Military Training On Extremists Preying on Servicemembers
Yesterday, there was a big hubbub manufactured by the American Legion and Republicans surrounding the Department of Homeland Security finding that there is a possibility that returning veterans who were facing issues reintegrating into society could be recruiting targets for extremist groups.
The report makes no claim that veterans at large would seek out extremist groups, or would cause violence. It just makes the fairly logical conclusion that extremist groups who might be seeking to cause violence, but don't have the skills, may seek out those who do have military training in addition to the usual profile of the types of people they seek out.
Well, that was it. The uproar from the right was fast and harsh:
"To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable." - Rep. John Boehner
"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," Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla."You have a report from Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama, Department of Homeland Security, portraying standard, ordinary, everyday conservatives as posing a bigger threat to this country than al Qaeda terrorists or genuine enemies of this country like Kim Jong Il." - Rush Limbaugh
And, the American Legion chimed in with "outrage," especially that Timothy McVeigh was mentioned in the report.
"I think it is important for all of us to remember that Americans are not the enemy. The terrorists are." - David K. Rehbein, National Commander, The American Legion
Interestingly, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which pretty much always is tied at the hip to the Legion, disagreed.
"The report should have been worded differently, but it made no blanket accusation that every soldier was capable of being a traitor like Benedict Arnold, or every veteran could be a lone wolf, homegrown terrorist like Timothy McVeigh. It was just an assessment about possibilities that could take place," said Glen Gardener, National Commander of the VFW.
So why the rare schism between the Legion and VFW here? Because the VFW, in this case, is acting like a reality-based organization.
I hate to break it to Republicans, and to the Legion (which knows this, or should), but the military has been training servicemembers on the dangers of right wing extremist groups, and how they may target servicemembers and veterans, for years. That includes, yes, even under George W. Bush's Pentagon.
You can view Power Point presentations of these trainings here and here. (PowerPoint required)
For those who don't have PowerPoint, here's the gist of it. The 2d Battalion, 46th Infantry warns its members:
"Soldiers are prohibited from active participation in organizations which promote supremacist causes, attempt to create illegal discrimination based on race, creed, color, gender, religion, sex or national origin, advocate the use of force or violence, or otherwise attempt to deprive individuals of their civil rights."
Geesh, you'd think that the military thought there could be a problem with servicemembers being recruited by extremist groups which advocate violence, or something.
Another Army presentation lays out what it calls "Right Wing Ideology":
• America is in moral and religious peril
• Satanic forces are about to seize control of the world.
• Religions other than their own are false and not important.
• Anti-government
In a slide shortly thereafter, the Army presentation uses Timothy McVeigh - specifically - as someone who bought into this ideology and used his military training to cause harm to his nation and his people.
Oh my goodness, why does our Pentagon hate America and the military?!
The fact of the matter is, most military members and veterans - a vast majority - are good and decent people who only want to honor their nation. That's never going to change. What's also true is that extremist groups are always trying to infiltrate our ranks to get training, and if they cannot do that, they look for those out of the military who might be able to help them.
We who served in the military know it, which is why the military is constantly vigilant, and always training men and women to recognize extremists and keep away from them. The report from DHS says nothing new or different than what's been said by the Armed Forces for years, with not so much as a peep from the Republicans or American Legion. The only thing new and different here is the president.
Crossposted at VetVoice.com
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ah, so it's obvious the Republicans are soft on terror - especially when they're the ones threatening to cause it.
The press reported six years ago that the need for troops for Iraq had moved the army to relax or outright ignore the kind of screening that used to be routine. Along with drug convictions and (some) criminal records, the army began recruiting and training white sumpremists which would have been routinely screened out a few years before.
If you wanted top bring America to her knees, wouldn't this be a good way to do it?
I think the whole thing was planned.
This post was a great rationalization for profiling. God for bid we would ever profile possible Islamic terrorists, yet it's okay profile members of our own military.
Geez, did you read even three words of the article??? The article and the DHS report is about extremist groups targeting vets, not our government profiling anyone.
Repeating talking points without bothering to look at what you're supposedly responding to just makes you look stupid.
That's what they do.... If power1 had written this on a Townhall or RedState he would get an 'Amen'.
I thought power1 was being sarcastic.
The 'government' did profile "possible Islamic terrorists', a religious and ethnic discrimination clearly illegal and spelled out that way in the article.
I know, I was personally victimized by that.
The government profiles EVERYBODY now, so naturally the rightie-tighties are getting all upset about it.
They didn't mind as long as they thought it was the other guy. Now they are apoplectic, actually the correct response.
Progressives have been angry for a long time so their reaction to this show of redneckitude is not positive, thus blowing the opportunity to make new friends.
Just as the Dear Leaders planned.
Obama just informed the rednecks they are on the list too. This isn't news, it is just new to them. As dominate white males they are used to having a certain privilege, another bubble of fantasy just got popped.
