Missing the Point
Janet Napolitano issued a qualified apology over the DHS report on a feared rise of "right-wing extremism".
"To the extent veterans read it as an accusation ... an apology is owed," she said during an on-air interview on FOX News Thursday, a day after veterans' groups and members of Congress blasted her for the report, which they said libeled members of the armed forces.
"This was an assessment, not an accusation," Napolitano continued. "It was limited to extremists those who seek to commit violence within the United States. And all this was meant to do was to give law enforcement what we call 'situational awareness.'"
[ ... ]
"If there's one part of this report that I would rewrite ... it would be that footnote," Napolitano said.
Not terribly surprising, but not only does she miss the point completely, the references to veterans constitute far more than a footnote. In fact, there's only one footnote in the report, and it doesn't mention veterans. Veterans are mentioned eight times in four separate sections of the report, with one section dedicated to the subject. She's deliberately trying to downplay the veteran smear by calling it a "footnote".
But even the smearing of veterans in the report - which is offensive enough by itself - is secondary to the smearing of something like half the US population who, to varying degrees, hold a variety of conservative viewpoints.
The assessment is intended to be an advisory to state and local law enforcement agencies. But if I'm a local cop, I have absolutely no clue who to consider a potential threat on the basis of this report. The absurd generalizations in the report render it utterly useless as a law enforcement advisory.
So, what's the real purpose of the report, Janet?
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