Pentagon Exam Calls Protests 'Low-Level Terrorism,' Angering Activists
Wednesday, June 17, 2009 By James Osborne
A written exam administered by the Pentagon labels "protests" as a form of “low-level terrorism” — enraging civil liberties advocates and activist groups who say it shows blatant disregard of the First Amendment.
The written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees’ routine training, includes a multiple-choice question that asks:
“Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?”
— Attacking the Pentagon
— IEDs
— Hate crimes against racial groups
— Protests
The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests."
“Its part of a pattern of equating dissent and protest with terrorism," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained a copy of the question after a Defense Department employee who was taking the test printed the screen on his or her computer terminal."It undermines the core constitutional values the Department of Defense is supposed to be defending,” Brick said, referring to the First Amendment right to peaceably assemble.
The Pentagon spokesman says he thinks this is from an exam intended for people stationed abroad. He doesn't say how "attacking the Pentagon" fits that particular spin. Maybe they could replace it with "Tea Parties".
There's lots more. Read it all.
6 comments:
Revere Rides Again,
This is like something out of a political satire.
WTF?
Even if "Protests" were terrorism, what does the Pentagon have to do with such "low-level terrorism", committed by American citizens, on American soil?????
Can anyone say Posse Comitatus?
This definitely rises above your ordinary, garden-variety Pentagon SNAFU.
On the other hand, is there not a certain consistency to Obama's hostility towards dissent in the US, tolerance of the brutal crackdown on protests in Iran, and bloopers of this nature popping up all over like daffodils in April?
This story peaks my frightening meter in the same way as does the White House Anchors ABC News Story does.
Both are evidence that, as far as the people in power are concerned, we no longer live in America.
The man who devised this question, if he really believes what he wrote, is guilty of something very close to TREASON.
After all, WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE GOVERNMENT.
The Pentagon has no business getting involved in this kind of thing.
Posse Comitatus:
The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1385) passed on June 18, 1878 after the end of Reconstruction, with the intention (in concert with the Insurrection Act of 1807) of substantially limiting the powers of the federal government to use the military for law enforcement.
The Act prohibits most members of the federal uniformed services (today the Army, Air Force, and State National Guard forces when such are called into federal service) from exercising nominally state law enforcement, police, or peace officer powers that maintain "law and order" on non-federal property (states and their counties and municipal divisions) within the United States.
The statute generally prohibits federal military personnel and units of the National Guard under federal authority from acting in a law enforcement capacity within the United States, except where expressly authorized by the Constitution or Congress. The Coast Guard is exempt from the Act during peacetime.
I trust our OATH - takers (keepers) Our military---you have an occasional misfit - I understand that---HOWEVER:
I do NOT TRUST the ACLU---
So- I'll withhold judgement on this until more information is revealed>>>>
C-CS
CS...actually I take heart from the ACLU.
This is PRECISELY what the ACLU SHOULD be engaged in.
Not making sure people who are trying to kill us overseas are mirandized...unless of course they mean to make the world... AMERICA
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