Friday, January 18, 2013

West Point center cites dangers of ‘far right’ in U.S.

Via Sons Of Liberty

 **FILE** A U.S. flag flies July 3, 2012, over a field during the Fanfare and Fireworks celebration at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Fla. (Associated Press/The Gainesville Sun)

VERBATIM

A West Point think tank has issued a paper warning America about “far right” groups such as the “anti-federalist” movement, which supports “civil activism, individual freedoms and self-government.”

The report issued this week by the Combating Terrorism Center at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., is titled “Challengers from the Sidelines: Understanding America’s Violent Far-Right.”
The center — part of the institution where men and women are molded into Army officers — posted the report Tuesday. It lumps limited government activists with three movements it identifies as “a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement and a fundamentalist movement.”
The West Point center typically focuses reports on al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists attempting to gain power in Asia, the Middle East and Africa through violence.

But its latest study turns inward and paints a broad brush of people it considers “far right.”

It says anti-federalists “espouse strong convictions regarding the federal government, believing it to be corrupt and tyrannical, with a natural tendency to intrude on individuals’ civil and constitutional rights. Finally, they support civil activism, individual freedoms, and self government. Extremists in the anti-federalist movement direct most their violence against the federal government and its proxies in law enforcement.”

The report also draws a link between the mainstream conservative movement and the violent “far right,” and describes liberals as “future oriented” and conservatives as living in the past.

“While liberal worldviews are future- or progressive -oriented, conservative perspectives are more past-oriented, and in general, are interested in preserving the status quo.” the report says. “The far right represents a more extreme version of conservatism, as its political vision is usually justified by the aspiration to restore or preserve values and practices that are part of the idealized historical heritage of the nation or ethnic community.”

The report adds: “While far-right groups’ ideology is designed to exclude minorities and foreigners, the liberal-democratic system is designed to emphasize civil rights, minority rights and the balance of power.”

The report says there were 350 “attacks initiated by far-right groups/individuals” in 2011.

Details about what makes an attack a “far right” action are not clear in the report, which was written by Arie Perliger, who directs the center’s terrorism studies and teaches social sciences at West Point.
A Republican congressional staffer who served in the military told The Washington Times: “If [the Defense Department] is looking for places to cut spending, this junk study is ground zero.

“Shouldn’t the Combating Terrorism Center be combating radical Islam around the globe instead of perpetuating the left’s myth that right-wingers are terrorists?” the staffer said. “The $64,000 dollar question is when will the Combating Terrorism Center publish their study on real left-wing terrorists like the Animal Liberation Front, Earth Liberation Front, and the Weather Underground?”

14 comments:

  1. I would remind them to READ, ANALYZE, and UNDERSTAND the Point's and the ARMY's words DUTY HONOR COUNTRY

    The address by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur to the cadets of the U.S. Military Academy in accepting the Sylvanus Thayer Award on 12 May 1962 addresses exactly what guidance is needed in coming times for Military Officers.

    A small portion that speaks volumes.

    Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiator in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

    Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government: Whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by Federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be.

    These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a ten-fold beacon in the night: Duty, honor, country.

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    1. Absolutely incredible. I lay awake in the wee hours last night recalling hearing MacArthur make that landmark speech to the West Point graduating class on the radio and today I read this. I call it "synchronicity" or a message from the Universe to me. No matter how dark my Army's actions have been at times, it still nurtured some of America's greatest, not the least of whom were my father in the 20th century and my grandfather in the 19th century. Duty Honor Country. Thanks.

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  2. But I am just a dumbass Indiana Redneck, what the hell do I know except I lived that code in two wars and many years before and after, and I still do although broken and retired

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    1. Amen. My military school's code was similar "Duty, Honor, Truth." Probably replaced country with truth since it was a Southern school.:)

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  3. Why is it an NCO's know and practice (or least it seems for some) than the Officer Corps that is leading them.

    Must be the proximity to the pointy end of the spear. (Generally speaking)

    Think I am talking smack, look at the WIA and KIA lists, way more enlisted and NCO than Officers. Don't take me wrong I am not beating up on or berating the Officer Corps as there are way to many CSM's that are tied up in the political game also.

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    1. look at the WIA and KIA lists, way more enlisted and NCO than Officers.

      I believe officers leading from the front went downhill after the Late Unpleasantness.
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      way to many CSM's that are tied up in the political game also.

      I had heard that, but forgot until you reminded me.

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  4. I would love to know what those 300+ incidents were. Probably things like people people that shot intruders in self defense of their homes rather than waiting for the police to arrive after they were killed or wounded by the intruder.

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    1. Yes, I'd like to see their list which, guaranteed, won't see the light of day.

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  5. Instead of making presumptions, or blindly reacting against anything that even sounds like a criticism (forgetting that we ALL have our faults and excesses)... you could write West Point for a copy of the full report, and check its footnotes/references. Aside from some overly-broad & negatively suggestive language, we'd all agree there are indeed some ultra-right domestic groups that ARE dangerous... as well as far-left ones.

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    1. Obviously, if they could back up their report, they would have published the sources and incidences which they didn't. Typical.

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  6. Sounds like someone is trying to prepare some minds to accept the potential upcoming unpleasantness....

    They will more readily crush their fellow citizens if they believe them to be an enemy.

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    1. They will more readily crush their fellow citizens if they believe them to be an enemy.

      Indeed.

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