Homegrown Terrorism!? Napolitano is an Ideological Hack
I guess she should consider herself an extremist with that gun – anyone who practices or believes in the 2nd amendment was placed in that 9 page report from the DHS a couple of days ago. Conveniently, this all came out right before the nationwide Tea Party protests.
Napolitano is now getting a lot of flak for the reprehensible language in the report with regard to veterans returning home from war, who have fought to keep us free and safe from further terrorist attacks. Instead of focusing all that energy on veterans and stating that they may be susceptible to right-wing extremism and domestic/homegrown terrorism, maybe she should focus on those who really do practice this type of violence against the United States and the West in general. I think focus should be kept on Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela; who all seem to be acting together these days.
However, Cuba will now become the new vacation hot-spot under this administration; North Korea will receive a strongly worded letter from the U.N., more money, and food supplies for their patterned behavior; Iran will get a visit without preconditions, continue it’s collection of uranium, and production of a nuclear facility; Russia and China will continue to work behind the scenes, tap our grids, buy defense materials and missiles, and dump our dollar; while Hugo Chavez will continue to espouse tons of hot air and pontificate upon his hatred of the evil U.S. empire. But then again, we are talking about the woman who could not refer to the real and very simple term “terrorism,” rather calling it a “man-made disaster;” and the war on terror is the “Overseas Contingency Operation.”
Republicans and officials associated with Veteran Affairs and Groups have blasted the Homeland Security Head and rightly so.
“To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable,” said Boehner, R-Ohio.
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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, cited in the report, 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.
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“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.,
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Texas Rep. Lamar Smith accused the department of painting “law-abiding Americans, including war veterans, as ‘extremists.’”
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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.
Upon hearing of the backlash, Napolitano did not initially apologize and she defended the assessment issued by the agency earlier this week:
“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.”
But she seemed to change her tune and become more apologetic a day later when the outcry reached its climax:
“To the extent veterans read it as an accusation … an apology is owed,” she said during an on-air interview on FOX News Thursday, a day after veterans’ groups and members of Congress blasted her for the report, which they said libeled members of the armed forces.
“This was an assessment, not an accusation,” Napolitano continued. “It was limited to extremists those who seek to commit violence within the United States. And all this was meant to do was to give law enforcement what we call ‘situational awareness.’”
“The last thing I want to do is offend or castigate all veterans. To the contrary, let’s meet and clear the air,” she said.
“I’m not running away from it, but I will say it was an assessment. It was not an accusation, and quite frankly, these are products that are produced and shared with law enforcement on a routine basis.”
Unfortunately, she still used language that did not completely denounce the assessment or the statements outright.
To make matters worse and to really grasp the partisanship, hypocrisy, and double standards that make up this administration of ideologues, we found out that earlier today on Morning Joe, Napolitano and her spokespeople would only allow the interviewer to ask one question in regard to the veteran issue within the DHS report.
Interview today on “Morning Joe” with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, under this subject line: “Administration Permits Only One Question, No Follow-Ups About Extremism Report.”
Today the Secretary went on Morning Joe but they were only allowed to ask one question.
“Apparently, when the Democrats promise an open administration, they really only mean open as long as you ask the questions they want asked and no follow-ups on controversial topics that everyone is reporting on,” staffer Joe Pounder wrote in an email.
My sentiments exactly Joe! For the life of me, I can’t understand why Democrats and Liberals cannot witness their own hypocrisy. They sat there and complained about Bush for 8 years stating that he was “hiding” things, was the least transparent president, and that he was violating our rights by being big brother and tapping wires. However, Obama is continuing those policies and even expanding them. He doesn’t allow the press into certain events, picks out the questions that the press is allowed to ask him, yells at and demeans reporters who ask something outside of the box, and his administration apparently can only be asked certain questions – meaning you don’t get the whole entire truth and you don’t have all the freedoms and liberties associated with knowing what is going on…”Change we can believe in.”/Sarc.
When I was in college many of my classmates and I – all journalism students – received repeated mail from organizations that seemed to be connected with the Communist party. Our professors were concerned enough, they reported it to the college administration for direction. We then returned all such mail unopened and eventually it stopped.
That apparently put us on another list – the McCarthy – list and that was equally disturbing.
I thought those days were over but I see the real possibility of Americans who are doing their jobs, raising their families and doing nothing more than being from a specific group (veterans) and thinking differently, being on a list associated with the work of Homeland Security and Janet Napolitano.
Who will she target next?
At 21 it frightened me. Many, many years later it still frightens me. Will doctors, scientists, teachers, actors (as they were in the past) be targeted and placed on lists. Those groups include my children and grandchildren today and those of us who have been through it must lead the way to diligence.
Yes, as usual, right on the money. As has been the case from day the vote was counted this administration has done everything in its power to control the message and present it only in a manner of their choosing. It would seem that they have taken their ques well from Chairman Mao, Castro and Chavez,… No wonder they are getting along so well (LOL).