Reuters broke the story today after being briefed by five people close to the program. The program, “Countering Violent Extremism,” or CVE, would be changed to “Countering Islamic Extremism” or “Countering Radical Islamic Extremism,” the sources said.
The “Countering Violent Extremism” program works within the Department of Homeland Security and is charged with investigating and countering all types of violent ideologies, including neo-nazis, the Ku Klux Clan, and other violent American far-right racist, anti-federalist and fundamentalist groups.
Trump’s move to change the focus of the group is a reflection of his campaign rhetoric as well as an outright criticism of President Obama and what he believes was a weak response to the international effort to combat the Islamic State, and for refusing to use the words, “Islamic radicals.”
While the CVE currently uses social media and community partnerships to counter extremism, The Hill says it is not part of a separate military effort to counter extremists online. Many GOP lawmakers have felt the program was ineffective, even as Trump promised to “get tough” on Islamic extremists.
Immigration focus on Islamic countries troubling
But as all of us have heard from critics of the immigration ban on Islamic countries, the order, as well as the new re-focused group will only foster increased anti-American sentiment and extremism, as well as play into the hands of terror organizations, not-with-standing the fact that over 3 million Muslim-Americans would feel even further alienated.
“That is concerning for us because they are targeting a faith group and casting it under a net of suspicion,” Hoda Hawa, the director of policy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, told Reuters.
Most of America now knows that the seven countries under the “temporary” travel ban do not include any of the countries where the 9/11 terrorists originated. CTV News Canada points out that of the 9/11 terrorists, 15 came from Saudi Arabia, two were from the united Arab Emirates, one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon.
Interestingly, these Muslin majority countries, as well as Azerbaijan and Turkey were not on the immigration ban. But just so readers know, with the exception of Lebanon, Trump has business interests in all these countries. Gee Whiz, do you think this might be a “conflict of interest?”
The really dangerous extremist groups operating in the U.S.
Terrorist attacks in the United States, other than the 9/11 attacks have all involved homegrown terrorists, and they have caused many deaths and countless millions of dollars in damages. One of the most notable types of terrorism is in the anti-abortion movement. A group called the Army of God is responsible for most of the deaths that have occurred since the 1990s.
Another violent group is the eco-terrorists and extreme animal rights activists. These groups have committed over 2,000 crimes and caused over $110 million in damages since 1979 in this country. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) also has people internationally involved in acting against what they perceive as cruelty to animals, and they have no problem targeting fur farms and laboratories.
Then we have the Aryan Nation, the Black Liberation Army, the Jewish Defence League, Ku Klux Klan and countless other extremist groups roaming through our neighborhoods or even with members living right next door to us. So I get the impression that as long as these groups are all red-blooded American groups, that’s OK with Trump.
We just have to be scared to death that one of those Islamic terrorist types doesn’t ever get a chance to breach our borders. This also means that besides Muslims, because, after all, they could be Islamic extremists, we also are kicking out all those Latinos from Mexico, Central and South America who have entered this nation illegally.
While I abhor even writing these words, it is exactly what Trump’s supporters wanted and why they voted for him, and quite frankly, this makes me sick at my stomach.
