The wingnut freakout over the DHS report on domestic terrorism continues unabated, with news that they are suing the Department of Homeland Security in order to protect the right of neo-Nazis to engage in domestic terrorism. Those are some fairly odd priorities, but apparently their obsession to remain "united" during their time in the political wilderness has led them to grasp each other tightly -- conservatives, militiamen, neo-Nazis. Kind of sweet, I suppose, as long as you're really into hate and destruction.
One of the Right's talking points against that report is that it disrespects veterans, because apparently all veterans are noble and perfect and not fucked up by the war and don't mention Timothy McVeigh because even though he was a veteran, he wasn't really a veteran just a messed up person who served in the US Army.
Yeah, it's not a very coherent talking point, but Frank Luntz hasn't gotten around to repackaging it for mainstream consumption, so cut them some slack. And since the vast majority of these chickenhawks haven't served in uniform, they don't know that the military is like any other large institution, and has some pretty fracked up people in its ranks. Throw in a little PTSD, knowledge of ballistics and explosives, and it can be a volatile mix. See, McVeigh, Timothy.
Which is why, contrary to wingnut assertions of the purity of the veteran's soul, the MILITARY itself is keeping a close eye on the most dangerous within its ranks.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this year launched a nationwide operation targeting white supremacists and "militia/sovereign-citizen extremist groups," including a focus on veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to memos sent from bureau headquarters to field offices [...]
The documents outlining Operation Vigilant Eagle cite a surge in activity by such groups. The memos say the FBI's focus on veterans began as far back as December, during the final weeks of the Bush administration, when the bureau's domestic counterterrorism division formed a special joint working group with the Defense Department [...]
The aim of the FBI's effort with the Defense Department, which was rolled into the Vigilant Eagle program, is to "share information regarding Iraqi and Afghanistan war veterans whose involvement in white supremacy and/or militia sovereign citizen extremist groups poses a domestic terrorism threat," according to the Feb. 23 FBI memo.
Michael Ward, FBI deputy assistant director for counterterrorism, said in an interview Thursday that the portion of the operation focusing on the military related only to veterans who draw the attention of Defense Department officials for joining white-supremacist or other extremist groups.
Now as we've seen the last week, conservatives are really defensive of their white supremacist brothers in arms. So expect their wrath to be directed at the Defense Department for aiding homeland security agencies in tracking these vile, hateful, and potentially deadly individuals.
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