Fort Hood soldiers say Army warned them off tea party, Christian groups

The Washington Times ^ | 10/24/2012 | Cheryl K. Chumley

[markomalley]

Don’t donate to the tea party or to evangelical Christian groups — that was the message soldiers at a pre-deployment briefing at Fort Hood said they received from a counter-intelligence agent who headed up the meeting.

If you do, you could face punishment — that was the other half of the message, as reported by Fox News.

The briefing was Oct. 17, and about a half-hour of it was devoted to discussion about how perceived radical groups — like tea party organizations and the Christian-based American Family Association — were "tearing the country apart," one unnamed soldier said, to Fox News.

Among the remarks the agent allegedly made: Military members who donate to these groups would be subject to discipline under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the soldier reported.

Liberty Institute has stepped in to investigate. Michael Berry, one of the nonprofit's attorneys, said he has been advising the soldier about his options — but that in the meanwhile, he said the American public should be on guard.

"The American public should be outraged that the U.S. Army is teaching our troops that evangelical Christians and tea party members are enemies of America and that they can be punished for supporting or participating in those groups," Mr. Berry said, in Fox News. "These statements about evangelicals being domestic enemies are a serious charge."

[Salvavida]

Your question is too broad. Not sure about extremist, but there is a DoD definition for terrorist.

There is no military lesson plan dealing with groups in the US. Posse comitatus, or some latin phrase. FBI on the other hand, would natuarally because that is their charter.

However, with that said, CI and military police elements in the military will have some version (remember when I spoke about objective and audience) because of their mission to protect DoD installations. There are exceptions, but those are in small communities, and they don't conduct broad training for the general knowlege of everyone else.

But were are getting off base here. None of the training featured in the news came from an officially sanctioned lesson plan. It wasn't the Departement of the Army that sponsored it. And if it was, there would be attribution; and it would be traceable. I am dealing with the issue of systematic instruction. That's all. And it allowed me to take one look at the new report, and say to myself, "The headline is bull shiite, meant to grab attetion and sell newspapers."

[butterdezillion]

What is the military’s connection to Southern Poverty Law Center, that they are on a list of sources approved by the military? What are they approved for?

[Salvavida]

None that I know of, and I don’t see why there would be a connection.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

But I don't see, and we have not arrived at the point, where the Department of the Army, or any other service is winking and nodding, or putting together curriculum that would include Christians as targets of concern. So I must reject that notion. The evidence just isn't there.

Pentagon Training Manual: White Males Have Unfair Advantages

Be sure to take a look at the Student Guide (page 184): POWER AND PRIVILEGE

[rabidralph]

I remember the last time a TEA Party member shot up an Army post and rolled a grenade into his CO’s tent. Several people lost their lives in the most horrible way. Oh and some TEA Party types blew up a street in Boston during a marathon or something.