A former CIA expert in counterterrorism condemned right-wing extremists in the Republican Party for the normalization of violence and violent rhetoric.
The battle we engaged in with international terrorist groups like Al Qaeda wasn’t just with their legions of foot soldiers but with their highly effective propaganda arms as well, Marc Polymeropoulos wrote for NBC News.
Polymeropoulos is a former Senior Intelligence Service officer at the CIA, working on counterterrorism operations for his entire career. He said that terrorist propaganda is a fundamental cog in the machinery of a terrorist group, and is just as culpable as any other terrorist.
While propagandists may not supply weapons, they can effectively radicalize individuals to obtain them and put them to use.
The expert said that terrorist propaganda is particularly dangerous because lone wolf attacks have been the greatest challenge in international counterterrorism because single individuals are much harder for intelligence services to detect and disrupt than larger cells of terrorists.
Last week a singular man not affiliated with any known group, but known to be immersed in right-wing propaganda, attacked the husband of Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Paul Pelosi. While the authorities have taken appropriate action against him, there are few signs that the government is taking the big-picture approach needed to combat the violence-inducing propaganda behind his crime.
“The Constitution confers certain free-speech protections for extremist propaganda in the U.S. that prevent authorities from exactly replicating our foreign counterterrorism strategy here at home,” Polymeropoulos wrote.
“But there are important lessons we can and should apply. For one thing, we can exercise free speech to proclaim that the normalization of violence against politicians is dangerous and unacceptable. Some violent rhetoric might not be illegal, but it is all morally repugnant.”
Polymeropoulos called for the U.S. to clearly identify what crosses the line into dangerous rhetoric, and to call out people inside the right-wing ecosphere who for years have demonized, and at times even promoted and encouraged, attacks on lawmakers such as Pelosi.
The long list includes the notoriously right-wing, and very controversial, Marjorie Taylor Greene, a sitting member of Congress from Georgia who once supported the idea of Pelosi’s execution for treason.
It also includes the NRA, which put a picture of Pelosi next to an article with the headline “Target Practice.”
Beyond Pelosi, there are odious examples like Donald Trump Jr. holding a semiautomatic rifle with an ammunition clip that has Hillary Clinton’s face drawn on it.
Far too many Republicans have remained silent after Paul Pelosi was attacked.
“History is rife with examples of extremism growing while many look the other way. It should not be courageous to simply stand up and say ‘violence is wrong.’ Rather, it should be normal practice of any politician,” Polymeropoulos said.
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