Military madness

Army targeted pro-life groups as ‘terrorists’--for years

This United States Army image is from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry via Wikipedia.

There’s another federal agency weaponized against law-abiding Americans.

This time it’s the Department of Defense’s U.S. Army at Fort Bragg, known as Fort Liberty, in North Carolina. Soldiers nationwide are telling DOD whistleblower Samuel Shoemate controversial training about pro-lifers occurred elsewhere, likely given to thousands of others.

Members of the House Armed Services Committee hammered the United States Army three weeks ago for training over 7 years that called pro-life organizations “terrorist groups.” Worse, Army Deputy Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Patrick Matlock dodged questions about why it wasn’t stopped sooner and why no one was fired.

The lack of transparency may stem from what soldiers nationwide told Shoemate after it was exposed three months ago.

On July 10, a picture emerged on social media that identified certain pro-life organizations as terrorist groups. Blaze News reported Shoemate exposed the training slide from a soldier in a Fort Bragg training session. Joseph Mackinnon reported the following for Blaze News Sept. 20:

The offending slide, which appeared immediately after a section on the mass-raping, mass-killing jihadist group ISIS, was labeled ‘Terrorist Groups’ and featured the logos of National Right to Life and Operation Rescue.

It also featured an image of a customized ‘Choose Life’ license plate — the kind sold in at least 33 states and the District of Columbia to help raise money for crisis pregnancy centers.

The slide noted that extra to opposing ‘Row [sic] v Wade,’ these supposed terrorist groups engage in picketing, demonstrations and protest, and mass sidewalk counseling.

It created a firestorm on Capitol Hill with Republican members of Congress firing off a letter to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth. The House Armed Services Committee also joined the reaction. 

It also generated backfire with soldiers responding to Shoemate. Steven Baker, another Blaze News journalist, spoke to Shoemate. Mackinnon reported: (Editor’s note: it contains an expletive.)

However, Baker noted that military whistleblower Samuel Shoemate of Terminal CWO was soon inundated with calls and messages from all over the country "saying, basically, 'bull****. This is systemic. We've seen it in our own bases and in our own briefings.'"

Baker underscored that the systemic antipathy for Americans with pro-life views at the Pentagon has made its way down to the lowest rungs but that this ideological capture has been years in the making.

‘The decapitation and replacement of the military's leadership began in earnest during the Obama administration,’ said Baker. The bulk of the top brass were ‘dismissed and replaced for nothing more than philosophical and political reasons.’”

Now, the senior leadership is largely made up of political activists, said Baker.

On July 12, 88 members of the U.S. House and Senate sent that letter to Wormuth. Part of that letter is the following:

We write regarding social media reports that anti-terrorism training conducted at Ft. Liberty, North Carolina depicts Pro-Life Americans as terrorists. . . . Smearing Pro-Life Americans is despicable and emblematic of the ongoing politicization of the military under the Biden-Harris administration. 

The American public expects the Department of Defense and its personnel to defend the homeland from actual terrorists, not Americans who seek protections for children in the womb. Labeling Pro-Life organizations as threats challenges service members’ moral obligation to defend and protect even the smallest among us. . . . 

The House Armed Services Committee also sent a letter to Wormuth expressing shock over this training that became public. It reads in part:

This disturbing training confirmed our fears about the recent publication of Army Directive 2024-07 (Handling Protest, Extremist, and Criminal Gang Activities). That is, the Army is utilizing an overly broad policy to police the speech of conservative servicemembers, quiet dissent, and require servicemembers who believe in conservative ideals to hide their identities for fear of retaliation from their commands. But because the Army has yet to provide the training materials to Congress in contravention of their obligation, we can only assume that the training interpreted the Army’s definition of extremist activities to include pro-life organizations as “advocating or engaging in unlawful force or violence to achieve goals that are political, religious, or discriminatory or ideological in nature.” . . . 

This is a video screen shot from the Economic Times of U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Patrick Matlock speaking to the House Armed Services Committee in September. He was questioned about training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina over 7 years that identified pro-life organizations as “terrorist groups.”

It culminated in a combative House Armed Services Committee hearing in September.

Mackinnon reported on the hearing for Blaze News. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., said:

‘I think the reason that you can't answer the question is because you know and we know that no one has ever been held accountable for this training that started in 2017 and occurred until a few months ago,’ said Banks. ‘I think that's a big embarrassment for the U.S. Army.’

‘It's dangerous; it's a bad pattern," added Banks, who stressed at the outset that the Biden-Harris Pentagon and the U.S. Army are undermining the First Amendment and ‘targeting conservative speech and values."

Matlock was questioned about the trainers being fired, suspended, or demoted. He never answered that question. Matlock also failed to answer why this “training” wasn’t stopped sooner by superiors. 

This “training” demonstrates the Biden-Harris administration targets people who don’t agree with their leftist worldview, and it now infects the military. 

Attorney General Merrick Garland gets upset when it’s suggested the DOJ, which has thrown pro-lifers, including senior citizens, in federal prison for singing and praying at abortion clinics. Meanwhile, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley has had at least two heated exchanges–here and here–with FBI Director Chris Wray on the FBI targeting Catholics. 

Also, Catholic Mark Houck and his wife of the Philadelphia area have filed a federal lawsuit against the FBI for malicious prosecution for going after him. 

Garland being disgusted by accusations against the DOJ flies in the face of growing evidence that something has been going on against pro-life Americans. They are prosecuted for their conscience, which was unheard of in this country until recent years.

Now the Department of the Army has been exposed for targeting pro-lifers. 

This conduct by the federal government is un-American. This behavior should throw the incumbent party out of office–on their heads.