this time those people are now in power in America are using this against segments of America. This is just the first of a long, hard, well planed propaganda campaign by OUR current government against those who do not agree with thier dogma. |
| Posted by: Menhadden Sloper5400 2009-04-16 21:29 |
| #19 It's not normally my place to support mods, as I've run up against them before, but it's this type of report that that causes some of their actions when we get a bit too radical. |
| Posted by: Mike N. 2009-04-16 21:12 |
| #18 DepotGuy - The vast majority of the political violence, even against Democratic administrations, has been perpetrated by left-wing extremists: think Lee Harvey Oswald, Sirhan Sirhan, Squeaky Fromme, Bill Ayers. So why does the report focus only on "right wing extremists"? Why doesn't it name any of the left-wing groups with a history of violence as objects of concern? Because the report's goal is to prepare the way for the criminalization of conservatism, and terrorizing conservatives into giving up political activism. |
| Posted by: Skunky Angeack7024 2009-04-16 20:31 |
| #17 Well, some here can probably cite multiple cases of Sudden Jihadi Syndrome and several foiled plots orgainzed by Islamist infiltrators, and people like DepotGuy will wave their hands and scream its unfair to consider the entire group as a threat, yet insist that a report that is unable to name specific groups, but must speak in ominous generalties, is correct in blackbrushing 45 million veterans because of what ONE of them did. I have come to the conclusion that those who cheerfully apply two different sets of moral standards, one low, one "higher", are as crooked as the old-tyme merchants who had two sets of weights for their scales, one set heavy, the other light. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2009-04-16 20:04 |
| #16 I'm a registered Republican, but I swear I'll become a Democrat if the GOP continues to pursue this witch hunt of impeachment... Oops. Wait. Was using the old script. D'oh! |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-04-16 14:03 |
| #15 "Looks like our astroturfer is back again." Iblis, with twits like you in mind perhaps the last line of my comment should have read: And, in that environment, extremist groups, Democrats, Republicans, bloggers, and talking heads have traditionally exploited single-issue causes as a recruitment tool. Oh BTW, I trust your keepinÂ’ the fire in the ole belly over that extravagant 2G Pizza party at the WH. Rage on dude! |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-04-16 14:01 |
| #14 No. The original report was written to show exclusive link between KKK, Islamic extremists, and crazy ex military like McVeigh. This is a RE-Write that removes the original linkage and selection criteria. Cleansed if it were from the original 80 or so groups noted as a threat. This rewrite was done to make it more general and applicible. To me it smells disingeuinious. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-04-16 13:40 |
| #13 DepotGuy is right. This 'righteous' indignation is pure bullshit. There was nothing in this report, which by the way was commissioned BEFORE 0bama was in office. Let us not forget, Timothy McVeigh was a veteran. And as much as I honor and respect our troops, having many friends in the military, every population has its share of douchebags and nutjobs. This hysteria on the right is making me want to puke. The right is sounding more and more like the left of the last few years, hysterical, paranoid and stupid. If this doesn't change, I forecast a long winter for the GOP. |
| Posted by: Flineter Hapsburg6785 2009-04-16 13:17 |
| #12 Just another step in enforcing obama's personal serfdom. Screw you obama and screw you DHS. Come get me. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-04-16 12:43 |
| #11 Looks like our astroturfer is back again. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2009-04-16 12:23 |
| #10 This Vietnam Vet is outraged that we were not mentioned. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-04-16 11:51 |
| #9 At the risk of being the contrairean, this is typical a straw man issue. Predictably, the Left instantly exploited the report to cast value voters as a growing tide of racist kooks. The Right effectively persuaded their legions that the report represented a sleight on the integrity of veterans and the average Joe. No doubt, some of the reportÂ’s language is curious and the timing of its release is suspect but the underlying theory is plausible. Bottom line, data has conclusively proven that when economies struggle there is an upsurge in crime. And, in that enviroment, extremist groups have traditionally exploited single-issue causes as a recruitment tool. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-04-16 10:34 |
| #8 Who approved it? Do they still have a job? Impeachment seems unlikely. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2009-04-16 10:01 |
| #7 I'm beginning to suspect a theme in the Obama administration. Could it possibly be a 'Wright' theme? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-16 09:10 |
| #6 I am radical. Come and get me. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-04-16 08:58 |
| #5 Those who protect America's freedoms and are opposed to tripling the national debt and placing our children in bondage to debt holders foreign and domestic: Terrorists Those who would genocide Americans and other nonmuslims, take our wives, daughters and young boys into slavery, sexual and otherwise: Man Caused Disaster Facilitators I'm beginning to suspect a theme in the Obama administration. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-04-16 08:36 |
| #4 If you take into account how many reviews and approvals this report probably had to go through before being released - this is a fairly weak apology. Who approved it? Do they still have a job? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-04-16 08:29 |
| #3 "We are on the lookout for criminal and terrorist activity but we do not -- nor will we ever -- monitor ideology or political beliefs," Napolitano A disingenuous statement. Direct quotations could be sited, but the entire DHS document is a an alarm bell or primir for monitoring ideological or political beliefs. Not examining the basic beliefs of your enemy cearly violates not only common sense but the Sun Tsu principle of war "Know your enemy." Her only problem is she and her leftest colleagues have clearly made public in a DHS manifesto the wrong enemy. Unfortunately, that enemy is us. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-04-16 07:43 |
| #2 you nailed it gromky. |
| Posted by: abu do you love 2009-04-16 07:32 |
| #1 The Left expects this, because it's what they'd be doing if the places were reversed. The idea that men can be patriotic, and support a government that they disagree with, is totally foreign to the leftist. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-04-16 03:27 |