C&L has been covering the rise of right wing extremist violence since our beginning days and we've seen a huge increase in their behavior ever since President Obama took office. Back in 2009, the DHS issued an excellent report on right wing extremism, which was immediately attacked by Conservatives as a veiled attempt of bias againts all things Conservative and whatever conspiracy theory they could come up with, failing to mention that the report was commisioned by the George Bush administration. Michelle Malkin neatly wrapped her paranoid brand of conservatism around her headline: Confirmed: The Obama DHS hit job on conservatives is real
Our own David Neiwert wrote an exceptional piece debunking their outrage:
Because, you know, the report -- which in fact is perfectly accurate in every jot and tittle -- couldn't be more clear. It carefully delineates that the subject of its report is "rightwing extremists," "domestic rightwing terrorist and extremist groups," "terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks," "white supremacists," and similar very real threats described in similar language.
Nothing about conservatives. The word never appears in the report.
As we've seen the report has been right on. A new survey taken in collaboration with the Police Executive Research Forum found that law enforcement is much more worried about dealing with right wing extremism than with ISIS.
A recent survey of law enforcement agencies nationwide found that police consider right-wing attacks like last week's mass shooting at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina to be a greater threat than Islamic extremism.
The survey, conducted last year by Kurzman and David Shanzer of Duke University, in collaboration with the Police Executive Research Forum, found that 74 percent of law enforcement agencies ranked anti-government extremism among the top three terror threats they faced.
By contrast, threats linked to groups like al-Qaeda registered at that same level among only 39 percent of the 382 agencies surveyed.
In an op-ed published in The New York Times just a day before the Charleston shooting, Kurzman and Shanzer wrote that counterterrorism officials at 19 law enforcement agencies maintained in recent follow-up interviews that they were more concerned about the threat of right-wing extremism than the treat of Islamic extremism.
"Far-right extremism was not just anti-government folks, it included white supremacists and other forms of right-wing extremism as well," Kurzman told TPM. "So it’s possible that [the Charleston shooting] is indeed part of the overall threat of right-wing extremism that we found law enforcement agencies quite concerned about."
The right wing talking point is that liberals do as much damage as right wing fanatics so there is no there there, but the facts don't hold up to scrutiny. The favorite beltway axiom that both sides do it is nonsense and this new survey reveals again how worried law enforcement is when it comes to homegrown right wing terrorists and they should be.
They are usually the primary targets of these militia nuts.
The indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court today claims that the Hutaree planned to kill an unidentified member of local law enforcement and then attack the law enforcement officers who gather in Michigan for the funeral. According to the plan, the Hutaree would attack law enforcement vehicles during the funeral procession with improvised explosive devices rigged with projectiles, which constitute weapons of mass destruction, according to the announcement by U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.
What's strange is that usually Conservatives are in lockstep with law enforcement except when it comes to this issue. I guess it touches a little close to home for them.
