Bennett criticizes memo labeling 'right-wing extremists' as potential terrorists

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, is joining a growing Republican chorus calling for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to repudiate a report that says potential terrorists might include such "right-wing extremists" as disgruntled veterans, gun enthusiasts and opponents of abortion or illegal immigration.

He wrote to her on Thursday saying, "Do you truly believe that our returning war heroes, and all citizens who are gun owners, are not only unpatriotic, but threats to the state?"

He added, "Surely you cannot mean that Americans" in such groups "should in some way be identified as a threat on par with narco-terrorists, eco-terrorists, or Osama bin-Laden."

Bennett said wording in that report may place "upon our returning war veteran an ill-advised stigma, a sentiment felt by soldiers returning from Vietnam. Surely our country has learned from those errors of the past."

Bennett asked her to "set the record straight on this question."

Bennett's letter came after several conservative Republicans in the House called Tuesday for Napolitano to resign over the memo.

Last week, Napolitano defended the report, but said a definition of right-wing extremism that was included in a footnote should be changed.

"We do not mean to suggest that veterans as a whole are at risk of becoming violent extremists," she said. "I apologize for that offense. It certainly was not intended."

That footnote said right-wing extremists could include people who are antigovernment, "rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority," and said the definition may include those who are "dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." The report said disgruntled veterans may be recruited by extremists, too.

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