Alabama Ends Terror Watch List
“The Alabama Department of Homeland Security has taken down a Web site it operated that included gay rights and antiwar organizations in a list of groups that could include terrorists.
The Web site identified different types of terrorists and listed groups it said could spawn terrorists. The list also included environmentalists, animal rights advocates and abortion opponents.”
Taking down the website isn’t enough. The State of Alabama should really consider issuing a written apology to each of the organizations that its so needlessly slandered.
On second thought, even a written apology isn’t enough for Alabama to save face. Whether the website has been taken down or not, this whole incident brings to the forefront a sickening right-wing political tactic that seems to have come into vogue in post 9/11 America. We’ve all seen it over and over again. From George W. Bush standing behind a podium and sending the message to opponents of the Iraq war that “you’re either with us, or you’re against us,” to the gut-wrenching attack ads used against former Senator Max Cleland, a triple-amputee Vietnam veteran, that showed his picture next to those of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, the right has artificially tied its ideological opponents to terrorism in every way possible. Not only is this dirty, attack politics at it’s absolute lowest point, but its a practice that flies squarely in the face of everything America is supposed to represent.
