As conservatives back home fumed over an administration report on extremist groups and veterans, President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico on Thursday pledging to curtail the flow of guns over the border.
“At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the borders, it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue, both through initiatives like the Merida Initiative, but also on our side of the border, in dealing with the flow of guns and cash south,” Obama told Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
The president hopes to give new life to a languished treaty, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1997 but never ratified in the Senate, that could significantly curtail the flow of guns and ammunition to Mexico. But the president’s latest gun control program appeared likely to further enflame conservatives and others riled by a report from the Department of Homeland Security on the threat posed by extremist groups.
In recent days — even with Congress still scattered on Easter recess — conservatives have been gathering a collective head of steam over administration policies on taxes, spending and more.
The report, distributed to law enforcement last week, raised an alarm about right-wing hate groups using the troubled economy and the nation’s first black president to recruit new members. The report also warned that military veterans could be vulnerable to the lure of extremist groups.
The ensuing outrage Thursday had Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano both apologizing for and defending the report, which was criticized by members of Congress, veterans groups and others.
“To characterize men and women returning home after defending our country as potential terrorists is offensive and unacceptable,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Wednesday.
The report, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment,” follows a similar assessment of left-wing groups released by the department earlier this year. Napolitano defended the latest report as part of her department’s ongoing monitoring of domestic terrorist threats.
“Let me be clear: We monitor the risks of violent extremism taking root here in the United States,” Napolitano said in a statement. “We don’t have the luxury of focusing our efforts on one group; we must protect the country from terrorism whether foreign or homegrown, and regardless of the ideology that motivates its violence.”
But as outrage over the statement on veterans grew, Napolitano moved to defuse the matter with an apology.
“I know that some veterans groups were offended by the fact that veterans were mentioned in this assessment, so I apologize for that offense. It was certainly not intended,” she told CNN’s “American Morning.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups in the United States, hailed Napolitano’s report, citing its own 2006 research showing extremists were joining the military to gain combat training.
The government report “reinforces our view that the current political and economic climate in the United States is creating the right conditions for a rise in extremist activity,” said Mark Potok, director of the organization’s Intelligence Project, with tracks extremist groups.
