Rumblings of Outrage: DHS Continues to Tick Off Combat Veterans

The recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security report on "rightwing extremism " that taints veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq as potential terrorists is really ticking off both active duty and veterans. Go here to read a Veterans Today article about it, and here to read the American Legion's letter in response.

And that outrage has not subsided. Below are more videos that have been posted on youtube by veterans responding to the DHS smear.

First up, is the active duty combat arms soldier who sounded off, amazed and outraged that he is considered a threat, and reminding the DHS personnel that they took the same oath that he did, to defend the Constitution. We have posted this before, but it sets up the responses by the veterans, who were responding specifically to this active duty soldier's video:



In response to that, the following Army veteran builds on the above soldier's statement by pointing out that DHS and the elites it serves consider veterans a threat precisely because all veterans swore an oath to defend the Constitution:



And below is a former Army Staff Sergeant, a paratrooper and combat veteran who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq until just last year, adding his well considered, but rather colorfull thoughts. Note, his video contains some VERY strong language:



And here is an Army Ranger, Apachegrunt, who just got out of the Army three days before making this video, adding his thoughts. Once again, some very strong language here and this Ranger does not mince words:

"Surrender is not a Ranger word"

Among some other choice and colorful words for the DHS, he points out the fact that his oath is to the Constitution, not to anyone or anything else, and just because his service is ended that doesn't mean his oath is canceled. Toward the end of the video, the Ranger holds up his Soldiers Code card:

SOLDIERS CODE

I. I AM AN AMERICAN SOLDIER – A PROTECTOR OF THE GREATEST NATION ON EARTH – SWORN TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

II. I WILL TREAT OTHERS WITH DIGNITY AND RESPECT AND EXPECT OTHERS TO DO THE SAME.

III. I WILL HONOR MY COUNTRY, THE ARMY, MY UNIT AND MY FELLOW SOLDIERS BY LIVING THE ARMY VALUES.

IV. NO MATTER WHAT SITUATION I AM IN, I WILL NEVER DO ANYTHING FOR PLEASURE, PROFIT, OR PERSONAL SAFETY WHICH WILL DISGRACE MY UNIFORM, MY UNIT, OR MY COUNTRY.

V. LASTLY, I AM PROUD OF MY COUNTRY AND IT’S FLAG. I WANT TO LOOK BACK AND SAY THAT I AM PROUD TO HAVE SERVED MY COUNTRY AS A SOLDIER.

Notice what comes first in the Soldiers Code.

And here is another veteran, of the 1st Cavalry Division, who lays out the many different types of people now put on the government's "list" as potential terrorists (he discusses veterans being added to the list at 7:20 of part I):

Part I:



Part II:



We commend these men for standing up and speaking out - speaking truth to power as the left used to like to say.

Note that none of them are part of some "extremist organization" (whatever that means). They are individuals, speaking their own minds, and they are offended and angry and they see that what is really going on is that the DHS considers them a threat simply because they know how to fight and because they swore an oath to defend the Constitution.

With the latest DHS smear document, the Domestic Extremism Lexicon, labelling "constitutionalists" and "patriots" as extremists (which means the same thing as "terrorists"), it is clear that if you dare to support the Constitution, and dare to quote the founding fathers of this nation, and take the Constitution seriously, then you will be considered an "extremist" and a threat to the powers that be among the political elite.

This is the tactic used by all governments that turn oppressive: use vague, broad brushed labeling of people as "enemies of the state" to marginalize them and increase the artificial divide between the people and the police and military, and then use that labeling and marginalization to make people afraid to speak up, to chill their speech, and silence them out of fear of being singled out for persecution. The DHS reports are such broad smears that they basically boil down to "anyone who doesn't agree with us is a potential terrorist." The final stage of persecution is to actually apply all the powers of the state against anyone who does dare to speak out, arresting them on trumped up charges of terrorism, for example. We are still in the smear and marginalization stage, and are also begining the chilling of speach stage, but we can see where this is headed.

But as these veterans point out, the DHS smears of veterans, constitutionalists and patriots is backfiring just as badly as Obama's suggestion that disabled and injured veterans pay for their own medical care. Nothing is waking up the people, and especially the veterans, like these leaked government "reports." This is not Germany, the USSR, or communist China. This is America, and attempts to chill our speech and marginalize us only make us stronger and more resolved to speak out.

JOIN US ON THE WASHINGTON D.C. MALL ON JUNE 13, 2009 FOR A HUGE SUPPORT THE TROOPS RALLY AND OATH KEEPERS "MUSTER ON THE MALL"

Speak out is exactly what we will do on the DC Mall on June 13, 2009 as Oath Keepers holds our muster on the mall, at the invitation of Gathering of Eagles and Pro Troop Events. Go to www.protroopevents.org for more details on that rally.

We still have a relatively strong First Amendment to protect our right to assemby and free speech, and we need to use that powerful tool of peaceful revolution and restoration while we still can. It's time to turn the tide. It's time to stand on the mall in DC and "shout our oaths in the tyrant's face."

It's time for all of us to stand up and speak out. See you on the mall on June 13!

Stewart Rhodes