Editing, brief comment by Carolyn Bennett
“Two years before the Tucson massacre, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report warned that right wing extremism was on the rise and could prompt ‘lone wolves’ to launch attacks.”
The Department backed away from the report amid intense criticism including criticism from now- Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner.
The government buried the report and ‘disemboweled’ the unit that created the report. Asked about the report in late 2010, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the report was ‘ancient history.’
The report focused mainly on “the fear that if the economy continued its downturn, it could mix with racial and political opposition to the election of [U.S. President] Barack Obama and the ongoing debate about immigration. The report was especially concerned that these factors paralleled those that led to several incidents of domestic terrorism during the [U.S. President William Jefferson] Clinton era....”
However, beyond the severity of the1990s’ situation, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells this time had deepened, become “more pronounced.”
Threat analysts within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Extremism and Radicalization Branch, in addition to having produced the extremism report, also produced in late March 2009 a ‘Domestic Extremism Lexicon.’ This lexicon defined different extremist groups but, again, after anti-immigration and anti-abortion groups criticized the lexicon, the government buried it.
U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) “had been the target of violent threats over the past year. Hours after she voted for health care reform legislation in March of 2010, some person or persons vandalized Congresswoman Giffords’ Tucson office. Other Democrats experienced similar threats or vandalism.
In a democracy, the people have a right to know. They must know. They have a right also to expect good governance despite and perhaps especially in the face of extremist threat and backlash. Silence, denial, censorship are never virtues in a democracy. Quite the contrary: they have ongoing lethal consequences. Truth together with civility and nonviolence is our only way forward.
JANUARY 11 Tucson, Arizona, shooting
UPDATE
Doctors in Tucson told Canadian Broadcasting’s David Common that eight people wounded in Saturday’s shooting “remain in hospital, including [Congresswoman] Giffords, who is in critical condition after a bullet passed through the left half of her brain from back to front.” Doctors reported no signs of deterioration in Giffords’ condition. She still responds to simple commands but “the doctors indicated they have no real sense yet of how much damage has been done to her brain.”
Sources and notes
“DHS Report in 2009 Warned of ‘Lone Wolf’ Attacks Long Before Tucson, Government Warned of Extremists” (Aaron Mehta), January 10, 2011, http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2815/
Center for Public Integrity — Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest This independent center’s published mission “is to produce original investigative journalism about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable.” Toward that end “the Center:
Generates accessible investigative reports, databases, and contextual analysis on issues of public importanceAaron Mehta is a staff writer with The Center for Public Integrity. He is a graduate in history and communications from Tufts University (2007). He has worked with various political venues and campaigns. http://www.publicintegrity.org/about/our_people/staff/
Disseminates work to journalists, policymakers, scholars, and citizens using a combination of digital, electronic, and print media
Educates, engages, and empowers citizens with tools and skills to hold governments and other institutions accountable
Organizes and supports investigative journalists around the world who apply the Center’s values, mission, and standards to cross-border projects”
“Tucson memorials planned for shooting victims,” January 11, 2011, http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/11/arizona-shooting-memorial.html
More on this story at: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/11/arizona-shooting-memorial.html#ixzz1AkRlxpC2
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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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