I gather that the manufactured outrage of the day is over President Obama shaking the hand of Hugo Chavez. Last week’s manufactured outrage over the DHS Threat Assessments deserves abit more information — especially as the remarkable dishonesty around all of this is being used to not just work the refs but to also try to normalize the violent rhetoric that they so like bullying people with. This weekend’s reading brought up alot of good information contra the claims and talking points being proffered for this business, so this post is in two parts:
- Michael Savage has joined a lawsuit suing AG Holder and Secretary Napolitano — even though the assessment was commissioned and done by Bush-era staff.
- David Neiwert takes a long look at how vets get the attention of the FBI — it is by actually joining the violent extremist groups. And the DOD is sharing info — “regarding Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans whose involvement in white supremacy and/or militia sovereign citizen extremist groups poses a domestic terrorism threat”. Note that being a regular commenter over at Red State or something doesn’t count.
- And more on the vets angle — how come the purveyors of the outrage on this thing didn’t crank up the noise machine a year ago?
The report, titled “White Supremacist Recruitment of Military Personnel since 9/11,” compiles statistics from hundreds of FBI cases from October 2001 to May 2008. It finds that U.S. military experience “is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement.” It adds: “FBI reporting indicates extremist leaders have historically favored recruiting active and former military personnel for their knowledge of firearms, explosives, and tactical skills and their access to weapons and intelligence in preparation for an anticipated war against the federal government, Jews, and people of color.”
And it’s not just veterans who are drawn to the cause. “FBI cases also document instances of active duty military personnel having volunteered their professional resources to white supremacist causes,” the report states. The FBI finds that “an estimated 19 veterans (approximately 9 percent of the 203) have verified or unverified service in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Full doc from Wikileaks
Next up, we take a look at the types of arrests and preventions the FBI has made for domestic terrorists — right and left.