More fearmongering from the right wingnuts. Let's be rational about this possible threat not go off half cocked, again. Helping our vets when they return from their tours of duty is our responsibilty and making sure they are not used by the rightwing exteremists is a good idea. Maybe giving them a good education or job training would be a priority.
The report was worded poorly and then jumped on but some of you would also be up in arms if you substituted "black" "hispanic" or "islamic" for "veteran". Everyone needs to stop acting like it was not just a poorly worded report, that those of you on the left would have been doing the same thing if it had been under Bush and the target group had been a minority and the right needs to take a step back just understand that it was just a typical government SNAFU with the wording and Conspiracy Nut Cases from both sides need to take a wrap off, take off the tin hat and either go read your "Daily Worker" or "New World Order Warning", (depending on your pol slant) magazines and stop talking or you will start to make me thing that Eugenics is not a bad idea to keep idiots from breeding.
Thank you Jon !!!
Jon, your partisanship is showing again. The report is not a report, but a memo. And while it does not specifically target any group, it only speaks of our troops and other conservative groups as the main potential threat to the U.S. No mention of Islamic radicals, no mention of groups that have actually performed acts of terrorism within the U.S., such as the Animal Liberation Front. As a matter of fact, Fox News pointedly details that this memo has been leaked from DHS, instead of your implication that Fox is talking it up as a slap in the face of veterans. I DO think it is a slap in the face, however. You, who always declares to be, first and always, on the side of the troops, apparently do not. Any implication, whether intended or otherwise, that our guys are susceptible to subornation is offensive.
The fact that you do not find it so is curious.
Semper fi
The DHS report/memo is entitled "Right Wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political ClimateFueling Resurgencein Radicalization and Recruitmen
Semper Fi back at ya.
The point is not what you think. How would you have responded if the Bush Administration had issued a memo (not a Report) that Left/Liberal groups, like Code Pink (which actually DID help to create damage and mayhem!), were a threat to the security of America?
Instead, DHS under Napolitano has issued a memo saying that some of our conservative organizations and our troops are a potential threat to American security. That they dress it up in the possibility of subornation by radical groups is meaningless, since there are fewer "right-wing" radical groups in this country than there are left-wing radical groups.
The DHS did not address ALF, or the Earth Firsters, and other groups which have actually committed massive property damage, threatened workers and their wives and children with death, and actually have bombed a few private residences/cars. There is the problem, but did we hear about them?
Semper fi
Let me restate that, Any implication that 'our guys' are susceptible to subornation is offensive.
It is my observation that the attitude that any articulated recognition of a dangerous reality like the one stated above is offensive, is an effort to stifle oversight.
Take it any way you like! Our guys and girls are putting their lives on the line every day. For DHS bureaucrats, who do little in that regard, to use their political bias to point a finger at them is offensive to me.
Semper fi
Unfortunately the military has been steadly lowering its recruiting standards over the last few years. That means a greater percentage of active soldiers will have the non-military characteristics that these groups are looking for. People with criminal records, people who are below-average intelligence, these are the folks that the extremist groups will target, and we are taking more and more of them into the ranks and training them to do dastardly things.
I really thought it was to be interpreted in the context of head injuries.
It doesn't matter how great a guy you were or how good your training is, after a few brain injuries of the wrong kind, like we have many of in this war, personalities will under go change.
I thought it was a call for better medical and nursing care. No surprise the right wing nuts make a lot of defensive noise. They are responsible for this war, thus all these AVOIDABLE INJURIES.
Where's the connection between this and the insurance industry? Come on, we know it is here somewhere, Cheney gave them a pass, a sure sign there are 'friends' involved.
Ugh, ONLY The ARMY has had problems with recruiting, the USMC has a waiting list and the Navy and AF did not have problems, also keep in mind that the Army and USMC have been expanding their numbers at the same time the wars have been going on, with the USMC meeting the expansion without much trouble and the Army still working on it but getting there.
As for Criminal Records, if you get into a fist fight now a days you have to get a waiver, I do not want a bloody boy scout next to me when I am hitting a building, if you do, please take up a job as an intel officer or NCO ;-)
What I don't understand is how we can give veterans with traumatic brain injuries substandard care, or none at all, and then be surprised when an extremist group that has made itself crucial to their social support network is able to manipulate their resulting disabilities like decreased impulse control in order to obtain the use of their military skill.
