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Right-wing extremist groups on the rise

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April 15, 2009

Right-wing extremists in the United States are gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the first black U.S. president, the Department of Homeland Security warned in a report to law enforcement officials.

The April 7 report, which Reuters and other news media obtained on Tuesday, said such fears were driving a resurgence in "recruitment and radicalization activity" by white supremacist groups, antigovernment extremists and militia movements. It did not identify any by name.

DHS had no specific information about pending violence and said threats had so far been "largely rhetorical."

But it warned that home foreclosures, unemployment and other consequences of the economic recession "could create a fertile recruiting environment for right-wing extremists."

"To the extent that these factors persist, right-wing extremism is likely to grow in strength," DHS said.

The report warned that military veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat skills could be recruitment targets, especially those having trouble finding jobs or fitting back into civilian society.

The department "is concerned that right-wing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities," the report said.

DHS spokeswoman Sara Kuban said on Tuesday the report was one of an ongoing series of threat assessments aimed at "a greater understanding of violent radicalization in the U.S."

A similar assessment of left-wing radicals completed in January was distributed to federal, state and local police agencies at that time.

"These assessments are done all the time, this is nothing unusual," Kuban said.

The Department of Homeland Security was formed in response to the September 11 attacks of 2001 and has focused largely on threats from Islamist extremists.

The report said domestic right-wing terrorist groups grew during the economic recession of the early 1990s but subsided as the economy improved.

Government scrutiny disrupted violent plots following the April 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City by Army veteran Timothy McVeigh which killed 168 people.

"Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years," the report said.

The Internet has made it easier to locate specific targets, communicate with like-minded people and find information on bombs and weapons, it said.

Extremist groups are preying on fears that President Barack Obama, the first African American U.S. president, would restrict gun ownership, boost immigration and expand social programs for minorities, the report said.

It said such groups were also exploiting anti-Semitic sentiment with accusations that "a cabal of Jewish financial elites" had conspired to collapse the economy.

"This trend is likely to accelerate if the economy is perceived to worsen," the report said.

Posted by on April 15, 2009. Filed under FUBAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

22 Responses to Right-wing extremist groups on the rise

  1. GovtFlu

    April 15, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    If you can see through the DC Mafias divide & conquer “left vs right” bullshit; you’re an anti govt terrorist.

    Get used to it republican & democrat sheep motherfuckeres, have your papers in order for the next FEMA gestapo fuckwit that demands them.. so you can graze on govt grass with the rest of the fools who still believe having 2 parties makes us ‘free’.

  2. underbull

    April 15, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    The number one “recruiter” and employer is the U.S. government. The number one reason we are at a “radicalization activity” is the creation of fear and distrust of our leaders. When you have a democracy eventually fifty one percent of the people work for or depend on the government therefore the other forty nine percent of the people must be labeled as nobodies or terrorist and submit to the wills of the majority. The fallacies of a democracy has to be kept secret in order for it to work. A good deceptive tool is propaganda. That is what makes a parasite predator HAPPY! Deceitfulness and aggressiveness are addictive sins.

  3. woody188

    April 15, 2009 at 9:37 am

    Let me guess, they can be identified by any of the following:

    Campaign for Liberty bumper stickers.
    Voted for Ron Paul or any other 3rd party candidate.
    Support for the Constitution.
    Support for fair labor versus free trade.
    Support for individual liberties like being secure in one’s own property.
    Support a sound currency and abolition of the Federal Reserve.
    Support for soldiers but against never ending wars in far away lands.
    Support ending foreign aid to Israel.
    Support ending the income tax.
    Believe 9/11 was not properly investigated.
    Believe the US voting system to be a sham, particularly where electronic voting is allowed.
    Believe bailing out companies only exacerbates problems and rewards corruption and poor performance preferring instead the capitalist market solution of bankruptcy.

  4. bryan mcclellan

    April 15, 2009 at 9:48 am

    Right wing, left wing, Sounds like a bunch of flying assholes to me. All these turkeys have to do to identify the problem is look in the mirror.

    Scaremongers screaming fire in the theater used to be hung, now they have a nightly TV forum or a cushy government position from which to spout their bile.

    I’m happy to be a plain old American like Woody who knows the difference between a forest and a tree.

    Too bad most will let these despicable bastards turn one against the other till none are safe and we all become predators and snitches…HACK!

  5. woody188

    April 15, 2009 at 10:30 am

    First it was MIAC demonizing all Constitution Party members and now this DHS report. Why are our governments smearing freedom loving individuals like we are terrorists?

    I don’t think it will be long now before they start filling the camps. This is the beginning of their work toward that end.

  6. griff

    April 15, 2009 at 10:28 am

    Does no one in this country believe in freedom anymore?

    Is no one in this country tired of being pawns in this ridiculous partisan chess match?

    Can no one in this country recall exactly why and how this country was founded?

  7. almandine

    April 15, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Those groups must be using secret code too!

    http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/boston-college-prompt-commands-are-suspicious

    We’re being set up folks! … as if you didn’t already know.

