CAREFUL: You Might be Labeled a Right Wing Extremist

Posted by johnhouk on Apr 16, 2009
 John R. Houk
© April 15, 2009

Isn’t amazing that Homeland Security issued a warning concerning returning American veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan as fodder for Right Wing Extremist groups? I find it amazing because does not read to often (like never) of the radical Islamic element in this nation that follow the teachings of Saudi Wahhabis, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Shi’ite Muslims supportive of Iran and Hezbollah’s brutal practices of Sharia Law. These radical Muslims either overtly or covertly are very supportive of Islamic terrorism that one could link to al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Those Islamic terrorists I just mentioned are a drop in the bucket of the huge array Islamic terrorists globally and who actually receive monetary and/or propaganda support in America.

I could appreciate the Homeland security report on possible recruits to right wing extremist if the MSM would actually list some of these groups. I say this for I am fairly certain the MSM would consider me a right wing extremist from my writings concerning the Left or radical Islam.

I don’t wish to be classified with the actual supremacists such as the infamous KKK, Neo-Nazi groups (one that comes to mind – Aryan Brotherhood) and anti-government militias.

These kinds of groups advocate violence for their goals or are at least sympathetic due White Supremacist thinking. These right wingers are no different than radical Muslims achieving their goals via violent jihad.

I am virulently unhappy with radical Islam and Leftist agendas in my writing. I do not advocate violence, overthrowing the U.S. government or extra-legal methods to promote my opinion.

The Homeland Security report unjustly could imprint every veteran who is pro-military and pro-America as a right wing extremist. That is radically wrong and smacks of an agenda by the current Obama Administration.

JRH 4/15/09
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Republicans criticize report on right-wing groups

By EILEEN SULLIVAN, Associated Press Writer
April 15, 2009 6:03 PM CT
Yahoo News

WASHINGTON – Republicans on Wednesday said a Homeland Security Department intelligence assessment unfairly characterizes military veterans as right-wing extremists. House Republican leader John Boehner described the report as offensive and called on the agency to apologize to veterans.

The agency's intelligence assessment, sent to law enforcement officials last week, warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country's first black president to recruit members.

The assessment also said that returning military veterans who have difficulties assimilating back into their home communities could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or might engage in lone acts of violence.

"To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable," said Boehner, R-Ohio.

The commander of the veterans group the American Legion, David Rehbein, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano expressing concern with the assessment, which made its way into the mainstream press after conservative bloggers got wind of the analysis.

Rehbein called the assessment incomplete and said it lacked statistical evidence. He said the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by military veteran Timothy McVeigh was one instance of a veteran becoming a domestic terrorist.

"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," Rehbein said in the April 13 letter.

Napolitano defended the assessment and others issued by the agency.

"Let me be very clear — we monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States," Napolitano said in a statement. "We don't have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence."

Napolitano said the department respects and honors veterans and that she intends to meet with Rehbein next week after she returns from a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border and meetings in Mexico City.

The agency describes these assessments as part of a series published "to facilitate a greater understanding of the phenomenon of violent radicalization in the United States."

In February, the department issued a report to law enforcement that said left-wing extremist groups were likely to use cyber attacks more often in the next 10 years to further their cause.

In September, the agency highlighted how right-wing extremists over the past five years have used the immigration debate as a recruiting tool.

Between September 2008 and Feb. 5, the agency issued at least four reports, obtained by The Associated Press, on individual extremist groups such as the Moors, Vinlanders Social Club, Volksfront and Hammerskin Nation.

But the references to military veterans in the recent report angered conservatives.

"The department is engaging in political and ideological profiling of people who fought to keep our country safe from terrorism, uphold our nation's immigration laws, and protect our constitutional right to keep and bear arms," said Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla.,

Texas Rep. Lamar Smith accused the department of painting "law-abiding Americans, including war veterans, as 'extremists.'"

Indiana Rep. Steve Buyer, the ranking Republican on the House Veterans' Affairs committee, said it was "inconceivable" that the administration would consider military veterans a potential terrorist threat.
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 CAREFUL: You Might be Labeled a Right Wing Extremist
John R. Houk
© April 15, 2009
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Republicans criticize report on right-wing groups
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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