A Good American: HOMEGROWN TERRORISM

Thursday, November 1, 2007

HOMEGROWN TERRORISM

Hmmm . . . does this mean that they’re going to throw all the members of the National Endowment for Democracy in jail?

“The private, congressionally funded NED has been a controversial tool in U.S. foreign policy because of its support for groups that push an agenda closely in line with U.S. objectives and because of its association with efforts to overthrow foreign governments.”

They do appear to have left themselves a legal loophole:

“HOMEGROWN TERRORISM- The term `homegrown terrorism’ means the use, planned use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual born, raised, or based and operating primarily within the United States or any possession of the United States to intimidate or coerce the United States government, the civilian population of the United States, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.”

So, it’s okay to sponsor terrorism as long as you direct it against other countries. However, I wonder if this also applies to the COINTELPRO programs currently operating in the U.S.? Can the undercover cops posing as violent anarchist protestors be prosecuted under this law?

House Passes Bill on “Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism”
In news from Capitol Hill, The House of Representatives has passed the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act by a 404 to six vote. The bill creates a National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Ideologically Based Violence. Some critics have criticized the broad language used in the bill to describe homegrown terrorism. Under the bill any person that uses or plans to use force to advance political or social objectives would be considered a terrorist. One prominent critic of the bill has been the academic and author Ward Churchill.

Ward Churchill: “HR 1955, as I understand it, provides a basis for subjective interpretation of dissident speech that allows those in power to criminally penalize anything they considered to be particularly effective in terms of galvanizing an opposition that might conceivably in some sense disrupt or destabilized the status quo, so it’s to keep everything in that nice sanitized arena that I was just talking about where you’re actually a collateral functionary of the state by participating.”

I’ll have Prof. Churchill on the show in two weeks, but stand by for a new show tomorrow.

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