Is anyone surprised by this McVeigh was a veteran. Republicans are like vultures and maggots they seize on dead rotting flesh to find anything that they can use to prove that Obama is attacking a group or labeling a group. They are pathetic their arguments are not based in facts they dont deal with pesky things like facts they just make stuff up. There is a name for people like that LIARS thats what they are
Carol
The American Legion, along with most Veterans Service Organizations is simply out of touch with reality. By Law, they are certified to "help veterans" under the provisions of Title 38, USC, they have to be trained by the VA and pass a test to become a VSO (Veterans Services Officer). I am a life member of the VFW and I often have trouble with their stance supporting without question anything the republicans do and their rubber stamping of every VA decision they are required to review. These people do some good work for Veterans, but they have lost their way due to radical right wing views of defense issues. I am embarrassed when these "service organizations" kowtow to anything the radical right wing says (that is why republicans love to appear before them). I also have a problem with their "representation of veteran’s claims" that they provide veterans who give them a Power of Attorney regarding their claims with the VA. They usually just sign off on all VA decisions, and do not force the VA to properly adhere to the law. They often are in bed with the Department of Veterans Affairs (Don't rock the boat is their MOTTO). It will be interesting to read the "hate" comments I get due to this post, but it is the truth, guess the truth hurts sometimes.
No hate from me, brother. I got a HUGE run-around by the DAV when I got out of the Army. My experiences with other VSOs weren't much better, and the pervasive stench of right-wing shenanigins was all over them.
Re: "representation of veteran"s claims"
It seems the point is to cut costs, not provide care or adequate service. This power of attny issue you brought up sounds criminal. Who is investigating it?
STOLTZ GET ON NBC/ MSNBC/ CNN/ ABC/ CBS AND TELL THE PEOPLE OF THE USA ABOUT THIS. AND CALL OUT FOX AND ITS RIGHT WING SHOWS AND PUNDITS WHO CONTRIBUTE TO THIS HATE!!!!!!!!! I AM SICK OF ONLY HEARING ABOUT THIS ON THE INTERNET. KKKLNANITY- BECK - LIMBAUGH HAVE FREE REIGN ON CABLE ALONG WITH FOX TO ONLY CRTISISE THE REPORT !!!!!!!!
Spot on! And I will also suggest that our older statesmen should comeout and likewise condemn these false and hateful languages! WHO ARE THE TRUE AND WISE STATESMEN WE HAVE IN THE COUNTRY, NOW?
You are so right, Stolz.
Throughout the GW Bush administration, contingency plans were being made at top levels of military and defense to address military-training aided domestic terrorism not from the political left, but from their own ranks on the RIGHT!
Where, oh were, was the Republican public outrage over that? Only wacked-out survivalists like radio talk show host "Prison Planet" Alex Jones ever mentioned it. Now that we have a liberal Democratic President and and a Democratic Congressional majority, Republicans and clearly right-leaning partisan groups are all over this "news story" like white on rice.
What a bunch of transparent partisan jerks run the Republican Party.
Come on, Republicans! Real American Conservatives! Step up! Drop the crap! Take back your dang party! America NEEDS a functioning two-party system, not one party plus a bunch of Orwellian dirty-trickster neo-fascist pretenders!
After being harassed to meet recruitment quotas and nearly driven into breakdowns, army recruiters during the last couple of Bush years were accepting recruits with gang tattoos, histories of mental disorders, felony records, and redneck/Aryan/white power affiliations. I wouldn't be surprised if we did have another major incident from a returning vet, especially since the VA is under orders to "underdiagnose" instances of PTSD.
Relax criteria, and you court disaster. We could conceivably have urban gangbangers in the near future who know enough about explosives to bring down a police station or a veteran with PTSD living next door to you who thinks you're planning on taking away his arsenal of assault rifles and grenades.
I hope Obama sets up an investigation into the 17 suicides of army recruiters since the start of the Iraq war. Steve Green, the soldier responsible for the gang rape of a fourteen year old girl named Abir and the murder of her toddler sister and her parents (she was being gang raped in one room, while hearing her family being shot), supposedly had a history of a personality disorder and should never have been given a rifle, much less admitted into the army. Green is being tried now (his buddies are already serving time) in the US and facing a possible death penalty.
Well if it was all about media ratings, that sure is a good story. I bet it fills lots of TV time.
Or, maybe that was the plan.
We really have to ask ourselves WHY the New York media was so hot to sell us a war. Was it really all about ratings and pleasing the advertisers?
What would that say about our media?
The fact that Janet Nepalitano's report was vetted and proof read simply shows how offensive, radical and leftwing the wild eyed college Marxists in the current administration are. They don't even recognize their own diseased, degenerate thought processes. Vets are the most patriotic Americans on the planet. To paint them with a broad brush is slap in the face of all Americans.
Just checking..
Sure good that the report didn't do that isn't it...
I was in the Army, but it was so long ago that they briefed us on not joining the Apaches.
HA!
You're kidding! Really?
When I mentioned something about the western Cherokee long, long ago, it seemed to get HOT around here. Plus, computer access to the Native American church was very much denied, which I took as a warning.
I ALWAYS wondered if my Native American sympatheies weren't considered the most threatening thing about me to good old Uncle Sam.
Jon is absolutly right. I think he could have added a bit about the inherent self-defeating aspect about the use of torture.
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