Pentagon Nixes Description Of Protests As “Low Level Terrorism”
Some conservatives have been up in arms today about a Fox News report saying that a Pentagon test for employees described protests as “low level terrorism.”
Bloggers on the right have been on a tear, holding the report up as proof that the Obama administration is intent on cracking down on Tea Parties and other dissent from the right.
But the whole thing, a Pentagon spokesperson tells us, was a mistake; the question was only given to a tiny percentage of Department of Defense employees. Now that the question was brought to the Pentagon’s attention, it has been nixed, the spokesperson confirms.
The test, given as part of routine training for Department of Defense employees, had a multiple-choice question that asks: “Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?” The correct answer is “protests.” The question was also condemned by the ACLU, which demanded that the Pentagon remove the language.
But Pentagon spokesperson Les Melnyk tells our reporter, Beth Marlowe, that despite all the controversy, the question was given only to around 1,500 people in one small area of the Defense Department. That’s “out of a total of over 3 million DoD military and civilian employees required to take the training,” Melnyk says.
“The question and response were poorly written,” Melnyk says. “They have since been removed from the Antiterrorism Level 1 refresher training. It was not part of a DoD-wide training package.” Menyk added that those who had been given the test would be sent an email explaining the “distinction between lawful protests and unlawful violent protests.”
Looks like the Obama administration’s conspiracy to close down the Tea Parties is no more. And now on to our next tempest in a thimble.
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The Obama admin conspiracy was not to close down “Tea Parties” but to close down public protests of our govt in general. Such as what might take place when the const shredding Obama admin is finally seen for what it really is: A vehicle to continue the loss of our freedoms at home and further the infestation of the American empire throughout the world. Nice to see the right rise up and save us from ourselves here.
Is there no one who will stand shoulder to shoulder with Fox News in inhibiting the Pentagon from its terrifying assault on conservatives and on liberty?
Bernie, I want to set up a satire-writing context between you and Jzap. I’ll moderate.
Does anyone know when this test was originally written. It could simply be a holdover from the previous administration.
Change in DOD training requirements, tests, etc., like any other government agency, usually takes eons to happen.
Aw jeez – the GOP will try to make a federal case out of any damn thing. Good god – all this faux outrage is going to get really old really fast.
Sarah Palin’s drones managed to get Olive Garden to ditch Dave Letterman’s ads. Where did Olive Garden get the idea that Sarah Palin is more popular than Dave Letterman?
The GOP are the biggest bunch of whining babies ever. EVER
wtf harry?!? “the right is rising up and saving us from losing our freedoms and shredding the constitution”? The very same people that argue that state-sponsored torture is alright? The very same people that argue that the government should be able to spy on/indefinitly detain American citizens without trial? The very same people engage in newspeak, using words like fascism and socialism together in a sentence to mean the same thing? Why does anyone take these folks seriously?
Greg – as a liberal, I am predictably excited at the prospect of entering a contest I’m certain to lose.
Well williamc, your description of what the “right” is doing happens to be a fairly accurate presentation of exactly what the Obama admin is doing, with the exception of the “fascism/socialism” point. Or were you being sarcastic?
Fascism and Socialism while different are forms of Statism for the purpose of controlling people by elitists who feel they must exert control over us for our own good. Make no mistake, no matter the rhetoric of his teleprompted utterances, Obama is an egotistical elitist and a Statist. You should pay far more attention to his actions than to the rhetoric if you want to know what’s really going on.
Where were most of the “conservatives” railing against such things as the Patriot Act? It seems it is all fine and dandy that peoples rights can be copiously violated when it is your man in the White House……But Lo, and behold, the same people are railing on the Obama administration for something that happened under Bush……You might just call it the result of “unintended consequences,” or blatant partisan hypocrisy………..Lets not forget that the folks in Washington have yet to do anything about protecting our Southern border, much less our Northern border.
JDB
“Free speech zone”
I was born there. I lived there until the Bush administration.
I continue to find it ironic, if not completely moronic, the attitude of the froth-at-the-mouth-right, that Obama is coming to “take away their guns” right after he turns the country socialist or fascist, or whatever the “dirty-word-of-the-weak” is. ~~~
~~~ACTUATOR – do you realize that we were the closest to Marshall Law during the last 8 years than we have probably been since (and maybe prior to) McCarthyism. If anyone was going to create an elitist state for the few and state-ize, (or corporatize) the government it was those oil guys that funneled billions and billions of dollars out of the country to offshore companies that returned nothing to the federal coffers in return for the favor, and violated every labor law (and many laws of decency) in the process. ~~~
~~~ Heil Bush & Cheney – The Elitist Poster Children~~~
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There is a large difference between Socialism and Fascism … one involves public ownership or shared ownership. The other involves corporations or an authoritarian hierarchical government being the controlling party. The two are definitely at opposite ends of the spectrum and you lose all crediblity when you try to use them interchangeably.