Are Americans Terrorists by Default?

One of the most often heard cliches emanating from the flag-waving crowd is that whole "freedom of speech" thing that our forefathers insisted be included in the American Constitution. It was so important that it ended up as the First Amendment.

Ring a bell? Thought so.

Peaceful protests by the common citizenry, unfettered by government interference and persecution, have become the backbone of the sort of democracy we've been trying to force-feed to other countries, often accompanied by high explosives.

So why does training material provided by the Department of Defense point out that public protest can be considered "low-level terrorism?"

In a complaint filed by the ACLU and detailed in an article on the Contra Costa Times web site, that would be the United States Government - Department of Defense. And the ACLU would like some answers and changes, such as revising this Q&A:

Among the multiple-choice questions included in its Level 1 Antiterrorism Awareness training course — an annual training requirement for all DOD personnel that is fulfilled through Web-based instruction — the department asks the following: "Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorist activity?" To answer correctly, the examinee must select "protests." The ACLU wants that changed immediately, and it wants corrective information sent to all Department of Defense employees who received the training.

Remember - if it's not an American flag, it's probably a bomb.

Defense Department sees protests as terrorism , via Contra Costa Times