Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says

[muman613]

This is ominous news indeed. Maybe what we feared... It will be suspicious if you are 'right-wing' in the new DHS of Obama.

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Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says
Tue Apr 14, 2009 8:56pm BST

By Jane Sutton

MIAMI (Reuters) - 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.

LONE WOLVES

"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.

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Let us hope that the DHS is concentrating on the right areas and not looking at those who oppose the evil policies of the chimp in chief sitting in the white house.

[briann]

Let us hope that the DHS is concentrating on the right areas and not looking at those who oppose the evil policies of the chimp in chief sitting in the white house.

Muman... you know better than to think this. The DHS is headed by an ultra-leftists wacko and she is using this 'made up' domestic terrorist threat to demonize and marginalize the enemies of Obama... and ultimately may even use it to justify FAR worse infringements on our rights.

Isnt it strange how we no longer hear the words Islamofascism or 'war on terror' or anything else that would suggest Muslim extremism.. and instead the focus has 'shifted' to this nonsense. 

Our founding fathers would be turning in their graves if they knew that our government is isolating 3rd party supporters and second amendment supporters as 'enemies' of the state.  These are SAD TIMES WE LIVE IN.

A silver lining to this, is that it will ultimately HELP the right-wing cause.. .just as it did with Geert Wilder being persecuted.

[cjd]

A good part of the American populations minds are out to lunch. Blame it on the recession, a hectic life style or a bad drinking habit people just do not see what this administration is up to. Americans are under the mistaken idea that their rights and wealth can never be taken away by the government.... Little do they know in just a few short months this administration has done more to bring that scenario into being that almost all the other presidencies have ever done put together.