    Collectivism is slavery…

  8. griff

    April 15, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Ha. All you DOS users beware!

  9. Jim Shelton

    April 15, 2009 at 10:57 am

    Looks like most of the commenters are perhaps members of these groups or need some sort of sedative. The government looks at extremists on both ends of the spectrum of political ideology. I guess left wing radicals are anti-american and right wing ideologues are patriots. Hmmm… what’s wrong with this picture? If violence is known to evolve from extremism, then it makes sense to “monitor”, but not immediately punish people exhibiting these behaviors.

  10. almandine

    April 15, 2009 at 11:07 am

    That’s it Jim…

    Prescribe sedatives or anti-anxiety drugs… oh, I forgot – that’s been happening for a generation, now. Maybe THAT’s why nobody has bothered to notice the pickle gov’t has put us in.

    Collectivism is slavery…

  11. woody188

    April 15, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    If you read the advisory some 80% of US citizens would fall into their definition of right wing extremist. So you are either with Obama or you are a right wing extremist. How very Bush Administration playbook where you were either cheering Bush or else you were a terrorist supporter.

    Violence is also known to evolve from oppression, taxation without representation, and government interference into every day life.

    Oppression – renditions, wire-tapping, documents required for travel, seizure of private property for private development
    Taxation without representation – TARP bail-outs, inflation, the Federal Reserve, Carbon cap and trade
    Government interference – stem cell research, car manufacturing, banking, mortgage finance, retirement, alternative energy and fuels like ethanol, war on drugs, war on terror

    Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes;

    Like the war on drugs and terror.

    But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

    Bush and Obama both pursue global empire at the expense of US citizens and US sovereignty. But instead of questioning Obama and Bush on their real goals, we’d rather demonize those pointing out this fact, whether they be left, right, Democrat, or Republican, and mark them as terrorists or extremists.

  12. almandine

    April 15, 2009 at 11:58 am

    “but not immediately punish people exhibiting these behaviors.

    Which behaviors are those?

    ” Collectivism is slavery…

  13. Carl Nemo

    April 15, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    Damn; with the thoughts generally expressed on CHB, then it must be classed as a terrorist cell; ie., a virtual “vipers nest” of anarchists…no?! :) )

    Carl Nemo **==

  14. JerryG

    April 15, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Paranoia will destroy ya’! That DHS domestic-terror report is about the Poplawskis of the country! The next Tim McVeigh! But, I must admit, I do enjoy watching all of the citizens from Wingnuttia squirm and cry foul as if the report is about THEM!

  15. storky

    April 15, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    Agreed.

    They may have read, but certainly don’t comprehend what the report says:

    Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

    If you are a member of a hate group that tends to threaten others or encourage the overthrow of our government with regularity, you are who they are referring to. I share their concern and encourage infiltration of these threats.

    Haters suck!

  16. bryan mcclellan

    April 15, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Vipers indeed!
    Nowadays the lie gets you riches and fame,
    logical thought puts you out of their game.

    Oh which to be;
    The gem encrusted liar,
    Or the logical pauper in chains?

  17. Carl Nemo

    April 15, 2009 at 1:50 pm

    Nicely expressed Bryan… : )

    Carl Nemo **==

  18. Carl Nemo

    April 15, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    duplicate post deleted

  19. spartacus

    April 15, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    For heaven’s sake, most of the country is NOT CONSERVATIVE, nor would it fall into the ‘RIGHT WING EXTREMIST’ camp, as one poster here suggests! The same person insists that soon ‘they’ll start filling the camps!’ Most of the comments here are by people who fit the descriptions noted in this article. How can people be so paranoid?

    Why don’t those of you who believe this nonsense turn off Limbaugh and company and stop listening to the venom they spill? Maybe you’ll calm down enough to realize you’re being played by these rabble rousing demagogues.

  20. woody188

    April 15, 2009 at 3:10 pm

    For heaven’s sake, most of the country is NOT CONSERVATIVE, nor would it fall into the ‘RIGHT WING EXTREMIST’ camp, as one poster here suggests!

    I actually said “80% of US citizens would fall into their (DHS’s) definition of right wing extremist” which isn’t at all what you are claiming I said. Why would you want to attempt to discredit and smear me as paranoid by twisting my words?

    Most of the comments here are by people who fit the descriptions noted in this article.

    Most of the people posting are not hate filled or part of any hate group that I am aware of, nor do they advocate the violent overthrow of the current government. Shouldn’t we be paranoid when people such as yourself confuse these facts and lump us all together as “people who fit the description” put out by DHS?

    For heaven’s sake indeed…

  21. griff

    April 15, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    That’s right…They first need to be scooped up in the dead of night, hauled off to a secret prison, and harshly interrogated until they confess to their crime of wishing to be free of government tyranny.

  22. almandine

    April 15, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    Touche’ Woody…

    and the reason that reports such as that by DHS need to be taken seriously.

    Collectivism is slavery…