The Obama administration knows who the real enemies of the US are: conservatives. A new Department of Homeland Security Study, here, basically paints with a broad brush any conservative opponents of the Obama administration as potential recruits for right wing terrorist groups. As a veteran of the Green Machine, the US Army, I found this passage especially nauseating:
“DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”
The Commander of the American Legion, hattip to Hot Air, has responded to this smear with this letter:
“Secretary Janet Napolitano
Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Washington, DC 20528
April 13, 2009
Dear Secretary Napolitano,
On behalf of the 2.6 million-member American Legion, I am stating my concern about your April 7 report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence and Recruitment.”
First, I want to assure you that The American Legion has long shared your concern about white supremacist and anti-government groups. In 1923, when the Ku Klux Klan still yielded unspeakable influence in this country, The American Legion passed Resolution 407. It resolved, in part, “…we consider any individual, group of individuals or organizations, which creates, or fosters racial, religious or class strife among our people, or which takes into their own hands the enforcement of law, determination of guilt, or infliction of punishment, to be un-American, a menace to our liberties, and destructive to our fundamental law…”
The best that I can say about your recent report is that it is incomplete. The report states, without any statistical evidence, “The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”
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. To continue to use McVeigh as an example of the stereotypical “disgruntled military veteran” is as unfair as using Osama bin Laden as the sole example of Islam.
Your report states that “Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.” Secretary Napolitano, this is more than a perception to those who have lost their job. Would you categorize union members as “Right Wing extremists”?
In spite of this incomplete, and, I fear, politically-biased report, The American Legion and the Department of Homeland Security share many common and crucial interests, such as the Citizen Corps and disaster preparedness. Since you are a graduate of New Mexico Girls State, I trust that you are very familiar with The American Legion. I would be happy to meet with you at a time of mutual convenience to discuss issues such as border security and the war on terrorism. I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are.
Sincerely,
David K. Rehbein
National Commander
The American Legion”
If the Obama administration were intentionally seeking to inflame conservatives, I can think of few better ways than this piece of waste paper. If the President really is interested in learning how domestic terrorists operate, perhaps he could call up his buddy, Bill Ayers, pictured above.
UpdateI: Father Z gives the document the fisking it requires.
UpdateII: Ed Morrissey reports at Hot Air on the leftist equivalent to this report, and notes some important differences.
Very predictable. Overreaching. Smearing righteous God-fearing Americans as potential troublemakers. Probably had the imprimatur of Dear Leader. But leaked to WashTimes, Roger Hedgecock, El Rushbo. Somebody who knows somebody e-mailed the document to the wrong people and bammo. White House disavows it conveniently. Ms. Napolitano- one of the Administration’s pet pro-abort Catholics- has egg all over face. And so convenient before the Tea Parties. Better, funnier signs will be ignored by MSM teevee outlets on Wednesday. Another Administration experiment went poof. Like Fairness Doctrine. Or FOCA. Or other potential threats to health, freedom, bank account, sanity, religious rights. Might limit the octopus-like reach over life in this great country. More inflammatory documents please, Ms. Napolitano.
To be fair, Alex Jones has been documenting this sort of thing for a long time now, under administrations both Republican and Democrat.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Jones is a little nutty most of the time but on his website I’ve seen links to official “anti-terrorism” guides distributed to police that identify both right-wing “patriot” groups and left-wing “subversive” groups.
Jeff, the same card has been played against groups on the left in the past, and it was just as despicable. There is a world of difference, for example, between a group which opposes the war in Iraq by peaceful protest and a group seeking to carry out terrorist attacks against targets here in the US. These types of fliers from Homeland Security are also a waste of time. There is nothing in this one that would be of any use to law enforcement from my experience of dealing with various law enforcement agencies over the years as an attorney. They want precise information as to local threats, not vague speculations.
At the risk of generalizing, it strikes me that Democratic administrations like to worry about domestic right wing threats, while Republican administrations like to worry about foreign threats. In both cases, these threats best fit their worldviews.
As I recall, there was all sorts of worrying about “right wing militias” under the Clinton administration well before the OKC bombing. Indeed, in a sense, the paranoia about them was one of the things which led to the Branch Davidian snafu, which was McVeigh’s putative cause in the OKC bombing.
Yeah, I remember the same type of stuff during the Clinton years. I wasn’t sure which was more irritating at the time; the Clinton administration’s paranoia or the paranoia of people on the right in response to the Clinton’s paranoia.
Hush. When you talk I can’t hear the black helicopters…
heh. I will say it doesn’t take a cynic to notice there is strategic value in associating one’s ideological opponents with fanatics prone to violence.
Americans by and large have always historically been suspicious of government. We would not have a nation now but for the extreme suspicion by the colonists of the actions of the British government after the French and Indian war. Some suspicion is a good thing; too much suspicion and you stay up all night listening to Art Bell and trying to scratch itches under your tin foil hat. This document will definitely increase the suspicion level as to the Obama administration among conservatives, hopefully not to absurd levels.
An FBI member who infiltrated the Weather Underground tells of how the WU planned to purge the country of their enemies if they were successful in overthrowing the government. Bluster no doubt, but it goes to show where their thinking was. Our president chose the leader of the WU as a friend. I cannot get around this, and I cannot ever trust 0bama. He is a bad person. A bad person cannot be a good president.
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Thanks for the well-written article, bookmarked and rss subscribed…