Who are the ‘real’ terrorists?

The editorial page cartoon in the April 27, 2009, USA Today showed Uncle Sam saying, “Will you ever stop torturing me,” while he is whipping a helpless terrorist strapped on a table. 

Just last week the oppressed, benevolent Taliban beheaded three more people in Pakistan.  On Sept. 11, 2001, they intentionally targeted and murdered over 3,000 American civilians.  And since then over 3,000 American military personnel have given their lives in service to their country.  Is it a bit repugnant to mock these American deaths? 

Are any mistakes we made even vaguely comparable to the evils the Taliban executes on a daily basis?  I wonder if the USA Today cartoonist realizes that the American military is the reason he can, without fear, mock his own country. 

Sadly, Homeland Security agrees with him; so much so they printed a list of who the “real” potential domestic terrorists are.  They are not who I thought they might be.  I read the report and, well, the enemy is us.  At least a part of us — those identified as right wing.  Does their absence on the list mean that left wing people are docile, refusing to question the government, and quietly accepting whatever it does? 

Ted Gistaro, national intelligence officer in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said, “al- Qaida has become much more capable of attacking the United States on its own soil than it’s been able to do since 911.”  Further, U.S. counter-terrorist experts warn that “jihadists still present a clear and present lingering danger.”  Are these experts mistaken?  Is Homeland Security equating perceived domestic terrorist threats with the real terrorist threats from the Taliban and others?

They must be, because Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano explained that “violent right wing extremist ideologies are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States.” 

Beyond the traditional hate groups, who are these newly identified potential threats to the nation?  Included are people who agree with the Founding Fathers that state governments are to be more powerful than the federal government, along with people who oppose expanding federal social programs.  Another risk group are people who oppose abortion.  Maybe the government should declare disagreement with abortion a hate crime.    

Equally dangerous are people who believe “illegal immigrants are taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.”  I thought that is what they are already doing; well, at least the ones working.

Not overlooked are the people opposing gun control because they “erroneously believe that gun control legislation is a threat to our right to bear arms.”  But isn’t that what gun control legislation is intended to do?  The same people opposing gun control also disagree with the government’s opinion that the Supreme Court ruling on gun ownership “left open to debate the precise contours of that right.”  Is the government trying to get around the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court ruling?

Other people labeled by the government are those who are “paranoid about foreign regimes.”  You know, peaceful world neighbors like Iran and Syria.  Wait a minute.  Is it paranoia if they really are trying to kill us?

Most blatantly inappropriate, Napolitano has on this list people who served in the military.  The logic?  Timothy McVeigh served in the military and people who served in the military are well-trained; so anyone who has served in the military is a potential threat. 

Our government fears the very people who keep us free rather than the people who write reports like this, rather than the people who are insidiously and methodically taking us one step at a time into socialism.

In summary, the Americans on this list of potentially dangerous people support states’ rights, oppose abortion, oppose expanding social programs leading to socialism, oppose illegal immigration, support the Second Amendment as it was written and intended, are fearful of terrorist nations, and support rather than fear our military. 

Take a moment and think about the values of the people on “the list.”  If that’s the club, I think I want to be a member.  How about you?

Print Page