A Disturbing Revelation

I saw something interesting this morning that greatly disturbed me. Apparently, our military veterans are now a threat.

According to a report released by the Dept. of Homeland Security, US Military veterans pose a threat to national security, as they are said to have a higher likelihood of joining a right-winged extremist group. I believe House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Lamar Smith (R-Texas) put it best when he said, "The government considers you a terrorist threat if you oppose abortion, own a gun or are a returning war veteran." (link to this article will be provided at the end)

When I first saw this on CNN News this morning, I was slightly perplexed. US Military veterans being considered a threat to the national security of this country? I'm sorry, but between you and me, I find that to be not only completely ludicrous, but also rather offensive. Mind you, I'm not a military veteran myself; I'm to wimpy to go into the Armed Forces. But several members of my family are/were members of the Armed Forces, and I take offense for them.

Upon further investigation, I managed to get two online articles specifically dealing with this situation (I could have gotten more, but I felt two would be good enough, seeing as one is more Conservative and the other more Liberal). The reasons the Dept. of Homeland Security cited were... strange to say the least. As stated in the report (a link to this will also be posted) "DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today."

In short, because our military veterans are some of the best-trained and most capable soldiers out there, we need to be afraid of them in our own country. Pardon me, but I believe that's a little... well, for lack of a better term, stupid.

The Dept. of Homeland Security used Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City Bomber, as their primary example. True, McVeigh was a US Military Veteran. And yes, he did commit an atrocious act 14 years ago. But, as American Legion National Commander David Rehbein wrote, "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."

I personally think the Dept. of Homeland Security owes all of our Veterans a sincere apology for the insinuations they made. I also think that they should seriously consider what they consider a threat to National Security. Between you and me, I think those left-wing extremist groups they reported about back in January pose more of a threat to National Security than any US Military Vet.

But hey, who am I to judge? After all, I'm just another right-winged Republican as well.

Sources:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/04/15/protest-grows-report-right-wing-radicalization/

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-rightwing-extremists16-2009apr16,0,3127351,full.story

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/041609_extremism.pdf

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Leftwing_Extremist_Threat.pdf