Op-Ed: Leaked Intelligence Report Cites Potential Domestic Threats

Leaked intelligence reports now forces the United States to turn its attention back home. The very real threat that American bred extremists Potentially pose to our country should not be dismissed.

No one can deny that America remains a target to foreign extremists who seek to make a political statement through acts of violence. Since the events of September 11, 2001, Americans have been obsessed with the thought of another terrorist attack on their soil by the hands of a foreign enemy mostly perceived to be a Muslim Arab. It is to the extent that some have virtually erased from national memory the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that was the work of Americans, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier. Until the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, the Oklahoma City bombing stood as the worst terrorist attack ever on our soil. Too often, the telling of the tragedy in Oklahoma City downplays or outright excludes the fact that McVeigh had been linked to right-wing extremist groups that harbored hate toward Blacks, groups which still exist. Don't believe me? A cursory scan of the Internet proves that. They should be under the constant surveillance of America's national security apparatus. Unlike many groups that simply espouse racist views, many of these terrorist cells are known to have access to firearms and actively recruit and train members for the sole purpose of committing violent acts. According to published reports, the threat that the intelligence report cites has its origins in - not overly surprising - the nation’s current economic crisis. These groups are playing upon the fears of people, most likely lower-income Whites, and using minorities and immigrants as scapegoats for the country’s current troubles. It is an age old trick that seemingly always works. The same standards we apply to international terrorist groups should be imposed upon domestic groups that engage in terror. The Bush government already did it with wireless surveillance of citizens who were not engaging in potentially terrorist behavior. One reason, I fear racism won’t die in this nation is because White supremacy is fueled by ignorance, and a belief that one’s own degraded condition is the fault of someone Black, Brown or speaking a foreign language. History teaches us that slavery and Jim Crow were rooted in an irrational fear of Blacks among some Whites that was rooted in the deliberate stereotyping of those of African descent in academia and popular culture, resulting in Blacks being dehumanized to the point of being regarded as dispensable, objectified “things.” Apparently, now that economic insecurity is on the rise there is a need to find someone or some group to blame beside perhaps more than the predominately White bankers. Domestic violence targeting Blacks ad other minorities is nothing new. The Ku Klux Klan, by today’s definition, was a terrorist organization at the height of its run during the Jim Crow era. Many offshoot White supremacist groups that exist today and mimic the Klan’s hateful message, borne then and now out of ignorance and economic insecurity, should be of great concern to law enforcement agencies and also to the Black community at-large. No longer hooded with white sheets, today’s extremists use the latest communications technology to foment hate and can casually blend in with the so-called “mainstream” and remain inconspicuous and relatively undetectable. Tim McVeigh, a clean cut soldier, who served honorably in the first Gulf War in 1991, hardly looked the part of terrorist but certainly played the role effectively. Perhaps you may find that conspiratorial. The groups referred to by this report are only as powerful and dangerous as their access to firearms. There are conservatives and gun rights advocates who are taking issue with the report, claiming that it casts the net too wide and unfairly stigmatizes law-abiding citizens. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) went so far as to demand an apology from the Department of Homeland Security for casting veterans as “potential terrorists.” No doubt, the political rhetoric is always heightened when the toxic mix of guns, patriotism and veterans is served up in public discourse. Still, we should not allow the hyperbole to distract us from the central point of the report: a very real threat exists to our national security from right-wing extremist groups. Many here on DigitalJournal have even called for her resignation for somehow derogating the United States servicemen and women.To suggest that this report is an attack on veterans is downright silly. It is akin to those who were said to be disrespecting US Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen for opposing the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The seeds of hate have been planted in the United States since its inception and it needs to be eradicated at its root. To do so, America must confront gun violence in the nation once and for all. She must face down those who believe their right to responsibly own firearms, outweighs its collective right to safety. I mean, who really needs an AR-15 to go duck hunting? The truth of the matter is the popular idiom likely holds true that there are more people who do not own guns than there are who do. Those voices must be heard in the corridors of Congress as loud as those voices who support the NRA.