WASHINGTON – A newly unclassified Department of Homeland Security report warns against the possibility of violence by unnamed "right-wing extremists" concerned about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty and singles out returning war veterans as particular threats.
The report, titled "Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," dated April 7, states that "threats from white supremacist and violent anti-government groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts."
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The report cites the April 4 shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh as an example of what may be coming, claiming the alleged gunman holds a racist ideology and believes in anti-government conspiracy theories about gun confiscations, citizen detention camps and "a Jewish-controlled 'one-world government.'"
It also suggests the election of an African-American president and the prospect of his policy changes "are proving to be a driving force for right-wing extremist recruitment and radicalization."
The report also mentions "'end times' prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as the violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement."
"DHS/I&A assesses that right-wing extremist groups' frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence," the report continues.''
Dennis Sevakis at American Thinker discusses 'Those pesky rightwing extremists' and the WND article about the DHS document. He says:
Well, now, that certainly seems ominous. But is the document for real? The genuine article? Or is this just another one of those bogus documents/statements/check-this-outs that wash in over the internet transom and are thereby foisted upon us unsuspecting loony "conservatives." Done for the sole purpose of getting us all roiled up so the lefties can have a good laugh watching us fall all over ourselves in our latest panic over the vast left-wing conspiracy.
I don't think so. And it doesn't matter whether or not the original DHS document proves "genuine" or not. The thrust of the document is the same as can be seen in others at FEMA's U.S. Fire Administration site. To wit, "Infogram 10-09: March 12, 2009 - Hate Groups: A Growing Threat?"
He quotes from that document; read it all at the link.
He does note that the source of much of this paranoid hysteria against the supposed 'rightwing extremists' is the far-left SPLC, or as the VDare folks call them, the $PLC. (By the way, this would be a good time to contribute to VDARE.)
The article to which I linked in my last post, from 1996, shows how this kind of scare rhetoric against the right was in full swing back in 1996. That, of course, was after the Oklahoma City bombing, which occurred the previous year, and that act was a gift to the far left, as they could then use McVeigh and his co-conspirators (who seemed to comprise a very small group of individuals) as proof positive that a 'vast rightwing conspiracy' centering on 'extremist gun-nut nazis and militiamen' existed, and was an ongoing threat. They certainly made the most of that event, and still gleefully cite McVeigh as the prototypical 'right-wing White, Christian gun nut', although he was first, not Christian, and second, not a 'typical' anything.
I am incensed by things like the phrase in the DHS report quoted in the WND article, about how
"end times' prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition and weapons. These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as the violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement."
Obviously, whoever wrote this nonsense knows less than nothing about Christian end time prophecies and has no evidence that those prophecies motivate people to some kind of violent, extremist action. I've often run across such ignorant people, usually leftists, who have the odd idea that Christians who believe in endtime prophecy, or who believe in a Rapture (which not all Christians do) are thus motivated to try to kick off the endtimes by some act of violence, or to hasten these events. First off, no real Christian believes that anybody should (or could, for that matter, since God is sovereign) try to force God's hand or to provoke some kind of armageddon-like violence. The idea that Christians might try to kick-start the end times is just so absurdly out-of-sync with Christianity that it is almost laughable, except that the people who promulgate this nonsense are dead-serious in their delusions.
I suppose this is what happens when non-Christians and outright anti-Christians dominate government; their ignorance of Christianity and/or their hostility to it shape policy.
It is troubling that even such historically patriotic ideas as, say, protecting our Second Amendment rights and limiting immigration are now considered dangerously extremist, and that they warrant monitoring of people or groups who advocate these legal and sensible measures. This is proof, as if we needed it, that things have veered dangerously to the left in our country, and that our government is actually verifying the fears of many people that it is not on our side, and that our rights are indeed in jeopardy. Surely they might consider that they are living up (or is it down?) to the image that many on the right have of them, and probably winning a few converts to the right-wing position by their heavy-handed, anti-liberty actions.
Do they really think they are allaying the supposed paranoid fantasies of the right? They are doing just the opposite.
The government is displaying its 'us vs. them' attitude towards its own citizenry in this kind of thing. If I had not already become disenchanted with the powers that be, I would surely become so now, and it would be due to their own authoritarian, big-brotherish rhetoric and actions.
We, the people, have become 'the enemy' in the eyes of the government, and they denounce us for reacting with a feeling of suspicion and alienation. I might even wonder if they are fostering this feeling, and actually hoping to provoke some acting-out on the right so as to justify measures against those they are now 'demonizing.' It does seem as though everything that is being done in recent years seems meant to provoke old-stock Americans, and perhaps to goad us. It seems almost as if they are hoping to hasten some kind of showdown, and draw out those who would resist. For that reason only, I hope that some of the more hotheaded ones on our side, who may otherwise be peaceful people, will not be drawn into some kind of conflict which can only harm the interests of traditional Americans.
And believe me, if such an incident did happen, it would be used against everybody on the 'right', even the respectable right, the cautious conservatives. Remember in the wake of the OKC bombings, how 'talk radio' was blamed for that event, and Republicans in general. It does not take much to be labeled 'right-wing extremist' in today's left-wing extremist America. This time, the scapegoat will no doubt be the 'right-wing bloggers' in addition to talk radio.
